Wunderlust

For Amber

1.

The rain beat hard against the paned glass windows of the small hut she and her companion were staying in. They’d both been traveling along the same path when the storm hit. It had swelled too quickly for either of them to be truly prepared and the abandoned shack alongside the steep mountain road was the only shelter to be found.

Aria crouched further into the wooden wall and clutched at her thin shirt. The temperature had dropped drastically with the forthcoming of the storm. She’d only a moment to recognize that her arms were alight with cold bumps when she felt the hand rest comfortably on her shoulder.

Even more startled by her male companion’s sudden appearance to her side than the crack of thunder and lightning that filled the air with a dangerous edge, she shifted her weight more comfortably into the corner she was huddling in. Peering out from beneath her sopping bangs, Aria gazed wearily on the man beside her.

“May I help you?” she muttered and shoved back the bangs from her eyes.

“I’d only noticed that you were cold,” the man said lightly and let his hand slide down her arm to rest on her knee. Aria glared. Being trapped in an abandoned hut with a man she’d never met before in her life was not a predicament she particularly favored.

Gritting her teeth, she sized up her opponent in case there need be a fight between them. He had a slight frame, she noticed, and was rather willowy. His limbs were lean with wires of thin, strong muscle beneath the skin. If there was a fight, she was sure to have a hell of a time beating him. It appeared he was no stranger to physical labor or at least some form of exercise.

Her eyes trailed upward to his hair. It was loose and hanging about his shoulders in silky, black waves, a few strands misplaced and hanging in his face. It was then that she noticed his grin. It was one a cat might wear when it found a mouse—one that said many things and held many secrets.

Suddenly feeling very threatened, Aria made to stand. She no longer desired to be in the same small quarters with the stranger whose deep, rust colored eyes seemed to be devouring every inch of her. The hand that was previously on her knee was suddenly around her wrist, pulling her to sit again.

“W-what do you think you’re doing?” She failed to keep the quiver of fear out of her voice. There was something she couldn’t quite place about this man, something that made him seem much more dangerous than the storm raging outside. And suddenly she knew as he brushed a lock of hair behind his ear. He was a wizard! The darkly colored scarlet stones in his ears said it all. He was not only a wizard, but a high ranking one.

Tensing beneath his fingers, Aria tried again to move away. It was as if his hands were made of stone. They did not budge an inch from her wrist and he only smiled amusedly as he pulled her back to him.

“What do you want and who are you?” She demanded, forcing herself to be bold. It would do her no good to show him how truly terrified he was making her.

“I am the wizard Malik and I want,” he let another grin curl onto his lips, “you.”

A look of horror split across her face and Aria was quite certain she felt her heart stop beating in her chest. She watched with wide, cyan eyes as the wizard shifted to sit in front of her.

“You’re cold,” he repeated his earlier statement though this time it rumbled deep in his throat as he muttered to himself. The displeased frown on his face was even more alarming than the previous smile.

In an instant, Aria found herself pressed against the strange wizard’s chest. His arms were wrapped tightly around her shoulders as he began to pull off her dripping tunic.

“S-stop!” she cried in alarm and struggled to get away from the man undressing her. She could not be sure if it was magic or his sheer will, but Malik soon had her subdued and resting comfortably in his lap, wrapped in his surprisingly dry traveling cloak and dressed only in her undergarments.

“You were cold and wet. Now you are not.” He said it so simply, Aria had to wonder where the wizard’s mind was.

Knowing that she would not win in a battle against this man, Aria let herself sit rigidly in his arms. Some time had passed before he grew tired of her blatant discomfort with him and said, “Go to sleep, little tempest, you’re clothes will be dry in the morning and we will set off towards your destination.”

“You’re not coming with me.” She stifled a yawn and squinted her eyes through the last fading light of day.

“You can not stop me.” she didn’t need to look at him to know that a feral grin was sitting contentedly back on his lips.

Knowing better than to try to get away from a powerful wizard and having no other choice, Aria leaned back to rest against the hard lines of his chest. In her last moments of consciousness, she thought she heard him whisper something important in her ear but she was already too far gone to recognize what it was.

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Note: I'm trying out a new writing style and I'm not sure if anyone will like it. Please let me know.