“For my magic, yes. Not...not for me. I don’t want this to end.”
He exhales slowly and slides his hands to frame her face and avoid her ears. “It’s all right. We have centuries to figure this out. Isn’t that what you told me before I collapsed into the sea?” A gentle smile fills his face as his caramel eyes gaze at her with an expression so full of delight and acceptance that this moment feels as perfect as every moment leading up to it.
“Thank you,” she whispers.
“You care for me and my racing heart all the time. Let me be the one to care for your magic, starting by bringing you water. Your lips look a little dry.”
Before he can move, she wraps her arms around him once more. Hopefully, she’s not too hot. “Thank you,” she whispers again.
“We’re in this together, Elowyn. Until the beating of our hearts fades.” He says it in perfect Elvish, and her heart trips over itself as she pulls back to look at him. “Was that right?” he asks.
“It was perfect. I don’t understand.”
“I don’t either. But those words seem to be etched on my heart now. In Elvish.”
They gaze into each other’s eyes, and he softly kisses her before rising to find her water.
The Heat of His Fire
Episode 50
“I’mjustslowingyoudown,” Arisanna says as Cerian waits for her to catch up with him. Again. How does he move so fast?
“Perhaps I should hold your hand. Drag you along.” A teasing glint fills his eyes, and Arisanna smiles. This lighthearted side of him that’s buried beneath so many layers has been showing itself more and more lately, and she’s not complaining.
Aside from a generous supply of dried nuts and berries that Cerian carries in a knapsack across his back, they consumed the last of the food Cook packed an hour ago. As the sun casts lengthening shadows in the forest around them, they traipse through the woods toward some secret destination Cerian refuses to reveal.
But he seems eager to show her whatever it is.
Throughout the day, he’s paused occasionally to let off some of his heat. He never speaks when he does it, and for the most part, she pretends not to notice. But it seems to be helping him.
As they walk, he glances at the sky peeking through the branches high overhead, and she follows his gaze. Faint streaks of orange and gold announce the coming sunset, and Arisanna frowns. “It will be dark soon.”
They’ve been walking for hours. Will they have to find their way back to Windhaven in the dark?
When she returns her gaze to Cerian, a sheepish look fills his face. That’s a new one coming from him.
“What are you hiding?” She draws out the words as she stands there with her hands on her hips, and his mouth twitches at the corners.
He shakes his head. “It’s a surprise.” Turning, he calls back over his shoulder, “Just a little farther.”
He’s definitely hiding something.
She picks her way through the ferns and the twigs, following him as he glides soundlessly ahead of her. When he stops in front of a massive fir tree, she crosses her arms. “If you tell me we traipsed through the woods for miles so you can show me a tree, I—”
“Not just the tree. What’s in the tree.”
“In the tree?” She gazes up at the towering evergreen. It looks like all the other trees they passed to get to this one. Just bigger than most of them. “It’s an extra-large tree?”
He might as well say she’s hopeless with the look he gives her. “Come on.”
“Come on? Come on where? I thought you were showing me this tree.”
“Do you trust me?”
Something about the way he looks at her makes her stomach flutter. She trusts him...doesn’t she?
Before she can respond, he steps away from her and the tree and creates a stream of fire between his hands. The orange light dances across his face, bringing out the brilliant green of his eyes, and Arisanna studies his high cheekbones. His smooth skin. His full lips and pointed ears.
