‘Like you,’ Sheba countered, leaning into his side.
‘Naam, it isus,’ he rasped, pulling her closer. ‘I want our entire life, the decades stretching out before us, to reflect this fierce, untamed beauty.’
They retreated from the edge to a sheltered slope covered in a carpet of white daisies. Far below them, sailboats navigated the distance, tiny, defiant floaters on a heaving sapphire sea.
As they sat in the grass, Sheba picked a small bouquet of the flowers, her fingers nimble as she braided a delicate daisy bracelet.
When she finished, she took his massive wrist and tied the fragile loop of stems and blooms around it.
The simplicity of the gesture moved Idan.
He’d lived through centuries of blood, gore, and cold war, yet he had never experienced a sensation so unfiltered and tender.
He took an inhale, overcome with love for the woman who cradled his soul in her hands.
Gazing at the white petals against his dark skin, he made a silent mental vow to preserve the braid in a stasis-press for his bedside.
Pressing his lips to her temple, he held her close for a long time.
As the sun edged towards the horizon, Sheba rose, brushing blossoms from her slacks.
‘Come with me before we lose the light. I want to show you where we scattered my father’s ashes.’
They walked across a bridge that spanned the narrow strait.
Below the iron girders, a frenzied eddy surged, a natural whirlpool that forced the tide into twelve-meter waves.
The roar of the water was a constant, tectonic bass note that made the viaduct sway in the zephyr.
The wind howled through the iron, carrying the scent of damp stone.
Sheba leaned over the rusted rail, her eyes shimmering with the gold-lattice light as she pointed at the bend in the river. ‘That’s where he -.’
Her sentence broke as her heel snagged on a gap in the metal grating and unbalanced her.
Sheba pitched forward, her limbs flailing over the sheer drop. But the fall never came.
A surge of warmth enveloped her, and the sensation of weightlessness took hold as Idan tapped into his divine reservoir.
He suspended her in the air, levitating her toward him until he wrapped his massive arms around her, anchoring her to the hard planes of his chest.
Tilting her head back, his eyes flared before he claimed her mouth in a kiss flavored with sea salt and ancient starlight.
When they finally broke apart, she was trembling, her hands clutching his lapels.
‘I’m a total disaster,’ she whispered, her heart hammering. ‘I’m so freakin’ klutzy. You still want to deal with this every day?’
‘Naam,’ he drawled, the noir gravity of his face breaking into a genuine smile. ‘It’s the most adorable part of you.’
‘Nada, it’s embarrassing!’ she protested.
‘Hell, woman, it gives this Sacran god a chance to save you almost every day. It strokes my ego to be the only thing standing between you and disaster.’
Sheba let out a vibrant, joyous laugh and smacked his shoulder. ‘You’refokkin’ wild.’
‘I’m wild for you,’ he agreed, his expression turning solemn. ‘And I love you.’
‘Baby, I freakin’ love you too. Even when you spout warrior-god nonsense.’
