Page 83 of Winds of Darkness
“I don’t see why not.”
“It’s the middle of the night, Briar.”
“And neither of us is sleeping, Ashtine.”
“Obviously,” she grumbled, and he loved these moments. The moments when she could grumble. When it was just her and him. Not a prince and princess. Not rulers. Just the two of them with something they were keeping hidden from the world lest the realm tarnish it.
Briar squeezed her fingers in his palm. “Shall we?”
A smile graced her lips, and they quietly crept from the small room, making their way out to the hall where Ashtine could conjure a wind portal. A moment later they stood in a cavern, moss and flowers scattered along the floor and walls, and strands of ivy draped along the ceiling. And just as she’d said, a large pool stretched out before them, steam rising from the surface. The air was thick with humidity, and he immediately set his cloak aside.
Turning to Ashtine, he said, “Remind me why you have never brought me here before?”
She smiled, bending down to remove her wool socks and placing them with his cloak. “I often forget it exists. I rarely have time to visit.”
“We will have to remedy that,” he said, stripping off his tunic and toeing off his boots.
Ashtine was already at the water’s edge, walking through the edge of the warm water. “Ermir would bring me here from time to time when I was a child. But as I got older and my responsibilities increased, those visits became less and less. Until eventually, they simply … ceased. I didn’t even notice.” She turned to face him once more, opening her mouth to speak more, but her eyes went wide. “You are naked,” she blurted.
He smirked because she wasn’t wrong. He’d stripped down completely. If they were going to get into that pool together, he wanted her to be naked as well.
Closing the distance between them, he reached for the skirt of her dress, pausing. But she only lifted her arms, letting him slidethe garment over her head. A moment later, she was as bare as he was, and he held her hand as they waded into the water until it covered her chest and lapped at the base of his. Skimming his palm along the surface, the water gently eddied and swirled around them.
Her hair still piled on her head, she moved out further until she was swimming rather than touching the bottom, and she turned back to look at him. “How does this compare to the hot springs in the Fiera Mountains?”
“A thousand times better,” he answered without hesitation, following her path.
“They are that different?”
“The ones here include a naked princess.”
She laughed, the lilting sound a beautiful melody to his soul. He reached out, finding her hips and tugging her into him. Her legs wrapped around his waist, soft parts of her pressed against hard planes of him. Her arms wound around his neck, and then she was kissing him, letting him taste what he’d been craving for weeks.
This was worth the secrets and the sneaking around. This was worth the late nights and meetings under the stars. But there was a part of his soul that was getting restless. Not to leave her. No, if anything, it was becoming clearer and clearer with each day that would never be an option.
She pulled back, pressing her brow to his, and her breaths quick as they both sucked in air. Her fingers toyed with his hair, and those piercing sky-blue eyes held his.
“Someday things will change,” she lilted.
“I know,” he answered.
“I fear what those changes may hold.”
“We don’t worry about it now.”
“Sometimes that is not possible, despite best efforts.”
“I know,” he said again, brushing his lips along her cheek. “I am trying to find a way.”
She leaned back to see him better. “You are?”
“I refuse to believe what we have is a mere coincidence,” heanswered, pulling her with him as he swam closer to the edge. “And I refuse to lose something we both deserve to have.”
“Briar, we can’t—” She paused, clearly trying to phrase whatever she wanted to say correctly. “We both knew what this was going into it.”
“That’s just the thing, my dear,” he replied, pressing his back to the stone wall of the spring. “I don’t think either of us knew what this would become going into it.”
“But we did. We agreed,” she insisted.
