“No, you didn’t. You could just send me away when you wanted.”
“And now I can’t.”
“And now you can’t,” he echoed tenderly. Taavin reached up, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. His fingers lingered. They ran down her cheek, along her jawline, to her ear and back around the nape of her neck. His fingertips pressed into her and Vi tilted her head forward and up on command.
Their lips met.
Soft, was the first thought that ran through her mind. He was so soft. The thin barrier of magic between them was gone.
He was here. And he was hers.
Vi shifted, pressing forward until their sides were flush. He wrapped his arms around her while her fingertips spread across the unbroken, unblemished plane of his chest.
“My scars are gone,” Taavin whispered huskily.
“They are. Mine disappeared too when my body was remade in this world.” Part of her already missed every nook and cranny of his old body. “All the more reason for me to explore and discover this new form you’re in.”
His hand grabbed hers as it grazed over the raised muscles of his abdomen. Taavin swallowed hard and locked his eyes with hers. “Yes.”
“Yes,but?”
“Not here.” He glanced over her flames and toward the open door. “Not so close tohim.”
Vi let out a groan of discontent. Taavin wasn’t wrong. But she wanted him to be. She wanted to object to his postponement of this inevitable and most delicious moment between them.
She pried herself away.
“Where are you going?”
“To get my horse.” Vi stepped through the flames.
“Are you sure you can—”
“You stay there and stay warm so you don’t get frostbite and ruin that body I just made. I’ll be fine. If anything was going to motivate me… this was it.” She gave him a wink, and marched out of the Caverns with purpose.
Vi practically flew down the mountainside. Her heart was pounding and her magic was thin. She could feel every ache in her tired body. It had been a long night, and the first makings of a gray winter dawn were on the sky by the time she mounted Prism.
She raced back up the mountain and rode Prism into the entry of the Caverns, his hooves echoing off every surface. Vi ignored the sensation of Raspian, now as clear as Yargen’s essence, permeating the entirety of the Caverns. She dismounted and rummaged through the clothing she’d packed. Luckily, unlike the last time she’d ridden out from a capital city, she was far more prepared for winter.
“Come on over.” Vi relaxed her magic and the flames vanished. Taavin appeared in the archway of the antechamber, clutching himself and bracing against the winter winds that blew in through the cave mouth. Vi held out a pair of oversized trousers—one of the few things she’d lounged in, the brief moments she had time for lounging—and then a woolen knit shirt that should have enough give to fit his taller, broader body.
“This is comical,” Taavin chuckled. It was a deep and rumbling sound, resonating within her more than anything else he’d ever said or done.
“I could never look at you and see anything but perfection.”
“You’re just trying to sweet talk me,” he said as she threw one of her older cloaks over his shoulders. All she needed to do was keep him warm enough to get back to the cabin. Tomorrow she could ride to Mosant and find better-fitting clothes for him.
“I am. Is it working?”
“Yes.” He caught her lips before she could pull away, his hands wrapping around hers.
“Good.” She stepped away, a slight sway and twirl to her step. “Now, let’s go home.”
She mounted first, he swung up behind her. Judging from how tightly he clutched her, Taavin didn’t have much experience riding horses. She’d take it easy on him if she wasn’t so worried about him catching a chill on the way back to the cabin. And if her lower stomach hadn’t become something molten hot at the sight of him.
They left the weakened Caverns behind and rode into the hours just before dawn. Clouds were gathering in the southern skies with what looked like the last blizzard of the season on the horizon. There were worse fates than being snowed in for a while, Vi supposed.
Smoke drifted into the gray sky from the chimney of the modest cabin. The windows splashed golden streaks across the snow. Midsummer was in the stable and it looked like Deneya had even found dry hay from their stores.
