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She was like a burr that stuck to his side, under his skin.
She was quiet and small and yet completely and utterly overwhelming. He couldn’t quite figure that out. How he had stumbled across her that one day and then she had attached herself to him so readily, and he had been so willing. He had accepted her without thinking (although he sometimes had to wonder if it was less acceptance and more surrender). And even now, with the Reckoning having shaken the very foundation of their lives (her more than he), they had remained together—always, at least, almost always.
He had gotten used to having her there, to waking up to the steady thrum of her breath.
And then, somehow, somewhere, it all changed.
What used to frustrate him or even, if he was being honest, annoy him, began to become endearing. He found himself studying her in the dim light of the evening, his pale eyes tracing over her familiar shape. She would press her nose into him, and he would feel his skin shiver in response, something clicking in his chest. Somehow, his feather wrapped in the tangles of her mane began to mean something.
At first, it petrified him, but no matter how he pushed her away, she did not leave. She was stuck to him, and he found himself pulling her closer, despite the way his pulse tripped like a live wire in her presence. He sought her out and, when he recognized what he was doing, grew even grumpier, his answers to her becoming curt and surly, his expression becoming what he thought was stoic but was actually just sulky.
Which made what he did all the more confusing, his decision leaving his tongue before he had even taken the time to recognize it. He had been in an exceedingly rare moment alone when he had stumbled across Magnus. Their conversation had grown deep and philosophical quickly, and Tobiah had found himself in wonder at the golden stallion’s story—the deaths, betrayal, a heart that still yearned to make a difference.
Before he could stop himself, he had been up the Mountain petitioning the faeries. Not to receive a gift, but to give it away—but, no, that wasn’t quite right. Not giving away a gift, but what had always been a curse. A trap. A muzzle. The faeries had been understanding and with little more effort than an exhale, his immortality, that twisted and dangerous thing, had been flooding from his chest and into the air, seeking out a new host in that strange stallion from Tephra. Tobiah should have felt pain, but he only felt relief.
He was no longer bound.
No longer afraid.
The trip down the Mountain felt longer than the trip up it, but he still flew, his feet surprisingly agile as they found a path around the rocks and through the narrow paths. When he reached the bottom of the enormous Mountain, he unfurled his wings and took to the air, beating the air steadily as he soared. He did not stop, did not even consider stopping, until her saw her, slight and beautiful and his.
Maybe.
His heart tripped as he landed, as he saw her, his face a contortion of emotions. “Australis,” her name was beautiful—how had he never noticed before? His body was slick and dampened wth the effort; he considered waiting to catch his breath, waiting to steady his pulse, but he couldn’t. He had to say it now or he never would. “I never told you this, but when I was born, when you found me, I was immortal.”
He swallowed, looking away and then forcing himself to look her in the eye. “But my immortality was like my wings—broken. A half gift. A curse. I would only remain that way until I fell in love.” It sounded foolish on his tongue, a faerie’s trick, and he rolled his shoulders in discomfort. “I was petrified of losing that—of becoming mortal, of facing death. So I did everything that I could to keep people away.”
He wasn’t saying this right. None of this was coming out right.
He cursed under his breath.
“I-I was good at it. The keeping people away thing. I managed to live by myself for a really long time. But then I found you—well, you found me. And I became…less good at it. Awful at it, really.”
This was getting worse the longer he talked, wasn’t it?
He took a step forward, considered reaching for her and then stopped himself.
“I was so scared of falling in love, of having my immortality taken from me, but I’m not anymore.”
He glanced down now, unable to look her in the eye.
“So I gave it away.”
A deep breath, his legs shaking.
“I gave it away for you.”
tobiah