He took a deep breath.I am.
Sheba tilted her head, tracing her hand down the rough stubble of his jawline.
Tell me,she whispered.I want to hear your story.
His warrior’s mask stripped away, leaving a raw vulnerability.
A muscle ticked in his jaw before he took an inhale.
I was one of many squad leaders in the Sacran army. Due to a series of harrowing events, I fell from on high. When I landed here, I was disoriented, unstable, and at my wits’ end. I stumbled into the village, where Chef Xian and Muna nursed me to health when I had nothing but my own confusion and hate for my enemies. Then Xian gave me the mountain land in exchange for supplies and my labor. That welcome, that farm, its soil, and my animals, they saved my mind and my soul. They healed me. I owe this dirt and these people a debt I can only pay with my very essence.
It was still a sanitized version of his truth, but Sheba let it slide. He’d share it all when he was ready.
They stood arms around each other for a long time as the sun dipped below the dunes, painting the silent sands and hoarfrost drifts in shades of bruised gold and deep indigo.
In time, Idan gathered her up in his embrace and glimmered them both away.
In a heartbeat, the desert air shifted into the familiar scent of wood smoke and pine as he returned them to the mountain hut.
He tucked her sleepy, exhausted self into the heavy furs of his bed, his touch tender.
‘Is this a dream?’ she murmured out loud, pulling him down for one last, soft kiss. ‘If it is, I never want to wake from it.’
He let out a rumbling, deep chuckle that reverberated in her own chest. ‘Nada, woman. We’re just each other’s dreams come true.’
14
The Myth Of Innocence
One dawn, winter surrendered its grip on the Lattaya range.
Sheba knifed up in bed and stared at the scene through the window next to the couple’s bed.
‘We can see the trees again, and I swear there’s a flower coming up through the frost.’
‘The first snow drop,’ Idan suggested as he nibbled at her ear.
Sheba clapped her hands together in delight.
‘You know that means,’ he rumbled, his voice vibrating through her spine.
‘What?’
‘It’s time for some wildfokkin’ to celebrate the start of spring.’
Sheba huffed. ‘Is that right? Or is that a new Sacran ritual you just dreamed up, warrior god?
‘You know you want to,’ he growled into her nape, his hand cupping her breast and tweaking her nipple.
‘Nada, no way.’
He leaned down, his lips brushing the curve of her neck, his sigils pulsing a warm gold. ‘Yes, way, I can sense your pulse accelerating. It’s a very specific frequency.’
Sheba felt a shiver race down her spine, but kept her tone flat. ‘That’s justkaffeine, godling. Don’t get an ego.’
‘Funny,’ he whispered, his hand sliding slowly over her stomach, moving lower to part her thighs, chuckling at her moan. ‘I don’t remember you drinkingkahawa, fokk, we haven’t broken our fast yet.’
‘Then hurry, handsome, I’m hungry.’
