“Between the blood you lost and the medication the doctor gave you earlier, you seem not quite yourself. You’re not invincible, Elowyn.”
A soft sigh escapes her. “You’re not the first person to say as much.”
“Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me.” He moves in front of her and studies her gown. Stars above. The buttons are in the front. Swallowing, he meets her gaze. “Do you need help with...with everything?”
Her cheeks turn rosy, and she reaches for the buttons herself.
She’s definitely in pain. Her eyes don’t hide it well. After the third button, she whimpers.
“Elowyn.” He reaches for her hands. “I-I’ll do it.”
Relief floods her face, though her skin is like fire beneath his hands. He presses a kiss to her knuckles before letting her go and reaching for the next button.
He can do this. She needs him to do this.
Not that he doesn’t want to undress her.
Stars above. Wasn’t it just last night he was terrified to sleep beside her? And now he’s unbuttoning her gown and thinking...that?
He needs to slow down. Back off a little.
After he finishes helping her out of her dress, that is. At least she got the top buttons herself.
Where is he even supposed to look? At her? Or away? Not that he can do this without looking.
It’s a good thing he doesn’t have magic, or he’d probably light them both on fire.
As soon as the last button is undone, he steps back and glances away.
“Thank you,” she whispers. She carefully tugs what’s left of the destroyed sleeve off her shoulder and over her wound as Rominy stands awkwardly beside her. “Can you help me with the other side?” she asks.
Exhaling slowly, he nods. “Of course.”
By the time he’s done freeing her good arm from the sleeve and helping her slip out of several petticoats, he’s given up on attempting to look away. She’s wearing so many layers, even without the gown and underskirts, that she’s more covered than she often is in the heartlanding.
Still, the idea of her standing there in her underclothes while he helps her undress lends an entirely different feeling to the situation.
He eyes her corset and finds her face again. Her cheeks are flaming. Even her ears are bright pink. Is she having second thoughts?
“You don’t need to be embarrassed,” he says softly, repeating her words from the night before. “It’s just me. The other half of your heart.”
A faint smile ghosts across her face. “This is more awkward than I anticipated.”
“I can find someone else to help you if you’d like.” Not that he wants to leave now. Or ever.
“I just want you.”
His mouth goes dry, and his lungs struggle to fill properly. “All right.” He pushes the words past his cottony tongue, once he manages to take a deep enough breath to speak. As he reminds himself to breathe, he studies her stays again. “I have no idea how this comes off.”
His words draw a laugh from her, and her merriment diffuses some of the tension in the room.
He smiles her way and shrugs. “I’ve never worn one before.”
She keeps laughing, and he watches her with a stupid grin on his face until her mirth dies down.
“It has hooks in the front,” she eventually says. “And laces in the back.”
He frowns as he glances at the hooks he somehow missed. “How did you get it on by yourself this morning?”
