“Yargen bless, it’scold.” Taavin’s teeth chattered. “Or is it just my senses being heightened in this new body after not feeling the world for so long?”
“Both, likely.” Vi and Taavin dismounted and she led Prism into the simple stable attached to the cabin. Trudging in the same line of snow as Deneya, she opened the door without preamble.
“How did it—” Deneya sat up from her bed, freezing the second her eyes landed on Taavin. She narrowed them slightly and tilted her head. “He…”
“I made him a body.”
“You… made him… a body.”
“I haven’t seen you this flummoxed since we first met.” Vi laughed lightly. She hadn’t laughed so much in months—years. Things were finally going her way. After years of practice and waiting and praying, things had gone right.
“People don’t make bodies.”
“Women do it all the time.”
“Firstly, babies don’t count for what we’re talking about here. Secondly, they don’t count because you made an adult man’s body out of thin air. Thirdly, do not dodge the topic.” Deneya stood, walking over to Taavin. She poked his shoulder lightly. “You seem a lot more real than you used to.”
“It’s an adjustment for me, too.” Taavin had a relaxed smile on his face, as though he’d just eaten a full meal. “I apologize that my presence might make things tighter for a while. You only have two beds here and—”
“You can share mine,” Vi interrupted without hesitation. Both of them seemed surprised, though Vi didn’t know why. It seemed like a perfectly reasonable solution to her. Perhaps neither expected her to be so brazen about it.
Despite what her body looked like, Vi wasn’t a blushing young woman anymore.
“Right, well…” A knowing smirk played on Deneya’s lips. She looked Taavin up and down. “Those clothes clearly don’t fit you.”
“They’re mine,” Vi said. “I was planning on going to Mosant tomorrow to buy some new ones.”
“How about I go now?” Deneya promptly grabbed a satchel off the peg by the door and shoved a few coins into it.
“You don’t have to. I can—”
“I really don’t mind going.” Deneya shook her head and gave Vi a pointed look. “It’s only an hour into town. I can ride leisurely, maybe grab a hot meal. I should be back by noon.”
Oh. A smile slipped across Vi’s cheeks. She understood now. And respected Deneya all the more for it. The woman was a true friend.
“Right, then, you should get off your feet. You look dead tired.” Deneya started for the door, pausing before she opened it. “Have a good, ah,rest.” She left with a wink and not a word more.
They were alone. Taavin and Vi stared at each other as the sounds of Deneya’s horse rumbled away. It didn’t sound like a leisurely pace. But Vi had every reason to believe the woman would slow as soon as she was out of ear- and eye-shot of the cabin.
“Does she always leave just before dawn to head into town?” Taavin asked.
“Can’t say she’s ever done it before.”
“So I should take this to mean she cares deeply about me and my new wardrobe?” He wore a smug, knowing grin. The look suited him. It’d look even better if it was the only thing he was wearing.
“I can’t speak for Deneya… But I can speak for myself.” Vi crossed the distance between them and rested her hands on his hips. “I think I care deeply for you.”
“Care deeply?” He arched his eyebrows. “Vi Solaris, I think youloveme.”
“A bold claim, sir.”
“I’m pretty confident it’s true.”
She kissed the smirk off his lips, then trailed her fingers up his body. They caught on the hem of the sweater she’d given him and pulled upward. She’d seen him fully naked. No matter how much modesty she’d tried to offer him, it was impossible not to have noticed the naked man standing before her.
Vi saw no point in hesitating now.
She wanted him. She’d wanted him for years. She’d yearned to run her fingers up his stomach and chest and twirl them in his hair, to the point of dreaming about it for days on end.
