“If you keep doing that, I might be the one to catch fire.” His voice is soft. Low. It thrills something deep inside her.
“K-keep doing what?”
“Running your hands over me while you look at me like that.”
Both their hearts are pounding now. Rominy’s eyes slip to her mouth before he exhales slowly through pursed lips and glances away. “The doctor will be back soon.”
His words bring reality crashing in, and heat crawls up her neck and face as she reclaims her hand. Not that she needs to be embarrassed, does she? He seemed to welcome her touch.
Calling on her water magic, she quiets the warmth building within her at the thought. “Rominy?”
He looks at her again, his hands splayed on her lower back. He seems in no hurry to move them.
She can trust him, can’t she? He stepped in front of a dragon for her. Tackled a man in the street for her. If he says it’s all right to let the madman sew her back together, she can trust that, too, right?
“What is it?” he asks softly.
“Do you have a scar from this...fencing accident?”
His brows knit as he nods. “A small one. It’s faded. You’re not scared of having a scar, are you? Because you don’t need to be. Scars are evidence of your strength. That you survived. At least, that’s what my father has always told me.”
A smile slips across Elowyn’s face. “My parents say much the same thing. They both have scars from their battle with Nunia. Their scars remind them they’re stronger together.”
Rominy’s own smile grows. “Stronger together. I like that. What about us? Are we stronger together?”
Elowyn looks thoughtfully up at him before nodding. “I believe we are.”
“So do I. And you don’t need to worry about a scar.”
She gently shakes her head. “I wasn’t worried.”
“Then why did you ask?”
Heat floods her again.
“You’re blushing,” he whispers, looking bemused.
“Am I?”
“All the way to those perfectly pointed ears of yours.” His smile returns as even more heat sweeps across her cheeks and ears, and she grasps at her water magic.
Can she really ask him what she was planning to ask him? She’s blushing already just thinking about it.
But she needs to know. She needs to see for herself.
Clearing her throat, she meets his eyes again. “I...I was hoping...”
When she doesn’t finish, he lifts a hand to her blazing cheek. “Whatever it is, you can tell me. Stronger together, right? The other half of your heart and all that?”
“Right. Yes, of course.” She breathes out slowly. He’s right. She doesn’t need to be embarrassed. She’s his binding partner. His wife. The other half of his heart.
“You can tell me,” he says again. “I promise not to react.”
She frowns at that. “What if I was planning to tell you I desire a pet dragon or I long to dive off a cliff into the sea?”
He opens his mouth before closing it again.
“Or I want a dozen younglings?” she continues.
