Conquering His Cold Heart

Anastasia tightened her grip around Caspian’s neck and pressed her forehead on Caspian’s shoulder. And after tightly shutting her eyes, she replied, “I am ready.”

Caspian could see how nervous his wife was. So, he consolingly said to calm her down, “I promise I will fly as slowly as I can. So, you don’t have to worry, okay?”

Anastasia nodded her head without lifting it from his shoulder.

Caspian subtly smiled and then walked towards the window instead of the door.

Anastasia could feel that they were heading in the opposite direction of the door, so she asked, “We’re jumping out of the window?”

“Yes.” Caspian looked at the window that was large enough for him to stand on. And before flying through, he warned Anastasia one last time, “Brace yourself. We’re going to fly now.”

Anastasia instantly held her breath and braced herself for a sudden jump. However, even after waiting for a while, she didn’t feel anything.

So, she half-opened her eyes and then tilted her head just enough to take a peek at her surroundings.

.....

She was surprised to see that the two of them were already hovering midair.

Caspian was flying backward so that the pressure of the air wouldn’t directly hit his wife’s head and body.

“How do you feel?” he asked when he saw her curiously peeking.

“Alive?” That was the only word she could come up with at the moment because she was glad that she hadn’t fallen to her death by now.

Caspian chuckled at that response as he could clearly tell that she was still scared.

And he tried to make her see past her fear, “I won’t let you fall, Anna. You have to trust me. Try opening your eyes and looking straight ahead. If you don’t look down, you won’t feel that scared.”

Anastasia wasn’t sure if doing what he said would make her feel less scared. But she was ready to give it a try.

She slowly lifted her head and turned a little to look at the sky instead of Caspian’s shirt.

Her heart instantly skipped a beat when she saw the slightly cloudy sky stretching far and wide. Every now and then, the warm light from the sun would seep through the clouds and caress her face.

She could also see different kinds of birds flying around them. Everything looked so surreal and peaceful that, though she was still scared, she felt a sense of freedom.

“Is it always this beautiful up here?” she asked her husband in a spellbound whisper.

Caspian smiled upon hearing his wife’s question. And he cheekily replied, “I never really noticed until I flew along with you. Now I know how marvelous each flight could have been if I were flying with you.”

Anastasia smiled and gently shook her head. “You always tease me...” she mumbled.

“No. I am not teasing you. I am telling you the truth.”

Caspian looked deep into Anastasia’s emerald green eyes and said with all seriousness, “Flying had never been this fun before. It always made me feel lonely. It was a constant reminder that I am always above everyone, away from the reach of others. That’s why I preferred running along with the others. But now... I think I will appreciate flying if I get to carry you every time I do so.”

Anastasia could understand the pain behind his words. She knew how difficult and lonely life could be when one was at the top of the system.

She then sympathetically said to her husband, “Then I will try to get used to this so that we can fly more often.”

She took a deep breath in and darted her eyes around the sky to win over her fear.

Caspian slowly turned around so that he could fly forward and let Anastasia feel the soft breeze and also let her see what was ahead of them.

The soft breeze instantly tried to blow away Anastasia’s shawl from her head. She rested her head on Caspian’s shoulder so that her precious shawl wouldn’t fly away.

Caspian also slowed his speed further to let his wife enjoy the view of the vast sky ahead of them.

Anastasia tried not to consciously look down but she could still see the woods that they were flying above. Slowly, the woods got thinner and thinner and a few houses started to appear here and there. And after a while more, she could see a whole town down below. The buildings and roads looked so tiny that she could guess how much higher they were flying from the ground.

By now, she didn’t realize it but she was already used to the sight below her. She was eagerly watching the town that looked like it was built hundreds of years ago.

“Shall we go down and look around?” Caspian asked while hovering in one place.

Anastasia looked down and tried to see if the capital was bustling with vampires or not. However, her human eyes didn’t allow her to do that.

So she asked Caspian in a little worried voice, “Will it be okay to do that? Won’t people recognize you? And won’t they react in a certain way if they see me?”

Though Anastasia didn’t spell it out, Caspian understood what she was thinking. So, he gave her a comforting smile and clarified, “I’ve already arranged for your safety. Besides, I will be walking hand-in-hand with you. No one will dare to lift their eyes and look at you.”

Earlier, Percy had alerted the royal guards about the King’s desire to roam around the Capital.

And by now, all of the royal guards had already spread around in the capital, making sure that everything would be in order when the King and the Queen arrived there.

Anastasia agreed to head down to the capital when Caspian said that everything had already been taken care of. She didn’t want any commotion to happen in the town because of her mere presence. And she definitely didn’t want all the vampires of the town to look at her like a walking jar of blood.

Caspian then gracefully lowered himself from the sky, along with his wife. He also hoped that no one would dare to act out and make his wife uncomfortable.