Page 24 of Shadows of Air and Earth (Remnant Archives)

A pleasant warmth and a soothing hum both sweet and sinful, enveloped the dream I was in, a sound I swore I had heard before.

Smiling contentedly, I curled into the warmth mumbling my own thanks for its sweet abyss.

It was better than where I came from. It had been hot and feverish there but at the same time freezing.

My body had been wracked with violent shakes that left me aching deeply… but here, here I was pain free.

"Goddess damn it, Riley Dragoon, come back to me."

"That's it…you're doing it Xi, the poison is leaving him, the smell is less."

I frowned, poison ? This wasn't poison nor was it smelly.

This was peace, contentment—I hesitated at the string of curses.

That voice, goddess fuck that voice. A huskiness that was both sensual and comforting, the coolest of breezes in fall, and I yearned for more of its lovely caress. Perhaps then I could finally rest.

"Oh no you don't, Ri. You fucking unicorn ass. You're waking up and you're going to look me in the eyes when you tell me how you stole my freedom from me." The lovely voice hissed, more like a chill this time.

Ah, a frigid brisk wind on the first bite of winter snow, and yet despite its sting I wanted this too—craved it even.

A sharp slap, a muffled snort, and then my eyes flew open as a low groan escaped my lips.

"Who in the Sheol just slapped me? And why am I a unicorn ass?

" I scowled, reaching up to rub at my eyes.

Chasing away my blurred vision, I opened them again to reveal the jungle canopy above where brightly colored wisps danced among the branches and dust-glittering butterflies fluttered through the leaves.

"What is that awful smell? Please tell me a gnome didn't piss on my face," I rubbed my eyes again.

"It's the poison I purged from your body, Riley Dragoon," Xi snapped at my side. A slight groan emanated from the shadow fae general on my other side.

I sat up quickly, dizziness swirling in my vision, my body wavering and weak as I struggled to stay upright with a curse.

"Easy," Remnant said softly, steadying me. "You were poisoned by the anthousai thorns, Ri. Xi saved your life."

"Thank you," I muttered, grateful for her support, my eyes never leaving the furious female in front of me.

"You're okay…" I breathed a sigh of relief.

I had no idea what had happened but the fact that she was here, before me, was enough.

I would take her fury any day, for all of my immortal life, to make sure she was always still here.

“Okay?” she hissed. “No Riley Dragoon I am not okay.”

Desperately, I reached out, needing to feel her, to reassure myself that she was alive , but my hand stilled when she flinched away, disgust written plainly on her face. The sting of it worse than the slap she woke me with.

"Xi—" My gaze trailed over the tear stains on her olive skin, following their path downward, before freezing on the golden collar around her throat.

Fear, horror, nausea, loathing, bitterness, guilt…

it all hit me like a tidal wave while I stared at the cursed binding.

"Fuck," I whispered, licking slowly at my lips, bringing my gaze back to her stormy grey eyes.

Both of them. She wasn't even hiding, her furious beauty hitting me and stealing the air from my lungs in a whole new way.

It was a look I had feared seeing every night since The Wailing.

"Please," I said, shifting closer but respecting her need not to be touched by me. Her eyes never left mine, wariness flashing in that grey whirlwind.

Remnant sighed remorsefully, her hands falling away recognizing that the rigidness of my spine and the lack of the putrid poisonous smell meant I was at my full strength once again. "I'm going to scout the area to find our best route from here.”

Neither Xi nor I acknowledged her and after a moment’s pause she sighed one more time before her footsteps, feather-light, and soon silent, disappeared among the dense foliage.

"You knew." Xi glared at me as soon as Remnant was gone, tears pooling in her eyes, "You knew that I'd rather throw myself on an enemy’s sword than to ever feel owned again. You know how they treated me. Like an animal to be trained and tethered. You knew!" she screeched.

I flinched, her choice of words that she rather throw herself on an enemy’s sword , unbeknownst to her, was my undoing.

Gruesome memories full of bitterness and rage ripped through me and I spat harshly in her face.

"Fuck, Xi. Of course I knew! Except it wasn't you watching me bleed out with the goddess’s light leaving my eyes was it? No. It was fucking me. I was the one that held your throat together shielding you from The Wailing. I was the one that felt your heart go sluggish, and that beautiful air deplete from your lungs.” I shook from my own restrained fury, “I could not do it.

I could not let you die, not when I knew I could save you, and I would do it again if that were my only choice. "

She lunged for me with a cry, her nails scraping across my skin through the shirt I wore.

The sharp pinpricks welcome against the onslaught of emotional turmoil roiling inside us both as she pulled me closer to her, her mouth just inches from mine.

"You should have let me die!" she screamed while tears unleashed from her eyes—a fierce storm opening up to drown the world in her despair.

Laughing condescendingly, I snapped, "Just as you let me die moments ago right?

You could have been free of me then Xi Lanora Chin.

A free fucking pass. With me dead, my possession of you would have ended.

So why did you do it?" My chest rose and fell with each passing word, our angry breaths shared, seething through clenched teeth.

"Don't," Xi hissed back, punctuating the words with a push.

I snorted. "Don't what, terrella? Don't tell you that there is never any option in this entire fucking universe where I would sit back and do nothing while you die?

Don't tell you that I broke a sacred vow I made to my parents and myself to never use this tainted power?

All to save you. Don't tell you that I could not bear the thought of never having you by my side—to never drown in your beauty, crumble to my knees at just your touch, or be awed by your fiery will and insurmountable power?

To be honored by your undying, loyal friendship, to lo—"

"Don't," she cut me off, seething just as I was. Her nails leaving thin rivulets of blood trailing down my chest.

I growled inches from her lips, continuing my words even as her eyes begged me not to.

"To love till the end of time." Her hands trembled and I reached upwards to slide my own over hers.

"I only breathe for you, Xi Lanora Chin.

Would you truly deny me the only air I need to live by allowing yourself to die? "

Her anger wavered and understanding flickered within that gorgeous grey, enough that I closed the distance between us, my lips grazing hers. It was her choice, I never wanted it to be otherwise.

Her mouth slammed into mine, and my hands snapped up into her hair, devouring the breath that was rightfully mine, that would always be mine.

Possession or not, I loved Xi Chin and it was about goddess damn time she knew exactly where I stood—and it wasn't going to be on the fucking sidelines… not anymore.