Rominy nods. “He saved your life. But...” Rominy blinks, his eyes darting away from hers, and she frames his face with her hands again.
“Stay with me, my love.”
Exhaling a shaky breath, he nods. “You’re not out of the woods yet.”
“The woods? I thought we went to Feressa. Are we in Lostariel?”
Rominy’s brow creases, and then he smiles briefly. “It’s a human expression. It means you still have a lot of healing to do. I...I don’t fully understand what happened, but Tharios said your fire magic caused your body to overreact to the stitches? Or something like that?”
“Oh. He...he warned me to watch out for my fire magic during times of illness. I...seem not to have listened.”
Rominy stares at her. “Let’s listen to Tharios from now on. That seems wise.”
“I agree. Did he come alone?”
“Your whole family is there. I even met Grandmera. She—”
“Knows you better than you know yourself,” Elowyn breathes. “Did you tell me that already? I have the vaguest wisp of a memory of you talking to me.”
A strangled laugh rises from his throat. “I did. I spoke to you, but I didn’t think you could hear me.”
“You wish to honeymoon in Lostariel. I need to hold on because Lostariel is waiting.” She gazes deep into his caramel eyes. “You wish to visit Lostariel?”
“I do. I want to enter your world, El. Learn everything about you. Love the things you love and experience Lostariel through your eyes and not just the few books I’ve read. But you have to be strong and fight to get better. You can’t give up.”
“Rominy, I—”
“I mean it, Elowyn.”
“I’ll never stop fighting, my love. Never.” She twirls a lock of his hair as her lips quirk into a half-smile. “There’s a human prince depending on me not to die.”
Then she kisses him again. Hungrily. Thoughts of their last moments together fill her head and bring her heat to the surface. The way he looked at her. The way he touched her. She longs to finish this dance of theirs that keeps getting interrupted—to experience everything with him.
She slides her hands beneath his shirt, but he reaches for them instead as he pulls away from her kiss.
“Elowyn, I don’t think...” He emits one of those endearing awkward laughs of his as he glances away. “Maybe...let’s wait, all right?”
So many thoughts rush through her head at his reaction to her touch, all of them confused. He seemed to feel everything she was feeling when they were together before. Did something change? Mere moments have passed for her, but he’s had more time to reflect. Does he regret their swim? And everything that happened in the pool by their waterfall?
“Do you wish to pretend nothing occurred between us the last time you came to me?” she asks, trying to keep her voice light.
His eyes snap toward hers, and something akin to horror fills his face. “Stars above, El. Not at all. But...”
“But?”
“I’m under strict orders from Tharios not to...not to set you on fire until you’re fully recovered.”
Images of Rominy talking to Tharios about that warm her cheeks. “Even here?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t think to ask him, which I’m regretting quite a bit at the moment.”
She bites her lip, trying not to laugh. No wonder he keeps pulling away from her kisses. “So you don’t regret—”
“Are you kidding? I regret nothing except that doctor waking me when he did.”
She does laugh at that. And then she turns on his lap to face the horizon as she leans back against his chest and sighs. “I suppose we should listen to Tharios. For now.”
“Yes. We established that listening to Tharios is a good idea.”
