She felt his lips move against hers, a fierce press that wasn't meant to be scary but was meant as a moment between thetwo of them. A single, sweet kiss, a sealing of realization that they both had feelings for each other that were complicated and messy and perhaps not entirely healthy yet.
Neither of them could deny those feelings anymore, though. They'd been burning with them for ages, and Rose wasn't even sure when they had started to blossom inside of her. She couldn't pinpoint a particular moment, but easily thought of hundreds. Like how he made sure she’d had her favorite spoon in the beginning because others had triggered her mind for some strange reason. When he had fluffed her pillow nearly every night because it had hurt her neck. How he’d brought her flowers every day in the beginning because he’d said everyone needed flowers to feel better.
Hundreds of little moments. Hundreds of times when he had helped her find all her pieces all without her ever knowing.
He drew back, his lips still clinging to hers for a moment before he pressed his forehead against hers. "I don't want to push you."
"You aren't."
"You have a history that cannot be forgotten, Rose. You'll have to take the lead on this."
"I did," she reminded him. "I kissed you."
A little chuckle escaped his lips. "Yes, I suppose you did. Foolish woman. You should never have given me this hope."
Hope.
He’d said a kiss from her had given him hope, and that made her feel lighter than the wisps that danced around their heads. Wisps that illuminated the entire cavern.
She tilted her head back with a gasp, staring around them at all the tiny balls of light dancing along the ceiling and around their shoulders. "Wisps!" she gasped.
Gunnar let the green light in his hands drop and then grinned at her. "They usually show up when there's light somewhere. I thought this might summon them."
But now he was illuminated, and he was just so handsome. It was strange to look at a man and think anything other than disgust. Overwhelming, almost. The darkness pressed in on her, but she could look at him and ground herself. Gunnar, very much not a man who would hurt her. He was the person who had taken care of her.
And just like that, the darkness started to leave. Just a bit. Not entirely, and not enough that she would think for even a second that it was gone forever. All it did was allow her to breathe for a few more moments and look into his eyes.
Gunnar held out his hand for her to take. "Come on, fair lady. We have to find a way out of here."
Just like always, he kept her safe.
So she took his hand and walked into the shadows with him as an army of wisps trailed along behind them.
Twenty-Seven
Gunnar
She'd kissed him.
His sweet, shy, adorable woman had finally come out of her shell and kissed him. It was both good and bad—good because he was so proud of her for being able to even do that in the first place, and bad because now it was all he could think about.
Even as he climbed out of the pool of water and turned to help her out of it, he was thinking about kissing her. About how the hand in his grip had pressed against his chest so gently. How her lips were the softest he'd ever felt. How she had trusted him.
Him.
It was distracting, and he couldn't afford to be distracted right now. Not when he was in the middle of nowhere, in the heart of the mountain, and had absolutely no idea where they were going. Thankfully, the pool led to a stream, and both water features were only a small part of this cave system. They'd already slipped once. The last thing he wanted was for them toslide into the mountain even deeper. He wasn't certain he could get them out as it was.
The wisps he had summoned were all too happy to follow them around, though. They trailed along in their path, bobbing in those pretty little lights that had always captivated him as a child. Rose was quite interested in them as well. She let out little sounds of surprise as they zipped throughout the cave, highlighting all the rocks that they might have tripped over if the wisps hadn't otherwise shown them.
"They're oddly... kind," Rose murmured as she stepped around a stone he still found strange that she could see.
"Who? The wisps?" he asked before turning around. "Of course. They're helpful."
She stared at him. "Was I supposed to know that wisps are helpful?"
"Wisps are known for that. They guide people to safety. They bring trolls to the ancient places where our people have been laid to rest so that we can enjoy being with our ancestors. Wisps are full of kindness."
Again, she kept staring at him like he was missing something. He had no idea what she could possibly be thinking right now. Wisps had always been friends to the trolls.
