He could handle a quiet life, if it meant that Chloe was safe. And even beyond that, he found that he wanted it anyway. Right now, nothing sounded better than the two of them curling up on the couch and watching some bad TV.
Preparing to shove off from the wall, he was stopped short by a pair of very soft, very cold lips on his own.
The kiss was gentle, but it seemed to say so many things that a more passionate kiss could not.
Ethan closed his eyes, savoring it for a moment, before feeling a pang of regret as Chloe pulled away.
“Just in case,” she said, “you know…”
Ethan nodded, not wanting to say it, but knowing that the situation was far from ideal.
Chloe sighed in frustration as she peeled off her extra layers of clothes, which Ethan recognized as a good idea – if they were going to be swimming, then clothing would just drag them down.
“I never thought I’d say this, but I wish a flash flood would come through here right about now,” she huffed. “Just a small one, that could gently carry us down to the end of the gorge.”
Ethan hummed his agreement unthinkingly – and then stopped short.
His pegasus did the same thing, its head jerking up.
Are you thinking what I’m thinking?he asked it, the first hints of actual hope starting to rise up within him.
I should hope so,the pegasus said, though the words didn’t have quite as much bite as usual.Because there is only one acceptable conclusion you could have come to.
“Chloe, you may have just saved us,” he said, even as part of him wondered whether he would be able to pull this off.
“Hm?” she said as she unwrapped her scarf with fumbling fingers, her brow wrinkling in confusion. “Has there been rain forecast? I was just throwing out ideas – I don’t think a flash flood would actually be helpful enough to gently deposit us at our destination.”
“No, but – you see –”
His words tumbled out faster with excitement, and he reined himself in with difficulty, taking a deep breath and starting again.
“Do you remember when I told you about the powers that pegasi have?” The conversation felt like a lifetime ago.
Not wanting to make her wait any longer for an answer when she was obviously already starting to falter in the cold, he went on, “Pegasi can raise water from the earth. It’s the kind of thing that would normally be more useful in a drought, but we could use it to raise the water level here.”
At Chloe’s confused but hopeful stare, he went on, “If we can get the water high enough, it could bring us up to ground level.”
“You can summon that much water?” Chloe breathed, a glimmer of hope in her eyes.
“I don’t know,” he said truthfully, even as his pegasus bellowed that it would summon an entire ocean for her. Ignoring it, he went on, “It’s not something I’ve ever had much practice with – my family don’t use their powers much. A pegasus who knew what they were doing could do it with their eyes closed, I’m sure.”
He’d pretty much just summoned puddles when he was a kid. One time, he’d made a pond. His father had basically just checked it off the to-do list and never brought it up again, other than to tell him to never do it again, and todefinitelynever let anyone see him doing it.
It will be… how do humans say it?the pegasus scoffed.Easy-peasy.
Ethan didn’t know aboutthat. He’d never seen actual evidence that the pegasus could accomplish this feat, and it really didn’t have a good idea of what its limitations were.
“Well, what are you waiting for?” Chloe said, nudging his shoulder and breaking him out of his contemplations. “Get to it!”
He’d never had anyone show this level of unquestioning confidence in him before. It had always felt like he’d been striving to prove himself, no matter how much he had excelled in his work. Any success was met with judgments about how he could’ve done even better.
Her belief in him felt strange, undeserved – especially since she’d practically only just met him. She’d never even seen what he could do with a legal contract, let alone any attempt of his to summon a flood from out of nowhere. Why was she so confident?
Looking into her determined gaze, however, he knew that he had to succeed. His mate thought he could do it, and therefore hewoulddo it, come hell or high water.
Her life – and therefore his – depended on it.
For me, there’s no life without Chloe. Not anymore.
