Emmaline (Patreon)

Golden Hour

The woods always felt different at golden hour — warmer, slower, like the whole forest had decided to breathe with me instead of around me. Every leaf glowed with that honey-coloured shimmer, and the air hummed with the soft kind of summer quiet you only get right before the day tips into dusk.

I walked barefoot along the trail, letting the cool earth press gently against my soles. It grounded me — and, if I’m honest, made me sway my hips just a little more than necessary. My dress, short and golden and soft as a sigh, caught the light in a way that almost felt unfair.

I could hear Moroi, silent except for the faint click of him lifting the camera and deciding if he should say something.

He always waited a little too long.

I think he liked seeing what I’d do without instruction.

“Stay with the sun,” he finally murmured.

Like I needed the reminder.

I turned slightly, letting the fabric of my dress flare just so, letting the sunlight spill along the curves of my legs. The glow wrapped around me like it was choosing me on purpose — following me instead of the other way around.

I smiled to myself.

I liked being chosen by the light.

Moroi stepped a little closer, but still didn’t direct me. Smart man. I wasn’t in the mood for posing. I was in the mood for… wandering. Drifting. Maybe teasing the camera more than I normally did.

I lifted my gaze to a patch of light breaking through the branches and walked toward it, slow and unhurried, like the forest and I were sharing a secret. My hair warmed under the sun, glowing at the edges, and I pretended not to notice the way the lens followed the movement.

Golden against green.

Warmth against shadow.

Me against everything that wasn’t glowing.

I breathed in the smell of damp earth and late-summer leaves, then glanced back over my shoulder, giving Moroi the gentlest, quietest smile.

“You said let it find me,” I teased softly.

“It always does.”

The shutter clicked — once, twice — the hush of the woods filling every space between the sounds.

And just for that moment, walking barefoot under a canopy of gold, I felt like the forest wasn’t just part of the scene…

It was following me, too.