Chapter 14 #2
He looked across at her, then with one hand reached out with his thumb to wipe away a tear still caught on her eyelashes before saying softly, “We can do this. Another year, a few dragons, and we’ll be home again.
It doesn’t touch us, you and me. We’re what’s real.
All this silliness, the robes and the bowing, it’ll all be forgotten, nothing but funny stories to tell Béithe and everyone. ”
éadha let out a shuddering breath—at his touch, so soft and sure, and at his words, making sense of everything.
As she did, Ionáin’s eyes dropped to her mouth, his eyes darkening as they focused on her barely parted lips.
There was a moment when everything seemed to stop between them, then he closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath, as if he was willing himself to refocus.
But still she could feel it: the charge rocketing up between them, the silver thread pulling taut.
So that as he opened his eyes once more, it seemed like the air between them might start to vibrate with the sudden electric intensity of it.
And she could see in his eyes how he was still fighting it, and she knew she wanted him to lose, to show her his need was stronger than his control.
His thumb was still resting just below her eyelash, and now as she sat, utterly motionless, he stroked it softly down the skin of her cheek until it came to rest on her still-parted lower lip.
She could feel the dry warmth of it, down to the tiny ridges in his thumb, pressing against her.
“This,” he whispered. “This, though, is exactly what we can’t do.
” Still his thumb didn’t move away, pressing down instead a little harder so that her lips parted further, his eyes never leaving them as he went on, “We can’t give them a reason to want to hurt you.
I shouldn’t have even asked you up here in case anyone saw, but I just missed you so much these last few weeks.
” But even as he said it, his voice slowed and deepened, as if the words were being pulled out of him.
She stared at him, at the heat in his eyes, her entire being centered around his touch, and even though she understood what he was saying, that they should stop and she should leave, she needed this more.
So instead she turned her face into his hand and kissed the inside of his palm softly, her eyes never leaving his.
As éadha’s lips pressed against that soft inner skin, Ionáin groaned quietly, and something seemed to give in him because his whole hand twisted in one fast, fluid move to catch her under her chin and tilt her lips up toward his.
His mouth, as it covered hers now, was hot and urgent against her already-parted lips, his tongue pushing in between them and claiming hers, all pretense at control gone.
His other hand went to her cheek, pulling her in closer so he could kiss her more deeply.
For éadha it was like a balm to finally feel it, that real, raw hunger suddenly unleashed.
To know it was still there, underneath all that discipline and self-control.
And the sensuality of his mouth driving into hers and, at the same time, the simple relief of it came together like a jolt, bringing her back to life, flooding heat all through her body and wiping out the loneliness of the last few weeks.
Wiping away the days themselves, as if they’d moved into a parallel world where they hadn’t stopped on the mountain, as if these were the only real moments, when his mouth was on hers and she was truly alive.
Her hands came up, pushing into his tangled hair.
She realized as she did just how much she’d wanted to do this ever since that day on the fell, burying her fingers in its soft thickness and dragging his head closer still while her whole body arched up from the soft cushions toward his hard strength as he leaned over her.
The next moment Ionáin’s door handle rattled as someone turned it before realizing it was locked and knocking instead. A voice sounded, polite and deferential.
“Sir, I’m sorry, sir, but Lord Senan is on his way over to walk with you to Vespers. I thought you’d want to know.”
éadha and Ionáin stared at each other, their faces flushed in the firelight, both of them still breathing hard.
Just for a moment éadha closed her eyes, calming her breathing, then she straightened quickly, saying, “Don’t worry.
I’m gone. I promise I’ll be a better mirror too,” and even as she said that, something clicked into place in her mind and she saw at last how she’d be able to send her gift into Ionáin.
She scrambled to her feet, her heart suddenly pounding, a grin spreading across her face.
“Do you know what? There’s something I need to do before Vespers anyway,” she said, her grin broadening as Ionáin stared, baffled.
“It’s going to make everything all right.
You’ve made everything all right,” she added, crouching back down and hugging him with all her strength before hurrying away, out the servants’ entrance Ionáin pointed her to, while he straightened his clothes and went to unlock his apartment door.