Ellowyn
Ihummed happily, swiping at my eyes as warm water coursed through my hair and down my back. Lavender hung heavy in the humid air as tendrils of steam twirled lazily off the warm water. If I kept my eyes closed, I could almost picture that I was somewhere else, in a home made for just Torin and me, not kept as some cross between prisoners and prizes in Lishahl.
When this is all over, if he still wants me in that way, we’ll go somewhere that is just for us. Somewhere free and uninhibited.
It’d been months since I’d been able to walk in a garden, feel the roots of creation take hold as I channeled, and it felt like half of my soul was withering and dying. As if the Destruction Magic that coursed through my veins in equal measure was slowly asserting dominance.
I want somewhere I can just create. Can justbe. Somewhere with?—
My daydreams evaporated, and I sat up with a jolt, ashes and embers already winding up my arms as the bathroom doorbangedloudly off the stone wall, the force of it reverberating through the bathroom.
I was so relaxed, so lost in my own musings, I hadn’t heard the door to our suite open or the pounding footsteps across our stone floors.
My hackles rose as I searched for the intruder through the steamy darkness, only relaxing when Torin’s sunshine and spice scent overwhelmed even the heavy dose of lavender oil that I’d dumped in the bath.
“Oh,” I said, my heart fluttering and returning to its normal rhythm as I banished my power. “It’s you.”
Torin said nothing, just stalked across the bathroom to stand at the edge of the copper tub. He was fully dressed, his tunic still neatly tucked into dark blue pants with boots that rose to mid-calf. It was an odd aphrodisiac, me naked and wet in more ways than one, submerged in the tub while he stood fully clothed outside.
I was at the perfect height in the water to see the erection straining at his pants, and I stared at it for a beat before casting my eyes to his face. I sucked in a sharp breath at the sight of his disheveled hair and wild eyes, as if he’d run his hands through it repeatedly while coming to find me here.
“What happened? What’s wrong?” I asked, panic bleeding into my voice at the pain and fear that was lancing through his honeyed irises. My breasts crested the top of the water, and Torin pushed me back into the tub with a gentle hand on my shoulder.
“I—I had to see you were alright,” he croaked, voice hoarse with emotion. Frowning, I cocked my head at him and brought one wet palm up to cup his face. Torin closed his eyes, nuzzling closer into my hand as I stroked his cheek with my thumb.
“I’m fine. I’m right here. Have been for a while now,” I admitted sheepishly. Torin only nodded his head, eyes boring into mine.
“Marry me,” he blurted, and I blinked in surprise.
“What?” I asked, hand stilling on his cheek.
Torin’s gaze never left mine, only grew blacker with every passing second.
“Marry me,” he said again. It was never a question, just a demand, and I should be bristling at his commanding tone, but I felt myself melting instead.
“Where is this coming from?” I whispered, adjusting my position in the tub with a smallslosh.
“It was always supposed to be us, Ellowyn. You were mine, promised to me, before you were his. I want to fulfill that promise. I wantyou. Only you. Gods, it’s only everbeenyou, I think.” His words were whispered with painful reverence as his hands moved to cup my face, pulling me closer. Torin’s warm breath fanned over my lips as they parted so my tongue could dart out to wet them.
“Marry me,” he pleaded, a whine and desperation in his voice I’d never heard before. “I need to be able to protect you in ways that I only can if you’re my wife.”
I bristled at his insinuation. “I can take care of myself,” I bit out.
Torin smiled, a ghost of a thing, before it faded again. “I know, Ell. I know. But Ineedthis. I need the peace with you, the quiet mornings and late nights, the after, when all this is said and done. I need it withyou.”
A soft smile graced my face as I leaned forward just enough to brush my lips against his. An agonizing sound left his throat as I pulled back, just enough to look into his eyes as I spoke my next words.
“Yes,” I breathed.
No sooner had the word left my tongue than Torin was on me, pulling me by my shoulders out of the tub and into his arms. I wrapped my limbs around him, uncaring of the water that now saturated Torin’s clothes or the puddles on the floor. Our lips fused together in an instant, tongues and teeth battling as he walked us out of the bathroom and into our bedroom.
I expected him to throw me on the bed, but his hands never left my body as he walked us to the mattress and set me down with a gentleness that had tears coating my lashes.
Our lovemaking was always a rough thing, the two of us fighting for control and dominance.
This, though, was different. Tender. Torin looked at me as he always did—as if I was something precious—but the depths of his love swimming in his honeyed irises was nearly enough to make me drown.
“Torin?” I asked, voice thick with emotion as he reverently caressed my skin, callouses snagging over smooth expanses. The rough pads of his fingers trailed over my peaked nipples, drawing a harsh breath from my lungs, before he gently traced the swell of my breasts.
