She would be dead! Madeline didn’t have any plan to die here, especially not in the way which he had described. Maybe she could go to the edge and behave like she was going to fall and he would stop her from falling? After standing there for a few more seconds, Madeline finally started to move her feet.
Walking towards the end of the cliff, she finally stopped to turn and look at Calhoun who didn’t appear to want to stop her from walking. With a sigh and a gulp, she moved closer to where Calhoun had been standing before. She tried not to look at the deep steep that was beneath her as her heart started to beat loudly.
“How do you feel?” asked Calhoun, his gaze calm on her.
“What do you think?” Madeline shot back listening her heart beating loudly in her ears. The wind breezed in such strength that she had to keep her feet glued to the ground. Both Madeline and Calhoun in someways where the same where they were not ready to back down. Calhoun had got her easily cornered, and he admired the fact that she was still staring right into his eyes.
Calhoun then walked towards her, closing the large distance that had formed in between them, “You look scared. Are you questioning if it’s worth saving the man’s life for your own?”
“If no one killed anyone, there wouldn’t be any need for it,” she whispered, the wind pulling out the small pieces of her hair from her braid that started to sway in the direction of the wind. Even Calhoun’s inky black hair had been ruffled where some of them moved back while some came to stand in front of his forehead.
“You are right,” he agreed before saying, “You must hate me so much now.”
“I don’t get you,” she said to him, “You say you like me, but you do things that cause anxiousness in my heart.”
“Why do you defy me by speaking about the man when you know it’s going to anger me,” he raises his hand to run the back of his finger over her cheek, “You know it well yet you try to provoke me. Going so far as to side with him when I am patient by not beheading him. You’re doing great so far,” he praised her.
Madeline wasn’t sure about that. Her legs were shaky, and the wind was pushing her, which made it worse to stand. She had closed her eyes when he had touched her, waiting to be pushed but when he retracted his hand back to him, she opened to look at him, “Have you ever jumped from this cliff?” she knew it was a stupid question, but she asked it.
“I have,” he surprised her by his answer, “Many times before. The first time you are scared. The second time you remember the fear and the third time you still do until the next time you find it to be nothing but exhilarating.”
Madeline doubted she had even a grain of interest in jumping right down the cliff through air. His expression was calm, and with the wind that continued to blow, Madeline tried to remember his words.
“You look like a lamb being taken to a butcher,” his comment made her eyes flare-up.
“Is it anything less now?” she asked and saw him smile. She was going to fall on the ground in a few seconds, and he was smiling?
“Recollect my words. I will give you a minute for it,” he said, and she frowned.
She did as she was told. There was no point in questioning it when only more seconds would be lost. He said it was a test, but then he told he had done it too, was he under some test too?
Calhoun had brought her here to let her know how she felt about James, a man she knew only from a distance and not closely. He had thrown the little note from her mother, and she had been angry about it, an anger she didn’t know how to put out. She had favoured James, and she had achieved provoking the King. And then he had made up a tale between the red riding hood and the bad wolf…
If she went by his words, he said he would not let her fall. She didn’t know if a minute had passed because she continued to look into his deep red eyes that had texture in them because of the light that was present around them. He stood waiting for her. Madeline took a deep long breath, placing her foot where there was no surface behind her for a fraction of a second before her body started to free-fall in haste. She saw Calhoun standing up there looking at her falling. Scared she closed her eyes and the wind moved against her.
When she had crossed half of the distance, something swooped past to catch her. Madeline was frightened, and it took her sometime before she opened her eyes to find herself in the arms of the man who had asked her to jump off the cliff. Noticing something flap behind his back, her eyes that were wide caught sight of a pair of black wings behind his back.
The adrenaline rush had not come down from her body, and her heart continued to thump in her chest wildly. When they finally made it back on the surface of the cliff, this time away from the edge, Madeline was placed back on the ground. Her knees were too weak with fear and shock that it almost gave away if it weren’t for Calhoun’s arm that caught Madeline’s waist.
Seeing how the wings started to close in to hide behind his back, her eyes finally moved up to stare at him, “Y-you have wings,” she stuttered.
“I did say I won’t let you fall down. I am glad that you stepped back,” he said, a satisfied smile came to settle on his lips.
Madeline couldn’t believe what she just saw. This was something she had never heard about and her adrenaline rushing through her veins which was making her head dizzy due to the fall she just had.
“H-how?” asked Madeline.
“I happen to have them.” She had not screamed, and he had seen the look in her eyes as if deep down she trusted him, not to let any harm befall on her. All she had to do was to trust, and he was pleased that she indeed had put some faith in him knowingly or unknowingly, “Communication and trust are what builds a relationship. I will protect and keep you safe,” she heard Calhoun say while his arm firmly wrapped around her waist.
“You were the one who asked me to jump off the cliff,” she said, her eyes darting behind him to see if those wings were visible but they weren’t.
“I did tell you that it was a test,” said Calhoun, his eyes took in the expression that was passing on her face.
So the test was not about James? Asked Madeline to herself. Jumping off the cliff was not about what she said, but it was about her putting her trust in Calhoun. Now it felt as if the King said something but meant something else.
“There are easier ways to find out and make someone trust you.” His ways were dangerous. She had hoped he would jump as he had spoken about jumping off the cliff in the past.
“That wouldn’t be fun,” stated Calhoun. Madeline finally placed her hands on his chest in an intent to push him away as she felt her legs more steady than the last few minutes. But Calhoun pulled her to bring her more close to him. The wind blew strongly where they stood where she found the unruly hair at the front of his forehead moving every now and then, “I don’t trust people that easily, Madeline. Don’t break it.” There was no playfulness there and his words were serious, along with his eyes that didn’t deter.
Madeline was an average girl. At least compared to her sister, Beth, and some other girls around her age she had always been the person who wasn’t someone who stood out in the crowd. She didn’t understand Calhoun’s interest.
“You can have anyone you want,” she said.
The sharpness in his eyes mellowed at her words, “Then I choose you. You are the person I want.”
