Page 119 of A Dance of Water

The strongest of the threads rose, angry and possessive. Her soul answered without her volition, a soft plea to stay a vengeful hand. Luella knew, even without seeing, that Az was poised to break them apart if she made one little pained sound.

"Answer me. What do you hear?" Tharen’s hot breath against her face.

"I-I… You," she finally said. "I hear your breaths. I hear my heart." And she did, the organ thundered like the roar in the sky above.

Tharen sighed. "No."

From how close he was pressed against her, she felt his deep exhale.

"Beyond that. What do you hear? Stretch your ears far. Don’t beso close-minded."

She huffed, his instructions vague, but did as he said, straining to listen beyond their small shared space.

The loudest was the rain; it was hard to make out any other noise.

"Water," she murmured. "I hear water."

"What else?"

"The wind. It’s loud. I can hear it rustle through the treetops." And she heard much more. The faintest whisper in the brush as woodland creatures burrowed deep to keep warm and dry, the soft song of birds from high above, the groaning creak of trees as they swayed from the force of her storm. She told all of this to him.

"Now, what do you smell?"

Firstly, him. Always, him. His ice-tipped scent was like standing amid a snowstorm. But she did not share this with him. "The damp earth."

"And what do you feel?" he mumbled against her ear, words heavy with tension.

She shivered. "Not much."Besides you, she mentally added.

Tharen pulled away from her, his hands skimming down her thighs, tightly bound by fabric. He gripped her ankle. She felt his head brush her stomach. Was he…kneelingbefore her?

Silently, he tugged the laces of her boots free and slipped her foot out of it. He cupped her bare foot as if it were made of glass, and ranhis finger over the top. She remembered him saying, once, that she was his—even down to her toes.

Her bare foot was placed on the wet ground. She grimaced, feeling mud between her toes and grass tickling her heels. He quickly removed her other boot, and she was left barefoot.

Tharen placed his hand back on her stomach. "Breathe deep. Feel the earth under your feet. That’s Terra."

She inhaled, his palm raising with the motion.

Breathing grounded her. The mud was soft and spongy under her feet. She wiggled her toes, a tiny laugh bubbling up at the feel. Freeing.

"I feel mud and grass. But it’s… nice. Soothing."

The tension between them was palpable, only growing stronger. A long roll of thunder shook the sky. Tharen pressed his lips to her temple—not a kiss, not exactly.

"Last one." His lips skimmed down the side of her face. "What did youfeel?"

Why wasn’t Az stopping this? Did the demon not see what Tharen was doing?

Did Luella even want Tharen to stop?

As Tharen’s wet tongue traced over her cheek, flirting with the edge of her blindfold, she thought,No, she didn’t want him to stop.

"I feel you," she whispered, and this time, she did not allow her senses to stretch, focusing only on him—on them.

She felt him smirk against her skin.

Tharen pulled back, and she stood alone in the middle of the forest.