At least that was settled.
The moon’s silvery beams stabbed down through the canopy, illuminating swaying branches and creating shadows that danced like silent phantoms. Despite its ethereal beauty, an unsettling chill lingered in the air. Yet nothing threatened us from beyond the tree lines.
Speaking of shadows. I found lots of power around me and actually had to shove aside the nasty, twisted bits of negative energy I’d one day command for nullification. If I didn’t know better, I’d think it was sorry for hurting me.
Not now,I told it in my mind.I’m working with the nice power now.
I tugged lavender power in and compressed it in my mind before sending it out to the shadows lurking around us. They perked up and looked my way. Not exactly looked. It was more a feeling that they were suddenly paying attention. They drifted toward me, making their oozing demands that weren’t spoken words but whispered wishes. My pain, an easy share. Lust, also easy while I walked beside Lorant.
And love. Oh, how they ached to feel love.
Even that I could send to them, that aching, twisting feeling inmy heart I got whenever I looked at this strong man by my side or his mirror image. I had so much to give. I just hadn’t gotten up the nerve yet to tell them.
Once they’d fed, the shadows cooperated, gliding in close to cloak me. Disappear me, one might say.
“Well done,” Lorant said softly. “And quickly too.”
“I have a great teacher.”
He shot a smile my way. “That you do.”
“A conceited one, I’ll also add.”
“I won’t disagree.”
“But that’s not all you are.”
His head cocked my way. “Do tell. What else am I?”
I swore he held his breath. No, he guarded himself because he thought I’d scorn who and what he was. Why hadn’t he realized I never would?
“You’re also the most unrelenting protector I’ve ever known. You might snarl and scowl, but it’s because you’re always bracing yourself to keep me safe, no matter the cost. You’re fierce, yes, but that ferocity… By the fates, I feel untouchable when I stand beside you. You don’t only guard my life; you guard my heart in ways I don’t think even you understand.”
“Reyla.” His eyes actually glistened as he stopped and stared at me, as he reached out and somehow found me behind the shadows, cupping my face in his gentle hands and looking directly into my eyes.
“And yes, you’re brutally honest, but it’s a relief, like standing in a cold wind when you’re hot. You don’t lie to spare my feelings or coat the truth with pretty words. Sometimes, I hate that.”
“I can tell.” There was that adorable, infernal smirk again, the one that made my heart spin.
“Sometimes, I need the truth, not sugar-coated words that may one day taste bitter. Your clarity cuts through my doubts when Ican’t see the way forward myself. You’re cunning, sure, but it’s the sort of cleverness that saves me. Your plans and your instincts are flawless, even when I don’t always agree with where they lead. There’s no softness in your strategy, no hesitation, and yet, isn’t that decisiveness something to admire and trust?”
“If you keep going like this, I'm going to kiss you,” he croaked. “Not to shut you up but to give back this feeling in the only way I know how. I'm not a man who can speak pretty words. I'm me. Ruthless. Brutal. And merciless to everyone but you.”
My heart cratered, cracked wide open to let him inside. “You’re passion in its rawest form,” I said with all the heart I couldn't quite express. “You feel everything with the force of a hurricane. It’s terrifying, really, to hold the attention of someone so consuming. But at the same time, it makes me feel as if I’m the only thing you’ll ever fight this hard for.”
“Evermore, Wildfire. In this world, the one beyond, and until the fates end it all, I will seek you.”
Tears burst in my eyes. “If you keep talking like that, I'm going to sob.”
His thumbs stroked away my tears. “Don't shed them for me. Please.”
“Don't you see? Every decision you make is your way of loving, even when you don't realize that’s what you're doing. But I see, Lorant. I see it all and it means everything to me.”
He stood so close that I could feel the rise and fall of his chest, the heat radiating from his body, wrapping around me like a promise. He tilted my chin upward, holding me as if I were made of something fragile, as if any sudden motion might break me. The calloused pads of his thumbs lingered at the edge of my jaw, brushing against my skin with the faintest pressure. This whisper of a touch said more than words ever could.
“Reyla,” he breathed, my name spilling from his lips in a way that felt almost reverent. A prayer to the very fates themselves.
His lips brushed against mine gently. Featherlight. Testing. As if he feared that I might crack open or crumble beneath the weight of his adoration. And for one beautiful moment, his kiss was sweet and achingly tender. One born of restraint, of care, of a man who dared to believe if only for a heartbeat that he could show me this small part of himself without me drawing away.
