I  walked into the kitchen and froze in the doorway, dropping my sword and the letter onto the floor in shock. “Well, I was hoping for a better reception…” I ran across the room and flung my arms round his neck, feeling his hot breath against my skin as he laughed. Wrapping his arms round my waist he kissed my head; I could feel him inhaling the smell of my hair as I nuzzled into his shoulders. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too.” I whispered in return and hung onto him more. He pulled back slightly, kissed me gently, and then with more force as the kiss went on. A cough sounded from the open doorway and we sprung apart, looking at the floor, but both of us with sheepish grins on our faces. Senkrad laughed.

“You seem to have gotten you answer to whether you are going to the Ball in Elmira.” I smiled at him, Rowan followed suit and we both escaped into the garden. He took my hand as we walked around the flowers, rubbing circles in my palm as we ambled along the paths. When he stopped next to one of the fruit trees I turned back to face him and found myself under an observant gaze, “What?”

“You’ve changed a lot since I was last here.”

“Oh.” I bit my lip and looked away from him, trying to work out what he meant, hoping it wasn’t what my mind had immediately jumped to. He put his hand on my cheek and turned my face towards him.

“I like it.” He said, smiling and kissing me once again, pulling my body towards him. I was aware of the distant longings it brought in me as my body was held firmly against his, I pulled away, smiling at him knowingly and still holding his hand as I led him to the wall the was underneath my room.

“Hold tight.” I lifted him up and through the open window, landing softly on the floor of my bedroom. He smiled and ran his hands through my hair, pausing at the nape of my neck and then crushing his mouth against my own. I walked back until I was resting against the wall, never breaking the kiss as we moved across the floor. He slid one of his legs between my own just as he had almost a year ago, his body pushing and curving into mine in the same familiar way, only this time I was completely in control.

He rolled over and lay on the bed next to me, making the covers pull tightly against my side. Then he turned to me, the moonlight highlighting his cheeks as a contented smile spread across his face. I smiled back as his hand brushed a stray lock of hair back behind my ear and faltered on my cheek, slowly stroking along my jawbone. I saw the desire in his eyes and slid closer to him once again so that I could feel my bare skin against his and he knew I felt the same way.

The next morning when I woke up I could fully remember the night that had just passed and smiled to myself. I turned over to see Rowan’s dreaming face as his head lay against the white pillow next to mine and studied it closely while he slept, noticing the perfect double curve of his lips and the way that his dark eyelashes curled against his cheek.

I breathed out slowly trying not to wake him but my cool breath ruffled his hair and his eyes fluttered open, hazily locking onto mine. “Morning.” I said quietly. He smiled in reply.

“We should probably go down to Senkrad, shouldn’t we?” He said after a few long minutes, his tone disgruntled. I laughed lightly at his expression but agreed in a tone much the same as his.

We pulled on our clothes and went down the stairs hand in hand. As we walked into the kitchen I thought I saw a strange smirk flit cross Senkrad’s face that was directed at Rowan, but it passed so quickly that I assumed it was nothing.

The bread and fruit was already on the table and I smiled at Senkrad warmly remembering that first argument we’d had over my meat eating habits, it seemed like years ago. We ate the food in silence and I waited patiently for the other two to finish, questions burning at the tip of my tongue. Finally they finished.

“So when are we leaving?” I asked excitedly, unable to bite back the enthusiasm I felt at the prospect of going back to Elmira, even if only for a few days.

“This afternoon if you feel up to it.” Rowan flicked a knowing smile at me and I paused as if seriously considering his reply. He faltered. “If that’s ok?”

“Well apart from one thing…is there no way we could leave sooner?” I smiled unable to control the excitement in my voice. Rowan’s replying smile was warm.

“In that case, we’ll leave as soon as you’re ready.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth I rushed upstairs and gathered my pathetic amount of belongings, I was back down in a matter of seconds. I paused at the table, putting my bag on it so I could attach my sword and belt round my waist.

I paused again in thought, feeling my brow furrow as I encountered a problem. “But what will I wear?” I asked, feeling for once like a normal teenage girl as I momentarily forgot the fact that I wasn’t human.

“I already picked you out a selection of dresses back at the palace where you can choose a favourite.” Rowan said and I beamed at him, more enthusiastic than I thought possible.

When I went out to the stable Arian whickered at me and I stroked her smooth face, for the first time in a long time I let he tendrils of my mind reach out and touch hers, feeling her calming presence wash over me and her feeling of gladness that I was there. I stroked her stain smooth nose again and smiled. I had missed this horse.

Once we were mounted and ready to go Senkrad came out to wish us a good journey and gave me a slice of insight. “If anger and passion prevail, all else is lost.” He said it with a solemn expression and I took the advice seriously. Before I knew it we’d come to the bottom of Cadavain and the whole world seemed to stretch out in an amazingly open expanse of freedom around me. I turned to Rowan, “Do you trust me?” I asked him mischievously.

“Yes of course, why?” I jumped off Arian and instructed her to stay with Rowan.

“Then I’ll meet you at the edge of the Elmiran forests.” I kissed him lightly on the cheek and ran. It was amazing, I felt so free, the life was flowing through my veins as my feet barely touched the ground, their soft padding a thousand feathers falling on a drum. I was flying.

The wind flew through my hair causing my fringe to whip over the top of my head and making me laugh as I thought about what I must look like. I laughed again, feeling freer than I had in too long. It felt good to be my own person for just a little while.

The forest appeared much too soon for my liking. I took a last few steps, pulling out a last burst of speed and then hit a final foot into the earth before launching myself to the top of the closest tree. I landed on the balls of my feet before twirling round and sitting on the three inch bough with my legs dangling into the expanse of air below me.

I could see Rowan’s little speck in the distance and knew that I had a long wait; night would have fallen before they got to where I was, but if there was one thing I had learnt on Cadavain it was patience. So I sat in that tall tree and waited.

When they neared I slowly made my decent, choosing to use the air around me to lower me down rather than climbing. I appeared a few meters in front of him and smiled. “You took your time.”

“Well we can’t all be super powered beautiful creatures.” He laughed and for the first time I saw an unfamiliar glint in his eyes, but it soon disappeared and I put it down to the evening light.

I lightly leaped onto Arian’s back and rubbed her neck with my hand. As we carried on into the forest together we started to talk of the more political things that were happening inside of Elmira and I bored quickly, but did not want to seem rude, so I listened, commenting in all the right places. I was glad to hear of the information that he had been promoted to commander, one of the main reasons he was able to collect me on his own, but became awkward when he kept telling me all of the amazing things he’d done to achieve his new post and I wondered what had happened to the boy who didn’t like to boast about his accomplishments.

After a while we stopped and set up camp. We didn’t bother putting up the second tent as neither of us minded sleeping in the same space. However unlike the night before all we did was sleep and I was glad he didn’t try to push it. This was the Rowan I remembered I thought to myself as he kissed me on the forehead and held my hand in his as I slowly drifted into dreams.

The next morning after we’d packed up and eaten we carried on our journey. The conversation drifted more towards what I’d been doing in the last few months and I barely noticed the trees pass as I saw the images of the last few unbelievable months pass in front of my eyes.

As the light between the leaves changed from a dull yellow to bright green and back to yellow again I noted the passing of time and was pleased when we made it to Elmira’s gates as the sun was just beginning to dip in the evening sky.