Page 56 of Somewhere down the Ley Line
That earned him a smile, warm and genuine.
“I’m still going to be wary around you and boulders, though,” he added casually.
Isolde hid her face in the horse’s mane and laughed. “How you can always find a way to turn everything into a joke is beyond me.”
“Just one of my many talents.”
“Well. Tonight it is deeply appreciated.” She exhaled a long, shaky breath, her hand pausing on Shadow’s neck. He waited.
It started to rain. Softly at first, then faster, pelting down on them. The scent of damp soil and lightning filled the air.
Isolde stepped back from Shadow and tilted her head to the sky, her eyes closing as drops slid down her face. She extended a hand toward him, palm up. He hesitated, then took it. Her fingers curled around his, and she pulled him closer. He came to stand behind her, close enough to feel the warmth of her body, his heart hammering in his ears. He winced when she drew his arm around her, and she spun, startled.
“I almost forgot! Let me see that.”
“It’s nothing,” he muttered, trying to pull away. “I’ve had worse.”
“Don’t be so stubborn,” she said, her fingers dancing across his side, looking for the injury.
Felix tried to fend her off, to protest, but froze when she laid her palm lightly against his ribs. The moment her magic flared against his skin, he forgot everything else. It wasn’t cold, like he’d expected, but more of a deep hum, a vibration that made gooseflesh erupt all over his body. The sting in his side gradually faded, until it was simply gone. No lingering soreness, nothing.
“Thank you,” he said, a little hoarsely.
Isolde shook her head with a small smile, then without preamble rested her head on his shoulder. She pulled on his hand, guiding it around her waist, and he cautiously pulled her flush against him. Her hair smelled like smoke.
She tilted her head up at him. Felix traced the curve of her cheek with his eyes, the wet trails left by the rain, the softness of her lips. He became very suddenly, very acutely aware of just how badly he wanted to kiss her. To brush the hair away from her neck and trace that tantalising blue line there with his mouth. To lose himself in the storm with her.
“Why don’t I feel bad?” Isolde’s voice sounded small, fragile, jarring him out of his thoughts.
Felix exhaled slowly, loosening his grip on her, and banished the slew of elaborate fantasies he was conjuring up from his mind. Instead, he gently put his hands on her shoulders.
“You have nothing to feel bad about.”
“I wanted to do it. To hurt them. To… to kill them.” The last words were barely a whisper.
“You were protecting yourself, Isa. And us. Hells, you saved my life.”
She stared up at him. “I… I did.”
“You’ve always been told where to go, what to do, what to say. And now you have all this powerful, crazy magic at your fingertips, and you think the way you used it tonight means you’re turning into some kind of monster, that you should feel bad?”
Isolde opened her mouth, then shut it again.
“You didn’t enjoy hurting them,” Felix went on. “You liked being able to do something, to make a difference. That’s not the same thing.”
She blinked rapidly, her bottom lip quivering. Felix said nothing else; he just reached out and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her to his chest. She sagged into him with a long sigh, clutching at him like she was not planning on ever letting go.
“Felix?”
“Hm?”
“Thank you.”
21
Academic interest
They piled the other bodies on top of Alwin’s remains and burned them. The fire hissed and sputtered in the rain, smoke curling upward in uneven spirals before dissolving into the sky. Isolde stood a little apart from the others, watching the flames. She hated the sight, but refused to turn away.
