We stand there a moment longer, the tension slowly bleeding out of me now that the immediate threat is gone.
“Come,” he says at last. “You need food.”
- - -
We eat quickly. I barely taste it. It’s some kind of roasted meat, tough but hot, and more of the frit booze. Around us, the triberesumes its low murmur, though I can feel eyes still lingering, curiosity and something else mixed together.
Five days. It echoes in my head with every bite. Five days to live. Five days to fix everything.
Five days with Nator’ax.
A tingle shoots down my body at the thought. That cave is very comfortable, the furs very soft. And I have a lot of time to make up for.
The cave feels warmer when we step inside, but I know it’s not the air. It’s the way everything finally lets go. The tension drains out of me all at once, leaving my limbs light and unsteady. I make it two steps before I hit the stone wall and brace myself there, a breath tearing out of me.
Then I laugh, a bit too loud in the enclosed space. “We’re alive!”
Nator’ax doesn’t laugh. He watches me, eyes dark, fixed, like he’s still standing in front of the council, still measuring threats. “Did you doubt it?”
I push away from the wall, moving toward him because I suddenly need to. “I did,” I admit. “For a moment there, I really did. Didn’t you?”
He doesn’t answer right away. Just looks at me, slow and searching, like he’s making sure I’m real. Then his hand comes up, rough with callouses from a hard life, but warm. He cups my jaw, thumb dragging across my cheek, catching the edge of moisture I didn’t even realize was there.
“Oh, I did,” he says quietly. “You were brave.”
“I was terrified.”
“There’s no bravery without fear,” he rumbles. His hand stays where it is. “I thought I might have to…” His voice cuts off. The words don’t need finishing.
A cold shiver runs through me. It’s a delayed reaction, finally catching up.
“Yes,” I whisper. “Me too.”
For a second, neither of us moves.
Then I step into him, closing the last bit of distance, pressing in like I need it. Which I do. I need his heat again, all over me. “But you didn’t. You didn’t. We’re here.”
His breath shifts. I feel it all through me.
“We’re alive,” I add. “And we’re alone.”
“What do you suggest?” he asks, but there’s already a rough edge to his voice.
I don’t answer right away. Instead, I reach for him.
My hands find his chest, solid and warm under my palms, and I feel the strength there, the steadiness that kept us alive. My fingers trace the stripes on his skin.
“I think…” I murmur, stepping closer until my body brushes his, “I need to stop thinking about how close that was.” My gaze lifts to his. “And start feeling something else.”
His hand tightens at the back of my jaw. “I think we both need that.”
I lean up, close enough that my lips almost touch his. “You have honored your oath,” I whisper. “Perfectly. This won’t break it.”
For a heartbeat, he holds himself back. Then his hand slides to the back of my neck and pulls me in hard, and the kiss hits deep, stripped of restraint. All the fear, all the pressure, and all the almost-ending disappears under the force of it. Heat, breath, hands, him.
I thought I was about to die. Now I want tolive, so hard it hurts.
I gasp into it, clutching at him, fingers digging into his shoulders as he crowds me back a step. Good. I don’t want distance. I don’t want control. I don’t want careful. I wanthim.
