“It’s beautiful.”I couldn’t hold back my smile.The leaves were soft as silk.When I touched one, it broke free from the branch.I snatched it up and held it out to Darion.“Have you felt these?”
He took the leaf, rubbed it between his fingers, and smiled.“You know what giving a night willow leaf to someone signifies?”
“No idea.”
“It means you like that person.I’m keeping this.”He pocketed the leaf with such tenderness and care, and with it a tiny piece of my heart.
He sat down beneath the tree and patted the ground beside him.When I sat, the ground had a give to it, almost like I was sprawled on a large feather pillow.
Darion looked me right in the eye.Dust, those eyes were beautiful.
“So, I owe you an explanation,” he said.
“I want to know what happened, of course,” I said, “but you don’toweme anything.”
“I think Idoowe you,” he said with a grave look.“After we were separated, I must have ended up in a different part of the river.I floated into a long cave that had a shoreline, so I climbed out.I waited for a long while but never saw you.I even tried to swim upstream to see if I could find you, but the current was too strong.I found a way back into the catacombs, but I ran into a band of guards there.”
“You were captured?”I asked.
“Yeah.But luckily, one of the guards simply needed the right kind of persuasion to let me go.”Darion mimed rubbing two coins together with his fingers.
“I was worried you had died,” I said, unable to hold back the anguish in my voice.“I thought I was responsible for your death.”
“I’m sorry I put you through that,” Darion said, taking my hand in his.The contact sent warmth radiating through me.“Honestly, until I saw you walk into the tavern, I thoughtyouhad died.”
“So thatwasyou watching me,” I said.
He nodded.
“Why did you hide?”
“Honestly?I was afraid.”
“Afraid of what?”
“Cas, there are things…” Darion paused for a moment, then sighed.“There are things about me that I’m not proud of.Things I can’t really share.”
This didn’t surprise me in the least, and to be honest, I was relieved.There were things about me that I couldn’t tell him, too, and since we both had secrets, maybe we could cobble together some kind of half-broken relationship.Or maybe I was getting way ahead of myself.Maybe he didn’t want the same things I did.
“You don’t have to tell me everything,” I said.“Maybe it’s even better that way.”
Darion’s expression was complex, perhaps a little sad.“Maybe.”
“But there is one thing I need to know,” I said.
“What’s that?”
“In the catacombs, when you kissed me…” My throat dried up, and the words stuck in my mouth.
“Yes,” Darion said with certainty.“I meant it.And I want to do it again.”
He cupped my cheek.
“Slower this time,” I said.“And less water.”
Darion laughed quietly, then pressed his smile against my lips.We kissed tenderly, deliberately, savoring the moment.His lips were soft and receptive.The air he exhaled through his nose tickled my cheek, sending a tingle through my entire body, all the way to my fingers and toes.
His tongue explored my lips, and I welcomed him in.Our tongues met, but we continued gently, in no hurry, neither of us feeling the need to turn up the heat too much.And yet it was the most passionate kiss I’d ever experienced.
