“Are you trying to make me ignore my responsibility as Champion?”
“At least for tonight,” he said with a sultry note. Vi felt him grin against her mouth and it prompted her to mirror the action. Sometimes, there was simply too much to worry over.
Troubling herself with what would happen when all of Yargen’s power was collected was pointless until she actually collected that power. First, she needed to worry about getting the crystal weapons and figuring out where the crown was hidden. But even before all that… she’d worry about the man before her.
She pushed him gently, allowing the back of his knees to meet the bed frame. Taavin sat heavily. The bed groaned under his weight—the ropes supporting the mattress tightened—and the sound jostled her from the trance his touch could put her under.
Vi blinked at him. His hands were on her hips as she straddled him, one still clutching the stone. Taavin looked up at her from underneath heavy lids lined with long lashes. His lips were already begging for hers again.
But all she could do was stare, running her fingertips down his cheek.
“What is it?” Taavin whispered.
“When you touch this, you’re real. As real as you were in the Crystal Caverns,” Vi mused gingerly. “I think if I linked your consciousness to the crystal, I wouldn’t need to maintainnarro hathand you would be here with me.”
“Vi…” His free hand tapped at the watch around her neck. “I am always here for you. Isn’t that enough?”
It should be. Some didn’t get half as lucky. But she was needy. And there was some streak of selfish princess in her when it came to this man where Vi would never learn to leave well enough alone.
She wanted him. All of him.
“You are always enough.” Vi kissed the tip of his nose lightly. “I just want all of you.”
“You have all I am.”
“I still want to try linking your form with the crystal,” she persisted.
“You might have successfully managed the sword. But this is different. And the last thing you want to do is ruin the magic of the watch. Meddle with that incorrectly, and you really will lose me, along with your and your future selves’ chances to save this world by benefiting from my collected memories.”
“I know I can,” she insisted. “Let me try.”
“No, we must be cautious.” A note of finality in his tone made Vi relent.
She sighed and pressed her forehead against his. “I want you like this.” She wanted to feel warmth from him. To breathe in his scent. To feel his smooth skin and silky hair under her fingers.
“Do you think I don’t want it?” He caught her lips again, planting a firm kiss as he pulled her closer to him and further away from the idea.
“I want to roll over and find you in the night. I want to come back and see you here, waiting to greet me,” Vi whispered between short, sweet kisses.
Taavin leaned back, pulling her with him. He twisted, and Vi found herself beneath him. Their weight made the mattress sink further into the ropes as he continued to clutch the stone in his palm.
Withnarro hathhe was real to her.
With the power of Yargen, he could be real to the world.
“I want to go about my day and run into you,” he murmured, kissing her cheeks. “I want to catch your eyes from across a square, or a hall, or a library, and share a smile that only we would know. A smile to assure you that by night you will find your way into my arms once more.” His lips moved down her neck and Vi let out a soft sigh.
I need you to give me a place to hide from the world when I need, Vi wanted to say. She had no reprieve, not really… not since she had fallen in love with him only to end his mortal form. The arms that had become her home were taken from her, just like everything else.
“It’s a beautiful dream,” Vi whispered.
“Indulge in that beautiful dream, tonight.” Taavin brought his lips back to hers. Vi kissed him so firmly that when he pulled away, he was breathless. “Indulge in us, because that’s all we have.”
His words were like honey warmed in sunlight, bright, sweet, and oh so tempting. She found herself stuck in them as much as she was stuck in place, helpless beneath his wandering hands. It had been fourteen years since she had a room to herself, and the ground of the Crystal Caverns was far too cold and hard.
“I can’t,” Vi whispered.
“You can’t?” He slowly pulled away and sat up on the bed.
