The storm had blown through, and the air was chilled and damp, the earth slick with rain. The stone corridors of the castle were filled with the soft whispers of the survivors, the quiet prayers and shushing sobs ringing through the winding halls. Gabriel sat alone upon a broken stone promontory above the rain-swept plains, his breath fogging the cold night air. His armor groaned softly as he moved, his thoughts weighed down by memory.
Behind him rang, measured and light, a wind-song. He turned, his gaze meeting the hard, bright one of Princess Neah as she came towards him. Her silver hair was against her pale, wet skin, her violet eyes narrowed as she stepped into moonlight alongside him.
"You're out here alone," she said, her voice cool but tinged with a quiet concern. "Not a wise choice, given the state of things."
Gabriel forced a weak smile, his fingers curling around the hilt of his sword. "I needed the air."
Neah stood beside him, her hard, queen-like face drawn by the black, moving light. She leaned against the wall of stone, her hand tracing the rough stones, her eyes far away. There was a long silence between them, their breathing blending in the chill air of night.
"You do miss her," Neah whispered, her breathing barely louder than the wind blowing. "Margo."
Gabriel's jaw hardened, his eyes narrowing at the darkening horizon. "Every moment."
Neah's fingers stopped their gentle movement against the stone, her eyes flying to his. "What was she like?"
Gabriel closed his eyes, the trace of a smile flicking across his lips. "She was. light. Pure, mad light. She took the mundane and made it magical, as if every breath, every laugh, every touch was a miracle. She was stubborn and reckless, always pushing me, always goading me. She had this way of making me feel. alive."
Neah's lips compressed, her eyes darkening. She glanced away, her fists closing into her palms. "I was like that, once."
Gabriel's brow creased, his eyes narrowing to her profile, hard and barren in the pale moonlight. "What changed?"
Neah sneered, her shoulders tensing as she stood upright, her eyes feral. "I grew up. I learned that kindness is weakness, that love is a knife at your throat, waiting to cut you the moment you drop your guard."
Gabriel frowned, his grip on his sword tightening. "You don't believe that."
Neah's eyes flashed to his, burning, on the edge of desperation. "And what then? What if I have, seen too much, felt too much, lost too much ever to believe again in that kind of.innocent heat?"
Gabriel leaned in closer, his breath warming her ear. "You're not so cold as you pretend to be, Neah. I've watched you gaze at the villagers, ride into combat, grieve your fallen knights. You still have heart."
Neah's jaw tightened, her breath caught as she pulled back, her eyes glistening with the beginning of tears. She glared down, her fists clenched at her sides. "Caring weakens you. It makes you a target. I've learned that the hard way."
Gabriel hesitated, his heart turning over as he saw her wrestling with her own words. He reached out and touched her, his fingers tracing the curve of her shoulder. "You don't have to be strong every time. You don't have to do it alone."
Neah's breath caught, her shoulders trembling as she closed her eyes. "I don't know how to be anything else, Gabriel. I've been in this armor for so long, I don't know where it ends and I start."
Gabriel's hold on her shoulder tightened, his voice dropping to a harsh whisper. "Then let me assist you in finding yourself again."
Neah's eyes snapped open, her gaze locking with his, sharp and searching, as if she were trying to read the secrets hidden in his soul. For a long, breathless moment, the world around them seemed to fall away, the wind whispering through the shattered stones, the distant roar of the river a quiet, forgotten echo.
"You're a fool," she whispered, her voice trembling, her eyes glassy. "A stubborn, reckless fool."
Gabriel's lips twitched into a crooked smile, his eyes softening. "So I've been told."
Neah let out a shaky breath, her hand rising to touch his, her fingers cold against his warm, calloused palm. She closed her eyes, her head dipping forward, her silver hair brushing against his chest as she leaned into him, her breath warm against his neck.
"Wait with me a minute," she whispered, her voice cracking. "Just for a moment."
Gabriel's arms enclosed her, his heart pounding against the wall of his chest as he clasped her, the burden of their mutual suffering and unspoken sorrows piling up about them like a mantle. They stood there, two shattered persons clinging to each other in the chill, clammy blackness, their breaths commingled, their terrors gone, if only for an instant.
The moon was heavy and full in the black sky of the jet, its sickly, ghostly light illuminating long, jagged shadows upon the cold, red-stained stone floors of the castle. Gabriel leaned against the cracked, worn wall, his lungs exhaling in ragged, shallow breaths, his thin, quivering limbs trembling, his mind a twisted, knotted web of lust and pain.
Neah held him, her tall, wiry body outlined against the dancing torchlight, her dark, flowing locks blowing out behind her like a shadow, her brown, sharp eyes darting to his trembling, gaunt figure, her thin, quivering lips opening in a low, breathless murmur.
"You're injured," she panted, her own thin, trembling fingers reaching out to touch his thin, bloody cheek, her own breathing slow and guarded, her thoughts a tangled, knotted mass of fear and worry. "Why do you keep fighting? Why do you keep injuring yourself like this?"
Gabriel's breath caught in his throat, his wide, terror-filled eyes leaping to her thin, shaking body, his thin, shaking hands closing into shaking, clenched fists, his mind a tangled, twisted web of uncertainty and terror. He stood for an instant, his breathing short, shallow gasps, his mind a tangled, twisted web of uncertainty and longing.
"Because I have to," he gasped, his thin, shaking voice a broken, rasping whisper, his breath stuck in his throat, his head a muddled, knotted mess of terror and desolation. "Because I can't let them win. Because I can't let them win this place."
Neah's trembling, thin body crept forward, her green, shining eyes darting to his trembling, thin body, her thin, trembling lips opening in a soft, whispered sigh. She stooped forward, her thin, trembling fingers tracing his thin, bloody cheek, her breathing deliberate, measured gasps, her thoughts a tortured, tangled skein of fear and desire.
Their lips met, their trembling, white bodies pressed against each other, their chests heaving in rapid, shallow breaths, their minds a tangled, mangled web of passion and fear. The bitter, chilly air of the castle rushed around them, the shadows stretching long and narrow round their trembling, white bodies, their chests heaving in slow, measured breaths, their minds a tangled, mangled web of passion and fear.
Far away, in the dark, blackened corridors of the Throne of the Holy Land, Sally's breath was frozen in her throat, her wide, frightened eyes darting to the twisted, shadowed figures that crept around her, their thin, trembling limbs shaking, their eyes wide and wet with fright, their minds a tangled, knotted mess of pain and despair.
She felt the kiss, the blinding, searing pain of betrayal slicing into her head, her breathing in hard, shallow gasps, her thin, shaking fingers clenching into hard, shaking fists, her mind a mangled, knotted mess of anger and grief.
Around her, the immobile knights crept in halting, dragging strides, their knobby, shuddering legs scraping on the cold, bloody stone floors, their wheezes of air in small, ragged gasps, their eyes staring, wet and afraid, their brains a writhing, entangled web of agony and desolation.
The people, their thin, shaking limbs quivering, their breathing in strained, shallow gasps, their big, wet eyes full of fear, stumbled along in stiff, slow motions, their thoughts a tangled, knotted mass of pain and servitude, their breathing in slow, measured respirations, their thoughts a tangled, knotted mass of fear and submission.
Sally's breath caught in her throat, her wide, frightened eyes fixed on the distorted, dark moving figures around her with intent, her spindly, shaking fingers curled into tight, shaking fists, her mind a mangled, ill web of fury and fear of betrayal.