Page 88 of Light and Shadow
“My father used to go on business trips when I was a girl.” He had blue eyes and brown hair, always looked powerful in his business suits when he came home from work. Then he would change into jeans or shorts, and that felt better to me.
“The bridge made you think of your father’s work?” Now he looks, but his expression is confused. He flips the fish over.
Shaking my head, I explain. “When he was gone for a long time, he’d bring me home a gift. Once he brought me a book with children’s poems, stories, and fairy tales. It was hard-covered and had characters from rhymes and stories on the front and back. I loved that book. There was a story about a troll who lived under the bridge and three goats that wanted to cross. This made me think of that story, which made me think of my father. And I suppose thinking of him makes me both happy and sad.”
Aaran’s knife glints in the glow of the stones. He cuts open the fish, slices out some flaky white meat, places it on a leaf and hands it to me. “It probably would benefit from spices, but we’ll have to make do.”
Too hungry to argue, I eat the fish, and while salt would be nice, it’s not bad.
Fed and having washed our hands in the river, we lie back on the blanket. I rest my head on Aaran’s shoulder and close my eyes.
“Tell me the story,” he says.
“Hmm?” My muscles tick as they relax from a day of overexertion.
He wraps his arm around me and kisses my cheek, and it feels as if we’ve always known each other. “Tell me about the goats and the troll.”
Eyes closed, I conjure up the tale ofThe Three Billy Goats Gruffand tell him what I can remember, right through thedemise of the unfortunate troll. “I’m not sure if we’re the goats or the troll.”
He chuckles, and my head bobs on his warm body. “I’m not sure who’s the hero of that tale.”
“When I was little, I cheered for the goats, but now I can see the flaws in the lesson. I can’t say if that’s the point of the story or not. Most of the nursery rhymes and fairy tales from my childhood are either gruesome or ambiguous when you think about them.” This is not the first time I’ve realized this. It was a topic in one of my literature classes in college. “A lot of them were written during times of war and disease.”
“It’s interesting. Not much different here. There were many tales of children being whisked away by monsters in my childhood as well.” He falls silent.
“Perhaps because thereweremonsters, and it would frighten you into staying in places your parents thought safe.
“Perhaps.”
As the sunlight brings the first gray and purple to the day, I pull out of Aaran’s arms. At the water’s edge, I slip out of my clothes and into the river. The cold water makes me squeak despite not wanting to wake him.
“Harper?”
I squeeze my eyes closed and wish I had been able to keep silent. “I’m just washing up.”
An instant later, he’s at the edge of the embankment stripping out of his clothes.
The cold washes away, and even after seeing him naked before, I heat from head to toe. He’s beautiful, hard, andmuscled. Whatever harm the wound and two days’ rest did, it hasn’t affected his toned body.
He steps into the river, and without being fazed by the chill, dives under. Like a merman, he swims toward me.
Instinctively, I step back. The round stones under my feet are hard to grip, and I slip. My head goes under in an instant. I come up sputtering and cough up water. When I stand, Aaran wraps his arms around me.
“Are you alright?” He brushes my hair from my face, and it takes several attempts to get the wet strands out of my eyes. “Why did you back away?”
Clutching his shoulders, I don’t have a good answer. “I don’t know. This felt new somehow. You’re…” I search for the word. “Changed. Not in a bad way, but still, not the same.”
With his muscled legs wide, he lifts me until he can kiss my throat without leaning over. “Back in familiar light magic. I’m feeling much better. If we didn’t have to get to the spring before dark, I would make love to you here on the banks of the river. I would hear you scream my name a dozen times.”
My breath hitches. Wrapping my legs around his hips brings his cock along my slit. I rub along his shaft and moan. “You do feel better.”
A few minutes to forget everything else. It’s not too much to want. The aches of my body and the memories from yesterday, I just want it all to go away, so I won’t hurt so much.
With a frustrated groan, he carries me from the river and lies on top of me on the grassy shore. I love the weight of him pressing into me. His mouth is electric along the skin of my neck and chest. He looks into my eyes, and his shine with so much love, it’s hard to breathe. Lowering his mouth, he devours mine. His tongue seeks mine and slides over and around until I’m squirming beneath him.
Threading my fingers through his damp hair, I suck his tongue, then make love to his lips. On fire, I lift my hips so he can feel how wet I am, and it has nothing to do with the river.
Akraa-kraabreaks the silence as the shadow of a bird flies over us.
