“I will give you your own wings if you convert for me,” he proposed ardently. His coaxing hand trailed down my back, illustrating to me where my wings would be and my heart quickened at the possibility. “I will make them more beautiful than mine and your wings will be the envy of the rest of creation.”

Standing atop the mountain, being so close to the glittering ocean above me, I was completely enthralled. I’ve dreamed of having wings all my life; I’ve dreamed of flying, of gliding freely up in the stars all my life.

Even though I shouldn’t, I couldn’t help but entertain the proposition that was being given so freely to me. “Will mine be bigger than yours?”

“No,” he answered with a smile. “If I give you wings, yours is going to be smaller than mine.”

Even in my stupor, I was still lucid enough to frown. “Why?”

The smile in his voice intensified as he pressed himself closer to me. “So when we stand at the edge of the world like this, my wings can curl around yours and keep it warm.”

The image that briefly surfaced in my mind was a glorious one. But then, I shook my head. Acknowledging that I was taking this too far, I blinked those fantastical thoughts away.

My voice grew timid. I tried to steer the temptation away with a brush of reality. “. . .But I’m afraid of heights.”

“All the more reasons why you need wings,” he breathed out coaxingly, now wrapping both of his strong arms around my waist, making me feel so small and dainty compared to him.