Aryzath was panting, tossing the branch to the side before he collapsed to the forest floor. He let his weight roll him to his back, arms splayed open as he stared at the dark sky. It had just been daylight when he met with Ilayda and now he was meeting with Mother Moon.

Ilayda settled down next to him, her hair was disarray but there was a smile on her face. She leaned forward and slapped his shoulder with the back of her hand.

"You're definitely getting better," she said. Her praise was enough to make him feel warm inside.

"Thank you," he said, taking in a deep breath to steady his heartbeat. "I didn't think I improved but all thanks to you, I suppose."

The Tünder giggled. "You follow instructions well, Dragonkind."

He would've argued but then she splayed on the ground right next to him, her wings flaring out and almost touching him. With her this close, it was more than enough for him to swallow back his words. Aryzath looked at the sky, letting the silence settle in on them.

When Ilayda had suggested a spar to release frustrations, he didn't think he would like that kind of activity. But it had been fun. She was light on her feet as per usual but always ready to guide him when he stumbled and fell. His heart tightened in his chest.

If only she was the creature he would be marrying.

As soon as that thought crossed his mind, his face warmed. At this point in time, he had come to understand that what he felt for Ilayda was more than just physical attraction. He wanted to be close to her — be with her. In ways... he could just not afford to.

"Tell me... about her." Her voice had been hesitant but the words were nothing but weak. Aryzath glanced at her. She didn't look at him, instead, with her hands on her stomach and eyes staring right at the sky, she seemed determined to not see him.

Aryzath would have denied answering it but there was just something in her words that had him wanting to comply. Call it curiosity — or perhaps just needing to please her, but he hunted down the words to answer her.

"Well," he said, turning his attention to the night sky once more. "She's... smart, I suppose. Definitely has ideas that I could not even begin to understand. Probably cruel in some sense of the word. Arrogant." Unappealing.

Ilayda hummed under her breath. "She doesn't sound very nice."

"Honestly? She's not." He pressed his lips together for a moment. Corvina's presence was heavily required to hunt down Tünder and the fact he was going to be married to her in order to... hurt Ilayda's people sickened him. "I'd rather be with someone else."

"You have someone else in mind?" Ilayda's question made him tense for a second.

He contemplated on that, unsure of how much he should reveal. Would she run away if she knew about how he thought about her? Would she hate him if she found out that he was that so-called useless Crown Prince?

Cowardly, he could only say, "Yes, I suppose so."

Ilayda didn't pry into that, and he wasn't sure whether he was disappointed or relieved at that. "It's a pity," she said. "You getting married to someone you don't even like."

"And what of it to you if I did?" he said.

While he had expected for her to scoff, what he didn't expect was for her to sit up and turn to face him. Her legs brushed against the side of his hip, causing him to stiffen at where he lay. Tilting his head to the side to look at her, glowing cyan eyes burned into his own.

"I don't like it," she said.

"Like what?"

"You marrying her." It was said in such conviction that it stunned him momentarily.

His mind blanked at that and his heart thundered against his chest. "Why?" he said, voice barely above a whisper.

Maybe it was the absence of Mother Moon, but he couldn't really see if she was blushing or not, but what he did know was how bright her eyes became — as if someone had lit the embers into a burning flame. His throat dried and his fingers twitched to grab her and pull her close. Simply to touch her.

She glanced away and Aryzath almost convinced himself that perhaps his mind was playing tricks on him. There was no way a creature as beautiful as her — as strong as her would ever say such things to him of all people. The cruel, awful Dragonkind.

Yet, she still said, "Because you don't deserve to be marrying someone you don't even like. You're different, Dragonkind. You have that flame inside of you to want to change. To learn and grow. For you to be reduced into nothing more than a pawn to be married off... it unsettles me."

Aryzath could only let those words sink in his head, his eyes warming at the declaration. It had been rare, besides Arya, to really utter such words of care with confidence. They had only known a short amount of time and yet... here Ilayda was — saying things he could only dream about.

He forced himself to sit upright, tilting his body to face her. She sat straighter, her eyes narrowed a tad. Once again, he wished he could throw away the life he was given and... pick a new one. One in which he could be with Ilayda. With a burst of courage that he didn't think he had, he grasped her right hand, caressing her fingers in his palm. Her touch was cool as always but they were comforting.

She didn't move her hand away. In fact, her fingers curled in his palm as if she wanted him to stay close as well. "To think you're saying such nice things about me — the Dragonkind you thought that was evil," he said.

"You're not evil," she said. "You're... different. But not evil."

"And if I turn out to be?" he said, eyeing her. "What if I'm simply deceiving you? Trick you to reveal your people like you suspect me of doing once."

Ilayda remained quiet. She surprised him by putting her other hand on top of his. "You're not. I... I know it," she said.

It was at the tip of his tongue to ask how could she be so confident but they vanished when her eyes held a flame that signified her belief in that statement. It made him want to hug her for believing in him so much.

But... if he married Corvina, he would be betraying her.

How was he even supposed to warn her?

His eyes warmed once more. The idea of losing her was an unbearable thought. "You have too much faith in me," he whispered, ducking his head and staring at their hands.

"Maybe," she said. "But I believe you when you told me the things you did."

"This sudden change of heart of yours is—"

"Dragonkind," Ilayda said, her other hand touching his chin and forcing him to tilt his head back up. His breath hitched in his throat when he looked into her cyan eyes. She adjusted her grip on his skin, fingers now cradling his cheek. That coolness in her touch had him sinking into her grasp, allowing the tension in his body to melt. How could she feel so right to him? "It may seem sudden. But... if my magic trusts you enough to let you in here multiple times, then there's a reason for it. I... believe you might be worth trusting."

"Just like that?" he asked, eyeing her.

Her lips quirked upwards. "Just like that. Surely... you feel it too. You feel the same way about me. That trust."

He immediately wrapped his fingers around her wrist, the one that was currently holding his face. His eyes widened a fraction, mind now jumping at the chance she had indeed felt this buzzing underneath his skin every time he was near her. That rightness to be with her and the fact he could just tell her anything with upmost confidence. "How..." he said, voice trailing off.

Her wings fluttered from behind her. "I just know," she said.

At that very moment, Aryzath knew that if he were to live the rest of his life shackled to someone he would never love, then, he needed to be honest to the creature he did want to be with. If nothing more than a few fleeting minutes, he wanted to convey how much she meant to him.

"I want to be closer to you," he said. "I want to learn more about you and your people. If I could choose, I would have long told Father that I didn't want to marry her. I'd have chosen to come here. I..." He swallowed past a lump forming in his throat. "Ilayda, I wanted to choose... you. It may sound like it's sudden and it probably is. But every time I'm close to you, I feel connected with you as if you're my—"

"As if you're the missing piece?" she said, silencing him as his heart skipped a beat. Now with her this close, he noted the slight wetness in her eyes. "I know. I feel it too."

Their faces were close. If Aryzath wanted to, he could lean down and press their lips together and finally taste her. But even with her confession — he was too afraid to hope. Her cyan eyes darted all over his face, occasionally flitting to his lips.

Time seemed to have slowed down. And he hoped it had for her too when his mind blanked and all there was coolness on his mouth.

And the scent that reminded him of an ocean breeze.