“Thank you,” Father says. “You and I need to get to know each other better, Cerian. You’ve somehow managed to capture my daughter’s heart in a very short time, and I find myself intrigued by the elf behind that mask you wear.”
Cerian’s heart quickens, and his hand tightens around the bucket handle, but he nods.
Is her love for Cerian that obvious? She is clutching his arm. Father may be aging, but he’s not blind.
They pass through the hotel doors, and the man at the desk looks slightly cowed at the sight of Father and all his guards.
“This way,” Grandmera says, and they turn down the hallway leading to their rooms. Hopefully, there’s a vacant room for Mother and Father.
Cerian won’t appreciate sharing.
She’d prefer to have him to herself tonight, too. Here and in the heartlanding. Warmth fills her at the thought of being alone with him again. She glances up at his face, but he’s looking at the door to Elowyn’s room. If he feels her heart racing, he doesn’t let on.
Beside Elowyn’s door, Grandmera nods to Father. “I look forward to conversing with you again soon.”
“As do I.”
Grandmera slips into Elowyn’s room, and Arisanna leads the way to the chamber she and Cerian occupied last night.
“Mother might be sleeping,” she says softly to Father.
“I’ll check on her. We’ll go see Rominy when she’s ready. Thank you for meeting me at the station and putting my fears of the worst to rest.” Father folds her into his arms before kissing the top of her head and slipping through the door.
Now what? Do they wait here for Father to emerge? With his guard detail?
Cerian looks eager to be away from all the people. He’s endured a lot of socializing already today—he could probably use a few minutes away from everyone else.
“Come on,” she tugs him along, and he doesn’t resist. He seems beyond resisting. All these interactions with strangers must have exhausted him mentally.
He needs to eat more than a single apple, too.
Where can she take him for some solitude? Even a quiet alcove somewhere might give him a chance to recover.
At the end of the hallway, a curtain blocks a recess in the wall, and after a moment’s hesitation, she peeks behind it.
Cleaning supplies. It must be a hidden storage area.
That’s better than anywhere else she can think to take him.
With a glance down the corridor, she slips behind the curtain and pulls Cerian along with her.
“Why are we hiding?” he asks. A weariness coats his voice, and her heart twists at the sound.
“You need a break from the world. I can see it in your eyes. And I didn’t know where else to go.”
For a moment, he stares at her. Then he throws his arms around her, bucket of apples and all, and holds on as if he’s afraid to let go.
Clearly, she was reading him right.
“You were amazing,” he says against her hair.
“What?”
“With the chef and the man at the candy store.”
“I was just—”
He sets aside the bucket faster than she can see what’s happening and presses his lips to hers right there in the little storage alcove. It’s a hungry kiss that quickly deepens as he buries his fingers in her hair and her back hits the wall in the small space.
