Page 28 of Glass Wings
“Reign,” Allienna said after a contemplative pause while staring down at her own hands. “I’ve come here to show you something.”
Allienna grabbed a fork from the many that sat in a large mason jar in the middle of the table. Reign barely looked up towards her before Allienna stabbed the dull metal into her palm.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Reign asked in a hushed voice, her attention fully caught. She grabbed Allienna’s hand to stop her from twisting the fork into her skin further.
“No, no, please, watch,” Allienna said as she continued, suppressing Reign’s feelings of annoyance, until she finally broke skin and found blood.
“Look at this,” she said, holding her hand out to Reign as a fat bead of red blood slowly pooled onto her skin. Allienna tried to decipher the emotion in Reign’s eyes as she stared down at her hand for what felt like an eternity.
Finally, Reign broke her silence. “Let’s go.”
Reign grabbed Allienna by the wrist and practically dragged her from the table despite Allienna’s feet obeying the command. Reign’s forearm was tense, the veins nearly popping above her skin as the woman reached the car.
Reign started the engine and pulled out of their parking spot, beginning to drive, still in silence. Her fingernails tapped rhythmically on the steering wheel as she stared straight ahead, eyes too focused on the road.
“What does that mean?” she asked after four minutes on the road. “What does the red blood mean?”
“I don't fully know,” Allienna responded, shame and hope both tangled in her throat, battling one another for dominance. “Something happened. No one else knows.” Allienna began to explain the deal she had made with Ayurveda.
Reign pulled over on the side of a residential street of characterless townhomes, unresponsive to the story. Allienna couldn’t tell if she was angry, sad, scared, or something else entirely. She reached out her hand to touch her friend's shoulder, wanting to replace her own anxiety by finding out, but Reign pulled back.
“Home sweet home,” Reign said, guiding Allienna out of the car and up to the front townhome on their immediate right. They entered through a bright red door to be greeted by stairs that led up to a rectangular floor featuring a small, modern kitchen. On the further side of the room, surrounded by windows, sat a plush, dark green corduroy couch with multiple maple-colored bookshelves framing the walls.
“It’s so . . . clean,” Allienna tried to think of something to say and failed miserably. Reign, still not making eye contact with her, shook her head as a smile played at the corner of her lip.
“What do you do here? Living amongst the humans? What does your life look like?” Allienna asked Reign, her eyes bright, walking up to the bookshelves and letting her fingers run over the smooth covers.
“Well,” Reign chuckled, “it turns out humans love paying me to give them commands. It gives them sexual satisfaction. It’s silly buta pretty great living, especially in a capital city filled with politicians.”
“You’re a . . . prostitute then?”
“Some would say that,” Reign replied as she grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. “I’m not sure if you betrayed us in some way, Allienna. Making this deal with something so volatile, a goddess that is mother to none of us, seems like a trap. It feels like a mistake.”
“We were both given death sentences,” Allienna turned to say. “It’s hard to admit, but nothing else seems to matter anymore. Only this. Only the new life I get to create and love. Can you imagine having true unconditional love? Would you not risk it all to make your fairytale come true? I thought you, out of anyone, would understand, knowing that you have an expiration date.”
Reign smacked her lips and nodded at Allienna, molding the plastic water bottle with her hands as the crackling filled the silence between them.
“I don’t know why I am still alive,” Reign admitted. “I don’t know why Djoser hasn’t been ordered to execute me. I told you all of the future and since then, the anticipation, Allienna . . . I want to crawl out of my skin.”
Allienna walked into the kitchen and reached out, embracing her friend. Her heart ached, feeling heavy. There was also a sense of doom and worry as she absorbed all that Reign was feeling. There was so much fear.
“I love you, Reign,” Allienna said, her arms squeezing tighter, tears flowing freely down her face.
“I know.”
Reign pulled away, and the stress behind her eyes lessened from the skin-to-skin contact.
“We both will find death. We, who have shaped this realm since we were created ourselves. We need to live it up while we can.” Reign’s face broke out into a devilish grin as she pulled Allienna up the stairs to introduce her to her closet.
Sleep be damned.
The two Kinnari women spent the next six days dancing at loudclubs, window shopping while enjoying the city, laughing and making fun of themselves as children. Reign painted Allienna’s toenails a bright yellow while Allienna helped Reign avoid the mistake of getting bangs.
When it was time for her to go, Reign drove Allienna back to the cow field that she had landed in.
“You know, there are places in the city, even in my own home, that you can fly out of at night,” she teased her dear friend. Allienna stuck her tongue out playfully, her heart fuller and her body filled with her own feelings. She was her own being, even for this short time. She would miss it, yearn for it. Every day she had spent there with Reign had opened her eyes more and more to how much she had given up, sacrificed even, to support Arryn unconditionally.
“I’m scared for you,” Reign said, taking Allienna’s hands in hers as they stood on the side of the road, letting Allienna feel it.
