Page 80 of Mountain of Mirrors and Starlight
Aislinn snorted. “His stupid arms and his stupid face and his stupid, stupid eyes and his stupid lips and the less-than-stupid stuff that comes out of them.”
“So all of him, then, basically?”
“Yes, all of him.”
Beau sighed again, more dramatically before, scooted round to sit in the bedroll next to hers. “I think I’m about done for the night,” he announced. “Can you take the next watch?”
Aislinn nodded. “Not going to try to convince me to rest again?”
“It seems a rather hopeless business.”
“You mean pointless?”
“I said what I said.”
Aislinn exhaled, turning to look at the rocky ceiling, trying to imagine stars and feeling only the weight of the mountains crushing down on her. “Do you think I’m being foolish?”
“I think you are a person that doesn’t fall easily, and even though it may be a terrible idea to fall for a mortal prince who’s the heir to another throne and currently can’t even touch you and will probably have to remain underground for years honing his powers—I think maybe it might be worth it?”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. And at the end of the day, does it even matter if it hurts? Isn’t the other possibility worse—nothing ever happening, ever? Aren’t you far more likely to regret the paths not taken?”
Aislinn thought back to the moment when the cottage had been attacked, to the way she had followed the dwarves, not understanding why.
Maybe she did, now.
She nudged Beau’s shoulder. “When did you get so wise?”
“Me? I’ve always been wise. I’m literally the wisest one out of the two of us bymiles—”
“That is not how you measure wiseness.”
“Wiseness is not a word, and thus, my point is proved.” He leaned over and flicked her forehead. “I’m sleeping now, sister dearest. Goodnight.”
Aislinn waited for a while until she thought he was asleep, and then rolled upright and crept towards Caer’s sleeping form, settling herself down beside him. He looked oddly serene when he was asleep, his smooth brow unfurrowed.
She brushed back a lock of hair from his face. “I won’t touch you,” she told him, “even though I really,reallywant to. Even though I think you want me to. I just… I’m not afraid of you, Caer. Afraidforyou, maybe. But… if that’s the price I pay for being next to you, I think it’s worth it.”
She stayed beside him, watching, gazing, thinking of little but the shape of his face and the lines of his features until her thoughts turned to little more than mush. A while later, his eyes opened, and he broke into a smile that made her heart leap. “Hey,” he said. “Where—”
“In a tunnel on our way to Avalinth. We’re safe here.”
“Well, we must be if you can say it…” He tried to glance around. “Is everyone—”
“We’re fine,” she said shortly. “Everyone is fine.”
“Good. That’s… good.”
“Caer, what you did earlier, resurrecting all those bodies…”
Caer’s smile dropped. “Yes?”
“It was… impressive.”
The smirk blossomed again. “Impressive, was it?”
“Yes.”
