“Nayah.” His eyes held something like wonder, his vision in my mind skimming over the sight of my skin, the softness of my body snug against him, my face staring up.
“Khal? Let’s do this a lot.”
“I’d like that.” He swallowed. “Not that we have to, I mean…we could stop—" I kissed him, felt his pulse slow, his breathing even beside me. He opened his eyes again. “Yeah,” he said. “I’d like that.”
“Khal?” I whispered. “I can kind of read your mind sometimes.”
He stayed still, digesting that. His eyebrows furrowed. “Is that…good for you?”
“Yeah,” I got out. “I can’t do it on purpose yet. It takes a lot of power. Just…sometimes.” I slid my fingertips over the smooth expanse of his chest, and his eyes closed again.
“Just promise me…” his eyelids fluttered. “...that if there’s anything weird, anything that upsets you, you’ll ask me about it. I don’t want us misunderstanding each other, if we can have a conversation. We’ve had…way too much of that.”
I could sleep here, in the crook of his arm, forever. Maybe this was how we’d sleep, every night. Every night that we were together. Every night for the rest of our lives. “Okay. I promise.” I touched his eyebrow again, and he pulled me tighter to him. “It hasn’t been anything weird,” I said softly. “Just the same things on my mind about you.”
He nuzzled into my touch.This will take some getting used to.The thought breezed across my mind. The power was calmer now, less overwhelming, just a warmth tingling between us.
“I’ll have to get used to this too,” I said. “How much I want you.”
His eyes opened. “You know I want you too?” he said, no lie echoing between our minds, just that calm certainty. “You understand that I love you?”
I nodded. My throat tightened. I shouldn’t cry right now. “Yes.”
“Good.” He surged up to kiss me again.
It was breathless, and intense, and my own thoughtsfragmented, everything except his body, excepthim,beyond my reach. I pulled back, gasped. “You know…I love you too?—"
He crushed my mouth back to his, all of me back to him.
I know,his thoughts growled, thrummed across the link.I know.
After that, I didn’t do much thinking.
CHANGES
Iwoke up nestled beside him, his skin against mine, the bandage on his shoulder next to my cheek. The power had faded, the space where his thoughts had been just quiet. I stayed still, not wanting to wake him, letting my eyes skim over the beauty of his form.
“I’m awake too,” he murmured. Hope bloomed inside me, was quashed by, “We should get dressed. They’ll unlock the stone soon.”
“I guess there isn’t time to…” I flushed, which was silly, when I was already here, and he’d already been…everywhere.
“There isn’t.” He cleared his throat. His neck was warm. “But…later. Last night…” I waited. His eyes finally found mine. “... that was good.”
“Yeah,” I said, treasuring this moment of not moving, this tiny piece of time lying still. “It was.”
He cleared his throat again, and stood up. And for once, I let myself stare, let myself catalog the way his muscles moved, the intricacies of the marks on his perfect skin. I knew the peppered scarring at his lower back, the handprints from the tower, knew that under the bandages on his shoulder and thighthere would be new slices from what he'd chosen and done. There were others I wanted to ask questions about, the toothmarks on his forearm, that slice underneath his pec.Later.Pure, shaky happiness flooded over me at that thought.We’ll have plenty of time later. We have the rest of our lives.
He pulled on his trousers, and I realized I should dress as well.
I splashed water from the basin over my face, cleaning quickly, and turned to look for where I’d shucked the shift, my blue dress. And he was staring at me, Khal Drazha’s-son, his hands still on the closure of his trousers, staring like I was a sunset, or a fairy. Like I was going to disappear into thin air.
I stepped closer. “I can’t read your mind anymore.” I brushed his hair off his brow. It was longer than when we’d met. I wondered if he would cut it. “So I don’t know what you’re thinking.”
His jaw moved. “That you’re real. That you’re mine.” His gaze traced downwards again, and he inhaled, closed his eyes. “Dressed. We need to get you dressed.” He took a step back, his touch on my arms feather-light. “The sight of you like this is something I’m not interested in sharing.”
I pulled my clothes on, and he kept a distance, watching me. “Do you want help with the bandages?” I asked.
“We can check the one on my calf later, but I think all the incisions are still closed.” He glanced down at his bicep. “I don’t think I needed the bandaging for the burns, anymore. I just kept them in case…I didn’t want to upset you.”
