There’s no humor on his face anymore. Shit. I guess no follow-up questions now, then.
“Sierra,” Nariel says again, and there’s a little bit of a growl in his voice this time that unreasonably makes me shiver, and I’m tired enough that I actually do. Double shit.
“Yes?” I ask too quickly.
“You are not just on your own now, and you are no good to me or anyone else like this.”
I suck in a breath like he’s punched me. Goddamn.
I’m not sure which part of that statement hits harder—that I’m not alone, or that I can’t afford to be at less than my best because the magic of the entire world and maybe more than one rests on my shoulders.
Is it any wonder I’m too afraid to close my eyes lest something go wrong?
But: Wonder of wonders, for once there’s someone else on my side.
“Are you too childish to take the chance of sleep when it is offered to you?”
I blow out a breath. “You had me at the last one, jeez. Do you need—“
“We will go straight from the airport to the Cloud Forest and be able to attend to your business directly. Will that suit?”
I frown. “Really? But we’re landing at—“
“Sierra.“ Exasperation in his voice this time.
I laugh a little and rub my eyes. “Okay, okay. Wake me if you need anything.”
“Of course.”
I fix him with a look. “No. Really.”
He returns my look with a sardonic one of his own, and conjures a cloud over my eyes.
A sleep mask of shadows.
“Can you do a pillow too? Maybe a blanket?”
A snort.
But then he takes his jacket off and arranges it over me, and while I’m still processing that he gently pulls me over to his side, leaning my head against his very warm and muscled arm.
My heart hammers, and it’s probably good that my eyes are closed or he’d see just how much that shocked me.
Also that my face is pressed into his arm so he can’t see me blushing.
Maybe I’m not the only one who wants to be friends.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Nariel murmurs. “Sleep.”
And wonder of wonders, I do.
Iwake up when the flight attendants serve breakfast before landing to find that I have burrowed into Nariel while I slept.
Like,reallyburrowed. I’m hugging his arm like it’s a stuffed animal.
While I’m still processing that, Nariel murmurs in my ear, “FortunatelyIdo not require both hands to make arrangements.”
I burst out laughing, and he flashes his grin at me, and I am all at once both warm and strangely comfortable with having let someone else drive for a bit.
