Ahead of them was a huge, glistening lake, the surface of the water sparkling in the midday sunshine. Alianna looked to the far side ofthat lake, where a magnificent waterfall spilled into the lake, sending rainbows gleaming through the air as the water crashed down.
Overhead, the sun shone brightly, warming her skin and inviting her to step into the water.
Alianna looked to Rionan, who was smiling like she had not seen before. It was a smile that held no other meaning – pure, uninterrupted happiness.
“I may have worked quite hard over the last few days restoring this particular area. There were a few horrid things lurking around to see off, and once that was done, I was able to return the lake, the falls, and the trees to the way I remembered them.”
“By yourself?” Alianna asked.
“By myself. I have not met with the other Lords yet, if that is what you’re asking. Turns out, having the power of all of Xanthia does have its perks.” Rionan winked and began unbuttoning his shirt, revealing his sculpted body beneath. In this light, and with that smile on his face, he glowed like a star that had been plucked from the sky and dropped here, with her. Alianna felt butterflies dance in her stomach.
Rionan dropped his shirt to the ground before he continued speaking. “But do you want to know my favourite part?”
“What?” She asked. He stepped towards her, taking her hands in his own, bringing them between them.
“Close your eyes. Listen.”
Alianna allowed her eyes to fall closed, and for several moments, all she could hear was the waterfall. The sound ofwater meeting water, crashing into the lake, creating movement over what would have been its crystalline surface.
Then, as she tried to focus beyond the waterfall, she heard it.
The sound was quiet at first, while she struggled to locate it. Soft, enticing. Then it grew louder in her ears, like the sound reached her soul and eased any worries she was carrying.
The birdsong spoke to her heart, spoke to her very being. They sang such a wonderful melody, of love, of peace, of joy, and of home. Chills ran across Alianna’s skin, savouring the sound that Rionan had spoken so fondly of.
Slowly, she opened her eyes. She didn’t realise that she had started crying until she tried to look at him through bleary eyes. His answering smile could have made her drop to her knees.
“The birds,” Alianna gasped. “The birds came back?”
“Indeed, they did.”
Rionan had encouraged Alianna to swim towards the waterfall with him. There was no bashfulness between them as they swam without any clothing. As they had gotten closer, he’d stepped out of the shallows at the edge of the lake, taking her hand and guiding her around to the waterfall itself.
He showed her the small alcove he sometimes sat in behind the fall, where he would rest and listen to the birds.
They sat there together, doing just that, their damp naked bodies hidden from the world outside by the falls. As the intimacy of the afternoon caught up with them, they ended up wrapped in each other. Rionan had laid Alianna down on the stone, sliding down between her legs. He had spread them wide, feasting on her, leaving her body convulsing as waves of pleasure overcame her.
Rionan had held himself above her then, kissing her thoroughly as he sheathed himself within her. Their hips met over and over again, the sound of the waterfall masking their moans and gasps of ecstasy. Rionan nipped at Alianna’s neck as he pulled in and out of her, causing her to tighten aroundhim, her body edging closer to release with every thrust of his hips.
They reached their climax together, Rionan groaning into the shell of her ear as he filled her so perfectly. Alianna gripped his shoulders, grinding her hips against him, riding out her orgasm and clinging to every last shred of that feeling.
As they lay with one another, the cold creeping up on them now, Alianna recalled a conversation they’d had back in Porthan. When she believed he was just a man on a business trip, and that this would be, at most, a summer fling.
“You told me we couldn’t stay like this forever,” she muttered into his chest. He looked to her, his expression quizzical.
“What?”
“Back at The Rinniel,” Alianna looked up at him through heavy-lidded eyes. “You told me that this couldn’t last forever. This feels pretty forever, Rionan.”
Alianna wasn’t sure what emotions passed over his face or through his chest.
Affection.
Love.
Happiness.
But…regret?
