Her breath hitches when he grazes her earlobe with his teeth.
“I love being warm. Warmer than this. If you don’t mind. But this is fine. Really. You don’t have to—”
“I want to. I’m a fire wielder. I can take the heat.” He hovers his hand over the water again until it’s nearly as warm as the hot springs. “Try that.”
She dips her foot in, and the most delightful sigh slips from her lips.
She has no idea how much he loves her little sighs, does she?
“It’s perfect, Cerian. Thank you.”
“When you’re happy, it makes me happy.” He laces his fingers with hers and draws her deeper into the water. It’s a shallow pool, hitting at Arisanna’s hips, and the skirt of her sheer gown floats around her legs on the water’s surface.
The sand beneath his bare feet feels unstable, disintegrating into nothingness where he stands. It’s not a pleasant sensation, but he’ll deal with it to be here in this moment with her.
“Will you hold me?” she asks. “My legs are warm, but the rest of me could use some of your heat.”
Without hesitating, he draws her to his chest and wraps his arms around her. Perfection. If it had a feeling, it would be this. Her soft form pressed against him as they cling to each other beneath the stars. Her gown may as well be woven of moonlight with how much of her it hides.
“Are you glad you got off the train?” she whispers as she rests her head against his shoulder.
“I can’t describe how glad I am. But I am equally glad this sand will not follow us into the real world.”
She laughs at that, and for a few minutes, he just holds her, occasionally pushing more of his lingering heat to warm her.
Getting drunk on her little sighs. The hitches of her breath.
Her.
And when she pulls away to look into his eyes, there’s nothing but her. Everything else fades in his consciousness.
Even the sand.
He tucks her hair behind her ear as she searches his face. Is she trying to speak to him without words?
His thoughts roam through all the things she’s said to him today, searching for a pattern that might hint at what she’s trying to convey to him now.
And her words from earlier return to him.
If I want you to touch me...
Fates save him if he’s reading her wrong.
She watches him as he circles her before slipping his hands around her waist from behind. And she melts against his chest, her eyes sliding closed.
“Cerian,” she breathes.
“Is this what you desire?”
She nods against his shoulder without opening her eyes, and he happily gives her what she wants until the heartlanding fades around them far sooner than he was ready.
Arisannaopenshereyesto Cerian studying her on their massive bed in their honeymoon suite at the hotel in Feressa.
Why do these first moments together in the real world often feel awkward?
“I love you,” he whispers, and his words dispel some of the awkwardness, taking her back to where they were moments ago.
Memories of his hands on her fill her. The way he knew what she wanted before she could work up the courage to ask.
