Chapter Seventy-Eight #3
My breath halts when his weight settles into me, bracing himself on one side while the other provides me comfort. He maintains the grip with his hand clasped over my own as he guides the belt over his back—which he will need both hands to secure.
“I’m sorry, I said I would hold your hand, but I need to—”
“It’s okay, Varic. Secure the belt. I’m not going anywhere. Not with your hips pinning mine in place.”
His answering grin is so wide it would be nearly impossible to capture his lips in a kiss, though I’m tempted to try it before he leans over to reach the buckle for the belt.
He releases a breath and rises just enough to return his hand to clasp my own.
“I’m going to guide our arms through the loop now, okay?
” I nod, yet he hesitates. “I’m going to keep you safe, mei waella.
I promise.” His eyes fall closed as he slowly drops his forehead to my own.
“This is simply a precaution…in case something happens to me.”
In case he is rendered unconscious and can no longer shield us.
He tightens his grip as he guides our hands through the black leather strap while I stare at the clouds which hang like a billowing curtain around the mountain.
“It’s so beautiful.” A hint of wonder enters my tone, dispelling the cracks of fear which once made it waver.
“Agreed.” Varic smiles down on me as he shifts, pressing in with his hips.
“You’re incorrigible!” I squeal.
“Hi, I’m Varic.” His smile transforms into a self-satisfied smirk. “Have we met? I swear I’ve seen those aquamarine eyes a time or two before this.”
I shake my head with a wide grin creeping over my lips, then shiver when his fingers trail up my opposite wrist where they tickle the inside of my palm before his fingers fit in between each of my own.
Curling around to guide our newly joined hands up and through the second restraint, stopping just before the handlebars—which we ignore—choosing to hold on to each other for support.
He lifts his head to press the horn, and I brace for the mechanism to whir and tighten the leather straps around our arms. Gooseflesh ripples over my skin where our contact deepens everywhere the straps dig in.
Varic smiles down on me, amplifying the light behind his irises. Though his eyelids seem to grow heavier as he lowers his forehead to rest over mine.
“So brave for me, mei waella.”
Tender threads of admiration flow from his chest, filling me with a sensation that can’t possibly exist—not with how pleasant and effervescent it is.
I send him my gratitude and awe, encouraging him to release a breath so the warmth casts over my lips. Tickling the sensitive skin and exacerbating my desperation. Yearning to rise just enough to brush my lips against his.
Except this isn’t how I want our first kiss to go.
No, I want our hands to be free to roam. To write messages on each other’s skin. To truly feel each other’s bodies when we finally give in to all that we’ve been made to keep inside. If I were to press my lips to his now, we would surely turn feral, only adding to Varic’s stress about my safety.
Another emotion fills my chest—though this one is tinted differently from the rest, in a blend of adoration and passion—warming me against the chill slowly penetrating the shield around us.
“I’m finding it incredibly difficult to keep from kissing you right now,” Varic rasps.
I swallow against that heady sensation as it spreads down through my limbs. “I’ve been struggling with the same.”
“You have?” The surprise in his tone twists my stomach, assuming he’s known how fervently I desire him. “You’re not just saying that to make me feel better after my own admission?”
“Yes—” I say in answer to his first query, then realize my mistake too late when our connection sends me the intensity of his feeling of rejection.
“Sorry, I meant I am struggling—significantly—with restraining myself from kissing you right now. And no, I am not just saying that.” I shift to get a better look at him. “Why? Is that so surprising?”
“In a way. Since I am perfectly incapable of disguising how ardently I crave and adore you, it’s difficult for me to recognize the reverse might be true.”
“If you must know, I was just thinking—”
“You should probably keep whatever it is you’re about to say—”
“I want our first kiss to be when our hands are free,” I cut him off, needing him to know this for certain, as his eyes fall closed above me. “I want us to be able to feel each other’s bodies, and I assume we’d turn feral—”
“Fuck,” he mutters and turns to the side.
I nudge him to get his attention. “You disagree?”
“No. But you are testing my resolve, and we both know how that tends to go whenever I am in your presence.”
“I’d say that you are more than in my presence, Varic.” His eyes flash open, containing flames the likes of which I haven’t seen before, while I indicate our laps as best I can from my current position. “I’d say you’re practically inside me.”
He shakes his head, taking mine with it. “So this is what it would be like without our restraints.”
“What?” I quirk a brow. “You don’t want to restrain me? For reasons other than safety?”
His resulting laugh heals something in me. “I meant the restraints placed upon us by the Emperor.”
My lips press into a line at the mention of our captor.
He nudges me. “It is enlightening to know how free you feel to express yourself when it’s just us.”
“I always feel freer around you.” His eyes search my face as his expression shifts, taking in my meaning. “But that’s the problem, isn’t it? After all, you are my ‘great distraction’.”
His stomach muscles clench and rumble with my sad attempt at humor, apparently helping to break whatever spell he was under.
“I’m going to fly higher. I will alert you when it is time to descend to your balcony,” Minea says in our minds.
I stare up at the sorcerer who saved me, unable to keep from mirroring his grin. Tingles cascade down my limbs as we close our eyes and breathe each other in, our foreheads pressed together and barely a breath between our lips.
I grunt and adjust my hips, eliciting a groan from him.
Varic jerkily shifts, realigning his position where he lies between my thighs.
“Did I hurt you?”
“No, just—if you could keep from moving your hips.” His throat bobs as he pauses to swallow. “Like that. I’d appreciate it.”
The heat in my cheeks increases as he looks at me with heavily hooded eyes, which darken in a way I have yet to observe in him.
“Did you orchestrate this?” I ask in jest.
“What are you accusing me of this time?”
“Did you have someone go into the forest to make that Gods-awful noise so you could swoop down with the purpose of securing me in this position?”
“I am neither that enterprising, nor can I claim any credit. Though, after proving myself incapable of keeping my eyes off of you all morning, I understand why you would think me desperate enough to orchestrate something this salacious.”