As she wraps it around herself, Cerian’s heart speeds up, and she frowns. Is he all right? Is Elowyn all right? And Rominy?
She barely has time to contemplate that when something slithers around her ankle toward her knee, and she bites back a scream.
“Whistling wind.” Cerian’s voice carries through the door as Arisanna glimpses what’s clearly one of his vinesretreating on itself. “Forgive me,” he says loud enough for her to hear. “That was not intentional.”
That was terrifying. Her heart pounds to match his for an altogether different reason, no doubt.
He’s definitely not thinking about Elowyn at the moment.
“Are you all right?” he asks. “I’m sorry. I’ll...I’ll go. I didn’t mean—”
Without thinking, she opens the door. “I nearly jumped out of my skin, but I’m fine. You don’t need to leave. Just...warn me next time so you don’t scare me, all right?”
His eyes widen as he looks at her, and she glances down at the towel that barely covers everything it should.
Stars above.
“I felt grimy, and I assumed you’d sit with Elowyn for a while,” she whispers.
“I...I missed you. Forgive me. I’ll go. I—”
Holding the towel in place, she sets her free hand over his racing heart. He’s already running hot. “You missed me?”
“Whistling wind, Arisanna. I was going mad without you. As soon as I left, all I could focus on was you. Then Tharios said you’d finished discussing whatever it is you discussed, and I returned because I couldn’t think straight without you. But you were showering, and now my magic thinks it needs you.”
As he stares into her eyes, the smoky scent around him grows stronger.
“That was a lot of words,” she whispers.
The intensity of his gaze doesn’t waver, and her heart races. It’s not just his magic that wants her.
She lifts a shoulder in a half shrug. “Here I am.”
Cerian’s jaw works as he gazes at her. What is he thinking? A moment later, he steps away. What is he doing?
She flinches when flames erupt between his palms, but still, he doesn’t look away.
Is this how he would have looked at her last night had he been able to see her? The thought tightens something in her belly as both their hearts thrum in her ears.
When his flames go out, he steps toward her again, those emerald eyes still locked on her face. Her back bumps against the wall as he leans so near that her senses are full of smoke and sparks and berries.
“Did you mean what you said earlier? About my magic?” His breath is warm on her ear, sending shivers down her arm as water from her shower drips off her hair and runs in rivulets down her legs. She could definitely use some of his heat now.
“It’s...it’s part of you,” she whispers. “And I...I want all of you.”
“I love you, Arisanna. Are you certain?”
She nods against him, and when a vine tickles her foot, her breath hitches. “Can you...can you feel things with your plants, my elven prince?”
“When I choose to.” His nose nuzzles her ear, and he leans his hands on the wall on either side of her. Warmth emanates from him to match the heat growing inside her, and she breathes in that sweet, smoky scent that’s so uniquely his.
“And...and now?” she asks as his vine slowly snakes along her calf toward her knee.
“I feel everything.”
“E-Everything?”
“Everything.”
