Amused by the girls and hoping to fluster Evera a bit, I decided to play along. Lowering my voice to a rumble, I leaned in and spoke against her ear, just loud enough that her friends could overhear.
“Tell me, love, which one is it that you want? Your friend’s husband is clever. I would like to follow his lead.”
Evera narrowed her eyes pointedly but did not justify my remark with a response.
Amusement vibrated in my chest. I bent down and kissed her, letting my lips linger on hers. Pulling her against me, I deepened the kiss, and though her friends giggled, she melted against me and returned it. When she broke away and sucked in a breath, I grinned wickedly at her. A spark lit her eyes, and I left her with her friends to speak with the merchant.
There were many options, and I knew nothing about jewelry. Still, I liked this Renna woman’s ideas. And even if Evera didn’t model it for me naked, I wanted to give her something. I considered the green stone she wore, hung by a golden chain around her neck. I recalled an occasion when it had caught the light and gleamed with the same vibrance that painted her smile, shone in her eyes. The corners of my lips turned up at the memory.
I longed to give her all the things she desired. Though … Evera had, in truth, expressed little wanting for physical things. Aside from the manor, nothing else came to mind. While the funds in my accounts back at the capital could have afforded it, those savings was lost to me now, and the single silver and few copper coins I had left certainly couldn’t buy it. So, a necklace it was. Something she could touch when we were apart and think of me, remember my love for her.
“This one,” I told the merchant, picking out something shorter that I thought would layer well with what she already had.The gold chain was simple, but the small stones at its center were stunning—shades of sage that varied from dark to light, like the many tones of her eyes.
I returned to the women, stood behind Evera, and draped her beautiful cinnamon curls over one of her shoulders. Giggling at my touch, she looked up, and I brushed her temple with my nose.
“Hadrian,” Evera objected as I clasped the golden necklace at the back of her neck.I did not miss the teasing with which she voiced my false name, nor the glint in her eyes.
Leaning in, I responded against her ear, low enough that only she would hear, matching the teasing of her tone. “Cordelia.”
The brush of my fingers across the back of her neck unclasped her old necklace, and I narrowly caught one end of the fine chain before it could fall to the ground. I studied its fastener briefly. It seemed loose, but what did I know of jewelry? Evera looked up at me over her shoulder quizzically, and I offered a quirked smile for my clumsiness before re-clasping the chain, along with her new necklace.
“I think he wants to see you naked in it,” Renna crooned, a friendly tease in her voice.
Heat flushed Evera’s cheeks; they reddened beneath her freckles.
“Your friend is correct,” I murmured.
Sucking in her lips, Evera narrowed her eyes at me, and I offered a cunning smile in return.
“You’re beautiful,” I told her, meaning it with my entire being.Warmth fluttered within me as I let out a contented breath, eager for the morning we were to spend together. Our troubles were too numerous to count; the future was unknown. But the light in her eyes, the easy comfort of her touch, they spoke of her acceptance of the bond we shared. My smile softened to something deeper, and as it did, the corners of her lips rose faintly, showing that she felt it too. In that moment, everything felt just a little less heavy. Like together, perhaps, we could work through the tangled path of thorns ahead and come through the other side to something more than I’d ever even thought to yearn for before.
36
EVERA
In the doorwayleading into the inn’s kitchen, I stilled my steps. Directly across from me, the door that led out to the gardens was closed, its white ceramic handle clean and polished. The wood flooring beneath my feet was worn, old, but clean, too. The air smelled of citrus. Maerel had done well in her fastidious cleaning. Not a single smear of blood remained.
“Are you alright?”Neirin asked. He stood before the central table, laying out the items he’d purchased from the market. The faint tug of his brows showed his concern.
“It’s as if nothing ever happened,” I said, feeling dislocated.
The crease in Neirin’s brows softened, and he stepped to me. Pulling me into his embrace, he kissed the top of my head. “Is it too hard for you to be here?”
“No,” I spoke against his chest before he could change his mind and usher me out. Because even though I’d teased him for it back at the shop, I wanted to bake with him. It was amusing to imagine him cooking, as gruff and rugged as he was. Much less baking. “It’s only that the memory of how this place was the other night is …” I searched for the correct word. “Disconcerting.”
Neirin cupped my cheek in his palm and met my eyes. “Then we shall make new memories.”
I smiled and stood to the tips of my boots, brushing my lips against his. Neirin’s arm at my waist pulled me in closer, and when the familiar rush of heat swept through the bond, I sought with a hand beneath his shirt, above the bandages. His breathing quickened, and I giggled at his reaction.
Neirin pulled back, and the corner of his mouth crooked up, revealing the indent of his dimple. “You are a tease.”
Lightened by his candor and what had become a quip between us, I shrugged. “Perhaps a little.”
Amusement danced in his eyes before he turned back to the table. “Come, help with the apples.”
I followed him, a lightness to my steps. A warm breeze carried through an open window at my left and, as I came to stand at his side, I caught the scent of vanilla. “Do you want me to peel them?” I asked, gesturing to the basket of apples with a tilt of my chin.
He nodded. “And dice them.”
