“We really must stop meeting like this,” she said, a ridiculous titter escaping her.
Blessed moons. Keep it together.
“Perhaps it’s better the Sisters drive us together, however awkwardly,” he said softly, as if to himself.
O-kay…
“And why is that?” she countered.
“Because then I am forced to act,” he whispered, “instead of dallying with my crippling thoughts.”
Well, that was unexpected.
“Uh…”
Probably have to do better than ‘uh’ if you want him to ever speak to you again.
Never mind that she understood so completely it made her ache. Had lived with those crippling thoughts as her only constant companion for decades.
A blush stole across his cheeks to—undoubtedly—match her own. Charged silence hung between them for a moment as he searched her face, and she wondered if he even realized he was still holding her. Not that she was complaining.
“I wonder if perhaps…”
Should you tell him that you’re still bent backwards and half-dangling, or just let it happen?
Let it happen. Obviously. She hadn’t been held in so long—even inelegantly—that she’d begun to forget what it could be like. The warmth and comfort of it. Of another being sharing their space with her own, unable to tell whose heart it was she felt beating.
This was the third time she’d found herself accidentally in his arms and stars above, she liked it.
Fool.
His nostrils flared as he took a deep breath. “Would you like to see something spectacular?”
There was an earnestness in his tone that grabbed hold of her, banishing every backhanded thought and rejecting any response other than, “Yes.”
Brand’s eyes never left hers as he slowly pulled her upright and offered his arm.
She took it, his scent washing over her as he led her through the empty corridors. Salt and fresh pine, and something warm that seemed attached only to him.
Though he was silent, she felt his excitement grow with every step they took, thrumming just beneath her fingertips where they clutched him. She couldn’t help the surreptitious glances she stole, taking in his profile and the way one side of his mouth had curled upwards.
It teased a smile from her own lips—until she found herself standing before the portal in the great hall.
Lunara had wanted to see Straelon. To visit the city, maybe go to a pub for the first time. Faced with the reality, though, a skitter of nervousness snaked its way down her spine.
“Um… Where are we going?”
“Not too far,” he said, rummaging through a small pouch on his belt. “Just right outside, really.”
He lifted his toll and threw it into the portal, offering her a crooked grin before grabbing her hand and pulling her through.
They emerged into a tempest,her hair whipping into a frenzied, blinding curtain and tangling in every imaginabledirection. Brand, too, was caught up in the mess, if the tugging at her scalp was anything to go by.
“Just don’t let go!” he shouted, though she could barely hear him over the screaming howl of the wind.
He squeezed her hand and urged her to follow. Rock and gravel crunched beneath her slippered feet, and she held on like her life depended on it.
For all she knew, it did.
