AYLETH

He was massive in the dark, a looming shadow that somehow made her feel safe rather than afraid. And his eyes… despite the rough shirt she wore, she didn't miss the light that flared in his gaze every time he looked at her. And especially at her trousers, which she thought was odd. She wondered if he liked it, or was scandalized. She would have to work up the courage to ask him.

But much as she wanted to be close to him, this decision—to wait, to hide—made her ache inside.

He must have felt her misery, because he stepped over quickly to wrap her in his strong arms. She went willingly, burying her face in his chest.

"It is only time," he murmured into her hair. His voice rumbled in his chest in a delicious way. She wished she could lean her ear to it always and only hear him that way.

She sighed. "Don't you realize what the next two weeks are intended to do?" she said in a small voice.

"To bring unity between the nations before the Accord, and… form unions, among the next generation…" he trailed off as he saw what she meant.

"Yes. We will be thrown into the marriage market—both of us. You will be expected to woo a woman of appropriate birth and strength. And I... I will be courted."

She felt him go tense in her arms, and she clung. Desperately.

*****

ETAN

He saw it then—saw what Borsche had meant when he wondered if Etan was up to the competition of it. He saw her, his beautiful fiancée, his love! Trotted around the other men, dozens of them. Some of them brutes like that Lord earlier—Rot? What had his name been.

Etan held her tightly. "We must find ways… to be close. To be together. To remind each other—"

"I won't need a reminder," she whispered, her forehead against his chest. "But it will be a dagger in my heart every time you must touch another woman." She looked up at him then and he took her face in his hands and kissed her, softly at first. But the plump pillow of her lips lit a fire in his chest so quickly, he soon sucked in, his fingers in her hair, and he tilted her chin up to deepen the kiss, letting his tongue play gently, softly against hers.

She gasped but responded with enthusiasm—if little finesse. Then suddenly she pulled back and beamed at her. "It's very different when you do it!" she said.

Etan blinked. "What, exactly?"

"When Roarke tried to kiss me earlier he stuffed his tongue in my mouth and, ugh! I didn't like it at all. I hadn't realized that was a part of the kissing. I do like it when you do it."

He was torn—half of him burning with rage at the man, and half of him wishing to announce to the entire kingdom that she liked his kisses. He stroked her hair back from her face and pulled her in again, kissing all his reassurance, his sudden love, and certainty that she was his.

She whimpered and her breath shortened, her arms snaking up to circle his neck and pull him in.

Etan let one hand slide down her side, to cup her bottom in those pants. And it was so firm, so perfect, like a ripe peach, that he groaned.

Ayleth immediately pulled away, horror on her face. "Did I hurt you?"

Etan, his hair falling into his eyes and his shoulders heaving with his breath, chuckled. "No, my love. That's just… that's what you do to me. I want you so badly it… it almost hurts."

"It's the Quickening," she said breathlessly. "Do you feel it too?"

"Yes," he said through his teeth. "I definitely feel it."

"Oh, Etan, this is wonderful that we both feel it! I was so worried. My mother said it is so easy to find men that make you quicken, only to discover they do not quicken in return—or perhaps it was the other way around? I don't know. I just know—"

"I know that you taste delicious, and I want more," he murmured, cupping her face again.

She giggled, but kissed him back, her hands beginning to roam his chest again in a way that reminded him of the intensity of her gaze earlier in the night when she'd practically undressed him.

Needing to be closer he walked her backwards to one of the wide pillars in the loft, pressing her into it and leaning down to kiss along her jaw, then to her neck. With a sigh she let her head rest back against the pillar.

He could feel her pulse, rapid and hard, against his lips.

She pawed at his chest again and somehow she had three of his buttons undone and her hands inside his shirt before he even knew what she was doing. That jolt that snapped between them lit his skin under her hands and she gave a little groan. Etan was forced to lean one hand on the pillar and bring himself back under control before he could kiss her again.

He was about to take her mouth again when she looked up at him and smiled wickedly.

His breath caught, his smile fading as it struck him how deeply their fates were now entwined, his terror when he considered how easy it would be to lose her, how hollow he'd felt in the hours since they'd been together. He shook his head in awe that she was there and willing and… as fascinated with him as he was with her.

"What has happened to us?" he breathed catching her chin before she could put her mouth to his neck and distract him.

Catching his intensity, she clasped a hand to his forearm. "I do not know," she whispered back. "But I thank the Goddess that it did."

He brought his other hand up to cup her face as well then.

They both sucked in a hard breath when their lips touched.

*****

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