Chapter 20 Fire #2
“The- the cave?” I splutter. My mouth refuses to form the words to tell him the obvious so instead I just stare at him dumbfounded. My panic is making way for confusion as he does not seem to notice the roaring flames surrounding us. Does he not see what I see?
“What about it?”
I start to move towards the cave entrance, but pause at his question, my eyes connecting with his.
As we continue this stare down, I start to calm and strangely so does the fire licking the cave walls.
“Oh fuck.” I jump, startled by the sudden extinguishing of the flames around us.
Looking around at the cave walls I see no evidence it was even there in the first place.
I walk over to the wall and touch its smooth surface.
No scorch marks, no heat, nothing. I shake my head in disbelief.
Did kissing Sorin cause me to hallucinate or was this wall not on fucking fire two seconds ago?
Sorin’s head is now tilted, a smirk of amusement plastered to his face as he watches me.
For some reason this makes me feel insanely embarrassed about the whole thing and out of instinct I do the thing drilled into me from birth, I start to apologize.
“Sorry I do not know what came over me I—”
Sorin barks out an amazed laugh, which causes me to jump. “Sorry Lace, I—that was…wow.” He is looking at me with a weird expression now I cannot place.
I close my eyes. Shit, I am totally about to cry, am I not? The last few minutes have been a roller coaster of emotions I would like to depart from. Please keep your cool, you do not want to prolong this cluster fuck by sobbing in front of the man you just lost your first kiss to!
Sorin sees my face drop and straightens.
“No no no, Lace. You misunderstand.” He walks over to my position near the entrance of the cave and coaxes me to the back of it, urging me to sit.
I do and he starts to stroke my hand slowly pulling me back towards him.
His pull is gentle, like I am a fragile treasure he does not want to break.
The carefulness of this maneuver frustrates me, especially after the primal heat of earlier, but I relent, if only so I can hide my face in his chest.
Sorin has always felt safe to me. No matter what the situation, if he is around things just get better.
No matter what adventure we went on, or situation we ended up in, he has always been consistently there for me.
Consistently in a great mood. Consistently my rock.
He allowed me to roam free and enjoy Tikilium despite my father's wishes.
He was the shoulder I could cry on whenever things went to shit.
I have always adored the care he has for me.
His gentleness and dependability have always been my guiding light, but what if I have depended on him too much?
Or worse, what if these feelings I have for him, feelings I have now acted upon, ruin any chance of friendship we may have in the future?
My capture along with the fact that I would have no idea what to do should we have actually been in any danger has me nervous.
If something were to happen to him, would I be able to survive it?
Survive life without him in it? I do not think so.
“In all the lands of Ptheryeth I never thought I would get an opportunity to kiss you. That was amazing, Lace.” His face fills with that expression again bringing me back to the present.
“You’re amazing, Lace.” He tucks a tendril of escaped hair behind my ear.
“But…” he scratches the back of his head.
He is definitely fidgeting. “I apologize if I went too far with it. I didn’t mean to freak you out.
” He whispers this, seemingly worried and continues stroking the top of my head.
I release a small laugh into Sorin’s chest.
“What?” he asks, laughter tinging the edges of his voice.
“You did not go too far, if anything I—”
He lets out a huge burst of laughter. “You did not have huge vines shoot out of the ground to hold me down, although…” he chuckles. “What I am saying is, I should have eased us into it. I apologize if I overwhelmed you.”
“You are fine. Truly… maybe… maybe we can do it again sometime?”
His hand stills on my hair, and he glances down at me, his eyes hooded with desire. “Yeah?”
“Yes.” I try and stamp down the blush starting on my cheeks but finding that impossible I once again bury my face in his chest. Chuckling warmly, he continues stroking my hair softly.
In the peaceful silence, I think back to the firelit cave and decide to chalk it up to a crazy hallucination, at least for now.
Sorin does his best to maneuver his big body and mine to the floor of the cave, snuggling me into the crevice of his arm and half on top of him.
The position looks more awkward than comfortable for him, but he does not seem to mind too much.
He lets out a content breath. I snuggle deeper into him, taking this moment to enjoy some peace and privacy.
“The cave should be safe for now. Rest. I will wake us early next morning to start the search for Sam.”
I nod my head into him, and he throws an arm around me. The noises of the night filter through the cave. This was probably the craziest day of my entire life I think to myself before I am lulled into a deep sleep.