We see each other clearly in this moment—two damaged souls finding unexpected solace in a world that offers little mercy to the broken. The recognition creates something dangerous between us, something that makes my chest ache with possibility and fear.
"What about you?" I ask, needing to shift focus from my own pain. "What keeps you fighting when the nightmares come?"
Her smile is soft and sad. "Tomorrow. The chance that tomorrow might be better than today. And people like Talia and Brom, who chose kindness when they could have chosen indifference." She touches my arm gently. "People like you, who make me remember that survival isn't the same as living."
The admission hangs between us like a bridge neither of us is quite ready to cross. Her hand rests warm against my skin, and I can feel her pulse racing beneath my touch when I cover her fingers with mine.
"Forla," I whisper, her name a prayer on my lips.
When she reaches to check my forehead for fever one last time, I catch her hand in both of mine. Our eyes meet and hold across the small distance that separates us, and the air between us crackles with possibility and fear.
I see my own desperate need reflected in her dark eyes. See the way her breath catches when I trace my thumb across her knuckles, feel the slight tremor that runs through her when I lean closer. We're balanced on the edge of something that will change everything, both of us knowing we should step back and neither of us able to move.
"I should go," I murmur, but make no move to leave. "The Dark Elves?—"
"I know." Her voice is barely a whisper. "But not yet. Please, not yet."
The plea undoes me completely. I lean forward, she doesn't pull away, and our lips meet in a kiss that tastes like hope anddesperation, like everything we've found and everything we're about to lose.
Her mouth is soft beneath mine, tentative at first but growing bolder as I show her the gentleness beneath the warrior's exterior. She tastes like honey and herbs, like morning sunlight and the promise of peace I thought I'd lost forever.
When we break apart, both of us breathing hard, everything has changed. The air between us hums with new electricity, charged with possibilities that terrify and thrill in equal measure.
"This is dangerous," she whispers, but doesn't move away from my touch.
"I know." My forehead rests against hers, sharing breath and heartbeat in the golden barn light. "But I can't regret it. Whatever happens tomorrow, I can't regret this moment."
We both know this can't last. The Dark Elves are coming close, duty calls me back to my quest, and she has a life here that doesn't include wounded orc warriors with impossible dreams. But for now, in this stolen moment, we have each other.
For now, that's enough.
Her thumb traces my lower lip, and I catch it gently between my teeth, making her breath hitch. "Tomorrow you leave," she says, statement not question.
"Tomorrow I leave," I confirm, though the words feel like swallowing broken glass.
"Then tonight..."
"Tonight we pretend the world can wait."
I kiss her again, slower this time, savoring the taste and texture of something I'll carry with me long after I walk away. Her hands fist in my hair, pulling me closer, and for a minute I let myself believe in impossible things.
In futures where duty doesn't call me away from the woman who makes me want to be more than just a weapon.
In tomorrows where love might be enough to overcome the distance between our worlds.
In hope that tastes like honey on her lips.
But dawn will come, as it always does. And when it does, I'll have to choose between the woman who's become my heart and the brothers who need me to find them.
Tonight, though, I'll hold her close and pretend that choice doesn't exist.
6
FORLA
The kiss changes everything. I pull back, breathless, seeing my own desperate need reflected in his dark eyes. Tomorrow he leaves—we both know it. The Elves are closing in, duty calls him back to his impossible quest, and I have a life here that doesn't include wounded orc warriors with hearts too big for their chests.
Tonight might be all we have.
