“The more I get to know you,” she whispers, “the more I can’t imagine binding my heart to anyone else.”
He stares at her for a moment. “That is what I should have said.”
This time, she can’t help the smile that trips across her face. “I’m glad to hear you don’t hate me, though.”
The corner of his mouth twitches, and laughter rises unbidden from her throat.
“I’m not good with words,” he says.
A smile takes over his face as she bites her lower lip, trying to contain her laughter. Then she buries her face in his neck as her shoulders shake.
Eventually, her laughter fades, and she sighs contentedly against him. If only her hands weren’t numb.
A faint smokiness emanates from his skin, but it’s not overpowering. It’s reminiscent of bonfires on the beach and cozy nights around the hearth. Warmth and family and home.
“How are your hands?” he asks.
“Frozen. Can I move them yet?”
“Why didn’t you say something? I wasn’t trying to give you frostbite.”
She pulls her stiff fingers from the icy white powder. They’re redder now than they were before. At least she can’t feel the pain anymore.
She can’t feel much of anything.
Tucking her hands under her cloak to warm them, she leans back against Cerian and gazes out over thesnowy world surrounding them. Other than an occasional glistening snowflake, the falling snow has slowed.
She should probably climb off his lap, but she doesn’t offer to move, and he doesn’t ask her to. Occasionally, he hurls a flaming fireball into the sky. What’s going through his head now?
“Tell me more about this...man of snow,” he says, to her surprise.
“Well, first, it’s called a snowman. And second, it would be easier to show you.” When she glances at his face, his eyes are wary, and she holds back yet another smile. “We have to roll three large snowballs and stack them up. The smallest one will be his head.”
“This doesn’t sound like a man. It sounds like a lumpy blob.”
Laughter fills her once more. “It will probably look like a lumpy blob. But it’s fun. Come on.”
She climbs off him, feeling the loss of his heat as her stiff fingers fumble with her mittens.
Then he’s there, carefully tugging them in place without touching her.
Her heart speeds up at the tender gesture, and on a whim, she presses her lips to his cheek. He stiffens under her touch.
Stars above. She shouldn’t have done that.
Her Fire Wielder
Episode 41
“I’msosorry,”Arisannasays as she backs away. Fear fills her face, and it’s enough to make Cerian feel like a monster.
Whatever heat was exploding inside him at the press of her lips to his cheek dissipates at the look on her face.
“Are you all right?” she asks.
With a curt nod, he turns away and breathes out slowly to control the turbulent emotions swirling through his head and his heart. This night in their heartlanding has mortified him and made him angry, mostly at himself. It’s also been full of hopeful moments, connecting with Arisanna and making him long for more.
But then she looks at him like that, and his walls crash down again.
