But she’s not carrying it alone anymore. She’ll never be alone anymore. And she doesn’t have to fear not measuring up. Not with him.
“Forget everything you’ve been told to be your whole life,” he murmurs near her ear. “And just be mine.”
Her breath catches, and she crushes his neck in her arms, clinging to him as he holds her close. Gently, he sends her his warmth to chase away her pebbled flesh.
She just hugs him tighter.
“It would be warmer in the water,” he says against her hair.
“Will you promise not to let go?”
Her words transport him back to the moment she first asked him to hold her hand on their train, and he presses a kiss to her hair. “I won’t let go. I’ll never let you go.”
Starlight and Fire
Episode 55
Forsomeonewhoclaimsto struggle with his words, Cerian seemed to know exactly what Arisanna needed to hear, and she clings to him at the side of the hot springs as steam curls around them both.
Hugging his bare chest is an entirely different experience from hugging him over his leather shirt last night.
Especially since she’s wearing...much less than she usually wears.
“Let’s get you warm,” he says softly, and she loosens her hold on him as he slips into the water and reaches for her. His hands are hot against the chilled skin at her waist, and he draws her toward him in the water.
After being in the cold, the spring is almost too hot, but it doesn’t burn her, and neither does Cerian.
“How’s your magic?” she asks as she rests her hands against his chest. It’s deep enough in the middle of this pool for the water to hit just below her shoulders when she’s standing. Most of Cerian’s chest is exposed to the open air, and she keeps trying not to stare.
And now she’s touching his bare skin.
Stars above.
When his hands slide to her lower back, she gasps, and he lets go.
“No, don’t...don’t stop,” she says. “It’s all just...”
“Too fast?” He rests his forehead against hers, his breath tickling her lips. “There’s no rush.”
“It’s just new. Please. Don’t stop. You promised not to let go.”
Tentatively, he slips his hands against her skin again, and chills of a different sort race through her body.
“My...my question,” she says. “You didn’t...your magic.” Her tongue refuses to cooperate as both their hearts race.
“The water helps.”
“G-good.” She doesn’t bother trying to say anything else. It would probably come out in fragments, anyway.
For a few minutes, they just stand there, their breaths mingling as the steam rises around them. Their kiss last night was all passion—feelings finally bursting forth in a fiery blaze.
This is...not like that.
It’s tentative. Hesitant. Unsure.
His nose nuzzles hers. “Tell me if—”
She nods against him.
