Well, abandoning your entire life with no safety net is a big choice; I’m not surprised he needed to rest.
It doesn’t look like it is an easy one, though. His brows are furrowed even in sleep, his jaw clenched, and my chest tightens.
I guess this can’t be his haven after all.
I didn’t want anyone in my space, so it’s unreasonable for me to be disappointed that being here doesn’t magically make him as happy as it’s made me.
Then I notice that the blankets I put on him are gone, and frown.
For a second I think I messed up—everyone always tells me I’m too much, that I should stay out of their way, but it getscoldhere at night and I don’t think it was ridiculous to think that a sage might not realizehowcold—
And then I realize he didn’t just take them off, he put them onme.
I blink back sudden, stupid tears as warmth fills me.
The sage—Kovan—is trying to take care of me. Like he is with the bread. Like he is with this pile of blankets on the floor when obviously he should have just taken the bed instead and I’d have slept on the couch, but it seemed silly for neither of us to use the bed so I’d done it anyway after finding him.
Still. He woke up long enough to see what I’d done for him and decide to do something for me instead.
When was the last time someone cared?
Wow, depressing question, and what a great reason to get myself out of bed so I stop thinking about it.
I tiptoe to the kitchen and find that the man also apparently woke up long enough to bake a whole loaf of bread in the middle of the night?
I can’t believe I didn’t hear, honestly. Ilikebeing up here, but I’m still getting used to all the sounds, and I normally wake up in the night a few times.
But I slept all the way through this.
Was it the extra warmth? Or the warmth from knowing a person was with me, trying not to encroach onmefor once?
My chest tightens again. I knew it would be hard to have him here, and then for him to leave. But a sage is too important for someone like me.
Even if he baked bread for me.
The important part is that he did it! Kovan cooked something for the first time, all by himself.
He’s so going to be fine without me.
That combination of pride and despair stays with me all the way down the mountain.
WhenIgetback,the door to my cottage flies open before I’m even close, and Kovan advances on me.
The first thing I notice is that he’s taken off his robes, and wow is he even more attractive this way than I was expecting.
He’s wearing the pants that I brought for him. They fit—which isn’t the biggest surprise because, despite the robes, one of the many jobs I’ve tried was seamstress—but, gods, do theyfit.
And with the background of my cottage behind him, dressed like a normal person, he looks... maybe not attainable.
Buttouchable.
Dangerous thoughts.
And as he closes in, my breath catches at the determined light in his golden eyes.
Being the focus of that intensity is...wow.
Then he reaches for my load. “I can carry this inside.”
