16. Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Sixteen
Hendr
P erched near the top of the wall, in that same place where we’d met, I felt nothing but utter misery.
I was too far to hear what was being said, but from the angry grumbles on the wind, I knew it could not be good. I wished I could have found a better place, somewhere nearer, where I could have heard them talking.
But if the humans saw me, I knew that the peace could be ruined.
So here I hid, hunkered down beneath some low-hanging branches, waiting for the scent of Nalina to meet my nose. I’d wait here for an eternity if I needed to.
My woman was, blessedly, much more merciful than that and the sweet scent of her wafted in on the breeze. The sound of her climbing up the wall made my heart jump into my throat. I held my breath as she mounted the top.
“Hendr? Are you here?”
I reached up, grabbed her arms, and yanked her down to me.
She let out a little gasp but managed not to yelp as I pulled her into my arms. Fades, it felt like it had been a lifetime since I’d last held her and it had barely been the afternoon.
“Hendr! Are you all right?”
“I am now.” My voice was thick. “What happened? What is going on?”
She pushed back from me and the smile on her face soothed every last one of my worries. “All is well. I lied for you.”
My eyes shot wide. “You did what?”
She shrugged like it was the most casual thing in the world. “I told them you were never here at all. That I climbed over the wall by myself. I told Waston off too! You’d have been proud.”
I was proud, but not because of that. I pulled her in close again, tucking her head into my neck. Fades, she felt so good .
“Hendr?” Her voice was muffled, and her breath was warm against my skin.
“You came back.” Fades, I couldn’t even begin to hide the reverence from my tone. “You came back to me.”
She melted into me and her arms came around my back. Her gentle squeeze was puny, but it felt like a vice around my heart.
“Thank you, Hendr,” she said against my neck, and I finally had the willpower to let her lean back so I could look into her face. She grinned up at me so beautifully. “I never would have been able to speak out if it weren’t for you.”
I snorted. Her praise pleased me. “You would have gotten there in the end, beauty. All I did was help push things forward.”
She smiled and tucked her hair behind her ear in such a charming way I was suddenly itching to taste her again. To tug her back into my chest. I wanted to keep her as mine forever and never let her go.
But . . . she lived here, in Oakwall Village. A place where I could not even visit. We would see each other once every fifteen days at the half-moon trade. I would sit on this blasted wall, day after day, night after night, waiting for her.
I swallowed thickly. “So . . . what now, Nalina?”
She raised her brows and grinned. “Now, Hendr, you are going to court me properly.”
I blinked in shock. “You . . . want me to what?”
She arranged her skirt just so. “At the next trade, you’ll come to my stall and sweep me off my feet in front of everyone. You’ll show them how perfect you are for me, and no one will be able to argue that we’re meant to be together. Then, after a season, they won’t bat an eye when I come to stay with you at Rove Wood Clan.”
My chest felt like it was going to burst. “Half a season.”
She poked the center of my chest. “ One season, Hendr. You’ve waited your whole life for me, haven’t you? You can wait one season more.”
“Fuck no, I can’t.” I pulled her close into my chest and pushed her chin up. She looked defiant and determined.
“Kissing the breath out of me won’t change my mind on this, Hendr,” she said on a sharp exhale. “One season, or none at all.”
Ah, fuck, I couldn’t have that. “One season. But I’m going to make it the most miserable season of your life. You’ll be lying in your bed at night, pining and utterly distraught that you can’t be in my arms.”
There was a pleased glint to her eye that would have sent me to my knees had I been standing. “And you will too, won’t you?”
“Fades, yes ,” I breathed. “I’m going to go mad with longing.” I stroked her soft cheek, pushing back her hair. The crisp, wildflower scent of her curled up in my mind like a sleep-drunk saber cat. “I am yours , woman. Wholly. Completely. And in this next season, I will prove to you just how incomplete your life is without me constantly in it.”
Her eyes twinkled as she said, “I can’t wait.”
Then she leaned in close, cupped my face in her hands and kissed the life out of me. I drowned in her delicious taste and became instantly overwhelmed by thoughts of our future together. Of warm nights, and long days, and endless bickering. She’d call me a wretch, and I’d call her foolish, and we’d love each other so fiercely through it all that it would take our breath, just like this kiss.
I would bend to no other strength but hers, for the rest of our days.
Nalina pulled back from me, but I could still feel her deep within my chest. She’d imprinted right onto my heart, and I would never let her go.
“I love you.”
The end.