He stood up then and offered me his hand.
“I want to show you something, if you aren’t too tired.”
I stared at his outstretched hand. The movement was so intimate that my eyes filled with tears. This was more than a gesture. It was him, offering me a part of himself that no one else was privy too. It was trust and vulnerability and rebellion.
He was choosing this moment. He was choosing to be touched by me.
“Take my hand, Mae,” he said softly. I lifted my hand to his and the moment we touched, everything shifted.
My hand fit into his perfectly and the warmth of his body started spreading all through my body. He pulled me closer, his pulse going wild underneath my fingertips. He shifted his fingers so that our fingers were interlaced and the feel of his skin sliding along the inside of my fingers elicited a shiver down my back.
He pulled the veil wordlessly over us, traveling at lightning speed across the Luminaris. We stopped after only a short trip.
Theo had taken us far up into the mountains, high above the clouds and the Lodge where winter was already out in full force. The ground and the trees were covered in deep snow and it looked like nobody had been here in quite some time. But what was just as beautiful as the snow glistening in the sun was the house that stood right in front of us, just a few stretches away. Nestled amidst the pines of the ancient, snow-covered forest, the house stood like a beacon of warmth.
With a twist of his hand, Theo cleared a path through the snow for us, and we made our way to the entrance of the house. Theo opened the door for me and we were greeted with a warm fire in the hearth and the smell of freshly madecoffee in the air.
“I am sorry I was only able to prepare the house a little, but I wanted to get out of the Lodge as soon as possible” he said and motioned for me to walk on ahead. The foyer opened into a grand living space with high ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows. The open-plan kitchen was black and spacious, perfect for cooking for a large family. To my right, a huge sofa dominated the room. Bookshelves lined the walls, filled with volumes of all shapes and colors.
“Uh, looks like a maniac has arranged these books by color,” I teased, and the smile that spread across Theo’s face was a sight to behold.
“What is this place, Theo? It’s so beautiful,” I breathed as I walked further into the room, marveling at the old wooden beams that connected the rooms with each other.
“It’s my private home. The place I come to when I need to unwind or get out of the temple. I built it right after the sentinels decided that it was time for me to withdraw from society. I haven’t been here in a while, but I wanted to spend some time with you before all hell breaks loose.”
My heart lifted and despite what I knew we were going to be facing in a couple of days, I felt something like hope that everything was going to be all right.
“I think that was a fantastic idea, Lord of Wisdom.”
He smiled and led me over to the kitchen. He handed me a mug with hot coffee. He even added a shot of caramel and when I was too stunned to speak upon his sweet gesture, his brow furrowed.
“That’s the way you like your coffee, isn’t it?” I just nodded in response. He had made the effort to remember my favorite way to drink coffee and little butterflies spread through mystomach.
“So what else is there to see here, apart from… books?” I teased him.
“Let me give you a tour of the house,” he offered.
It turned out that this place was actual heaven, because the house not only had huge bedrooms with the coziest looking beds ever, but also a spa room with a wooden hot tub and a sauna. The attic room had been turned into a reading room, filled with books and cozy chairs next to the windows. From here we had a fantastic view over the valley and with a little bit of imagination I could spot the Lodge deep down on the plateau. We went back downstairs, and Theo asked if I was hungry. We had just had breakfast, so I declined and went to lounge on the huge fluffy white couch.
Theo stood in the middle of the room and it seemed like he didn’t know what to do with himself.
“Come here, you big weirdo.” I smiled and waved him over. He climbed onto the couch and to my surprise, the couch fit the whole length of him. He lay down next to me and rolled to his side to face me.
“You must be exhausted,” he said, and I nodded, the tiredness slowly taking over.
“Just close your eyes, you are safe here,” he whispered, and I was quickly drifting off to sleep.
* * *
It had grown dark outside when I woke up and it took me a minute to realize where I was. I was still laying on the sofa, but someone had draped a blanket over me. Theo was standing in the kitchen with his back towards me, wearingsomething that looked a lot like an apron. I got up and walked over to find him brooding over a recipe book. When he heard me approach, he turned around and smiled. He was indeed wearing an apron which fittingly read “God of the Kitchen.”
I snort laughed. “That is a fantastic apron.”
“Are you laughing at me? I got it from Lytha a few years ago. Though I do think she got this made to mock me. I can’t seem to get anything right in the kitchen.” He sighed.
“Hm… What are you making, God of the Kitchen?”
He pushed the recipe book towards me.
