Sheba molded her body against the hard lines of his frame, to the heavy, sinewed arms wrapped around her.
She stared through her tears as his sigils began to shift and pulse.
Her eyes followed the golden flicker rippling over the shadows of his muscles.
Idan’s strength appeared forged for war, yet now it served as a bulwark between her and the ghosts of the massacre trying to claw their way back in, and she was grateful for it.
Wrapped in the heat of his embrace, Sheba finally let fatigue drag her under, surrendering to exhaustion.
10
The Myth Of Divinity
When Sheba opened her eyes, the sun had crested the peaks, casting the hut in a mellow, honeyed hue.
She woke to the muted scrape of tools and found Idan standing at the long span of his leather-making desk.
She stared around her in shock.How late was it? Was it lunchtime or afternoon?
It’s late afternoon, and naam, you slept much longer than usual,Idan drawled, not turning around.
She jolted at his voice and drew a shawl around her shoulders.
Why didn’t you wake me?
You needed the rest.
Sheba blinked, taking inventory.
She felt more at peace, deeply rested indeed. More calm too.
Damn him, but he was right.
The long sleep had done wonders for her mind, body, and soul.
That’s when she noticed what he was up to.
She bit her lip, taking in all of his magnificence.
His upper body was bare, his muscles bunching as he worked a hide stretched tight into the beginnings of a tool belt.
Awls, burnishers, and stitching paraphernalia lay arranged on the bench beside him, his hands moving with practiced economy as he cut, pressed, and molded the pattern into life.
Firelight lit his glistening chest, illuminating his glyphs, gleaming over muscles as they flexed with each pull and strike, his sweat a muted sheen.
His hair was caught up in a rough bun, some of the long strands free and flowing over his back, lifting and settling with his breath.
She recalled how he held her until her shivering subsided, then slept beside her all night, her view of him tilting on its axis.
The men she dated in the past were loud, brash, and showy.
Her former dates and boyfriends paled in comparison to his resplendence; they now seemed performative and forgettable to her.
She wondered what she’d ever seen in them at all.
Idan, however, was different; silent, grounded.
With the raw gravity of a frontiersman, yet carrying the heft of an ancient potency she had yet to unravel, a man of hidden complexities that she wanted to explore.
