“Rominy,” Elowyn breathes.
He tucks a strand of silver hair behind her perfect ear, and she shivers at his touch.
“I want to be consumed in your fire and drowned in your water magic, Elowyn.”
“I’ll catch fire if you keep saying things like that.”
“Then come in the water with me, where you can let go. Let it all go. And just exist.” He hops to the sand and reachesfor her waist. She’s already warm. And she feels perfect in his hands as he lowers her to the shore.
And they run through the sand and the surf to the creek pouring into the ocean. They splash along the creek bed toward the center of the island, but all Rominy can think about is her. There’s nothing but her right now. Her smile. Her laugh. The warm touch of her hand.
The creek opens into their pool fed by the waterfall, and he peels off his shirt, already damp from their splashing. He dives under the water, giving her space and privacy in case she wants it.
But thoughts of her fill his head, and when she whispers his name as he surfaces, he turns and pulls her into a kiss full of all the heat flowing through him, along with the aching need to experience her laughter and her voice. Her curiosity and her fierce determination. The ethereal beauty of her silver hair and the iridescent gray of her eyes. And every other part of her that lights his own fire just thinking about it.
When she wraps her arms around his neck and clings to him in the water, all the air leaves his lungs at the press of her bare skin to his chest.
Stars above.
“Elowyn,” he breathes.
“I don’t know where this is leading or if the heartlanding will whisk you away or if these will be our last moments together, but I want to get lost in you, too,” she whispers. “Every moment we have until the beating of our hearts fades.”
Then he kisses her. Desperately. As if he can’t breathe without her there to breathe for him, and he can’t exist without her by his side.
She melts at every caress of his hands along her silky skin as she holds nothing back, welcoming his touch. It’s new, but it’s right. So right in every way. Beautiful and natural—as natural as breathing.
And she’s gorgeous—every part of her perfection. His own fire burns hot every time he looks at her, and he doesn’t even try to look away. Not anymore. Fire fills her eyes even as the water dampens her magic—she wants this as much as he does. Her pulse races in his veins to match the pounding of his own heart.
But they don’t rush. They take their time as they swim and splash and laugh and kiss and touch in this moment that lasts forever, where the sun never sets. It never rises. They just exist together in her heat and his love and his desire and her perfection.
Eventually, he pulls her into another desperate kiss, the aching need to finish this crowding out every thought coursing through his head. When she pulls away, he breathes heavily as he gazes into her eyes, full of longing and passion and fire to match the desire threatening to overwhelm him. She rests her forehead against his as he holds her close in the water. Her breath is warm on his lips, and he can barely think straight.
“I want everything, Rominy, my love.” She clings to him, her faint smokiness filling his senses as he drinks in her scent and pulls her even closer.
But before he can respond, the heartlanding fades around them, dousing his desire as panic sweeps through him in its place. Terror fills him at the thought of losing this—of losing her. He can’t do this without her. How will he survive in a world where she’s not there to calm his fears and help him breathe and give him the strength to be the person the world expects him to be—the man he needs to be?
“Elowyn, no! Not yet. I’m not ready!”
“I’m here with you, Rominy.” A desperate passion fills her voice as she presses her hand to his bare chest above his pounding heart, her voice growing farther away with every word. “My heart beats for you always. You are not alone. Never alone, my love. Never alone.”
And then she’s gone. It all fades away.
He’s alone once more.
Except for the thrumming of her heart within his chest. He grasps at it and clings to it.
He’ll be strong. He has to be strong. For her.
ArisannadozesinCerian’sarms for most of their journey as strange dreams of Cerian and Rominy and Elowyn sweep her away until she stirs in Cerian’s embrace, only to fall asleep and endure the confusing dreams once more.
“Arisanna.” Cerian’s voice invades an unsettling dream about him falling from the aerial tram outside Wolbourne, and she gasps awake, clinging to him in the moonlight.
But he’s here, and he’s fine.
“Did you have a nightmare?” he whispers as she tries to still her racing heart. He must feel it.
“Yes. It was awful. You...fell. Thank goodness my dreams are just dreams and not visions.” She looks around at the thinning trees. “We must be near the border.”
