Chapter 174: Unsung song
[ Towards Deeper Woods... beyond Skarthheim territories ]
The wheels turned with a low groan, crunching gently against the winding path of gravel and dust.
Autumn sat quietly, the cushioned bench of the carriage rocking beneath her with every lurch forward. The rhythmic gallop of hooves outside was steady.The sound was like a heartbeat echoing through the forested silence.
She peeked her head slightly out the window.The wind caught a few strands of her hair and pulled them loose.
A soft, cool breeze met her face, scented with earth and pine and something faintly sweet...wild blossoms perhaps. The woods were no longer dry and arid as they had been closer to the heart of the Skarthheim pack.
Now they rolled beyond the Skarthheim borders...into a realm of greenish lush...vibrant, almost dripping with life.
The trees here looked much older...thicker. Too thick...with each one stretching a few miles to be exact.The leaves too looked thick and succulent.Even the thorny underbrush swayed gently as though stirred by unseen fingers.
The contrast was stark, like moving from a painting done in ashes to one blooming with a breath of colour.
Cerbs leapt beside Autumn’s window, his tongue hanging out, tail thumping happily as he kept pace. Autumn laughed under her breath, her fingers briefly brushing the side of the window, as if she could reach down and pat him through the motion.
Then something shifted.
That odd, subtle pull in her chest...tightening.
She leaned forward slightly, her elbow resting on the window edge. She turned her head, just enough to look behind.
And there was Kieran... the freak, absolutely freaking her out... Well sort of... ( *pun intended)
He walked in measured steps behind the carriage.His strides were long, arms loose by his sides, but there was nothing casual in his demeanor. His eyes were locked on her.
Her breath caught.
She couldn’t look away.
His eyes were dark at first glance, but the light caught them just right...those burnished gold flecks... or was it amber? They shimmered like stars against twilight. There was something unreadable in his gaze. Something raw...
She could feel the pull of it, crawling under her skin, beneath her ribs, drawing her in.
"He is just walking!!! Damn! Why does it feel like he is coming straight for me?" And Autumn couldn’t deny she kind of wanted him to.
Autumn’s hand curled slightly against the window ledge.
The air between them was still...absolutely still...no sound, no words, only the steady cadence of hooves and the soft rustle of leaves overhead.
She felt the flutter.
Deep in her belly.
Something moved in her lower abdomen... she placed her hands over them and... That familiar yet maddeningly strange sensation flooded her entire system... unexplainable...
Butterflies.
Bugs... moths... spiders... whatever you could call them...
A full bloom of them.
She looked away...just barely. Then looked back again.
He was still watching her. But now... there was something else in his expression.
A softness.
A question.
" Does he want to come closer?
Should I...? Should I...invite him in?"
Her fingers lifted slightly, hovered near the curtain. For a moment, her mind flickered with the image of his hand in hers...his palms...his warm skin.
Her mouth went dry.
Not a single word traversed.
Yet the air itself seemed heavy with confessions.
A glance held longer than it should have. A breath taken too deep. A want not quite voiced...two hearts beating...so close...yet so distant.
The wind tousled her hair again and she let it. Let it fall around her face. Let herself lean just a little farther out. As if hoping the space between them would shrink.
As if he would reach out.
As if he would hear the pounding in her chest from where he walked.
He didn’t move towards her. But his eyes never left her.
Not even once.
The road stretched endlessly ahead, vanishing into a sea of emerald.
Shadows danced beneath the trees, the light of the rising sun filtering through in pale slats that flickered across Autumn’s face... kissing her skin tenderly... coloring her in a heavenly hue.
She turned her gaze forward, forcing herself to look away...but her heart beat faster in her ears...as if resenting her for doing so.
A quiet smile tugged at the corner of her lips. It wasn’t much. Just a fleeting lift. The kind of smile one wore when a beautiful thought crossed the mind and lingered.
Or when someone looked at you like that.
Was he still watching?
She resisted the urge to look again too quickly. But the corners of her eyes betrayed her, darting back to that figure through the ripple of leaves and dust. Kieran was still there. Still walking behind. Still feeling familiar, in a way she couldn’t explain.
And this time, when their eyes met again...just for a flicker...it wasn’t intense. It was soft. Gentle.
Like a secret note passed in a room full of silence.
"Does he feel it too?" Autumn leaned back slightly, biting her lower lip with the faintest smile.
Her fingers brushed the fabric of her dress. Everything felt a little too warm... her cheeks, the inside of her wrists, her thoughts.
Somewhere in the corners of her mind, a melody was humming.
Not a real song. But something wordless, feather light. Like the tune of a daydream you didn’t know you were having... like a long forgotten melody that just clicked with the moment.
She closed her eyes briefly, letting the breeze kiss her face as the carriage dipped along the curve of the road. The warmth of sunlight, the scent of pine and earth, the comforting rhythm of hooves and wheels... and beneath it all, that hidden thrill.
Of being watched. Of watching back.
Of knowing, but pretending not to. It felt childish... yet so adulterous...scandalous...
She peeked again.
This time, Kieran looked away first. And that made her smile wider. A breath left her in a soundless laugh.
That single stolen moment...the tiniest thing...but it felt like everything. The game of glances. The aching sweetness of it.
And though neither said a word, their hearts seemed to speak in the same secret language...having a whole conversation of their own.
No past.
No fate hanging above their heads.
Just this... The road.
The wind.
The silence.
And the gravity pulling them slowly, slowly closer.
Autumn sighed...leaning back again. But she swore, she could still feel his eyes on her.
A touch without touching.
A song without a single sound.
Butterflies.Butterflies...Everywhere.