Duty-Bound [ Lore of Penrua: Book II ]

53

Ealin was usually waiting for Uachi when he retired; it had become a new pattern. He never found her asleep, no matter the hour. She would often be reading by the light of his lamp, and she would set her book aside when he came into the room. They would talk a little bit about the day, and then they would lie down together, side by side, and thus they would take their rest.

Uachi was troubled by how at ease he felt with her—more and more, as time went by. At first, it had been difficult for him to fall asleep with her lying next to him. Once he'd grown used to her presence in his bed, though, he found it easier to fall asleep when she was with him than when he lay alone, even when she curled up with her head against his collarbone and her gentle breath tickling his neck. In the mornings, he would be alone, the scent of her hair lingering on his pillow...and he would miss her.

Usually, he would wake when she stirred and lie still with his eyes closed, listening to her slip out of the room, letting her believe she had not disturbed him. But other times, when he was especially tired, he would not hear her going, and he tried not to think much about what this meant. He had been a light sleeper ever since his time at Lady Aryasa's house. It was a survival tactic, an instinct, to wake at any sound in the night. That Ealin could slip away unnoticed betokened a comfort in her presence—a comfort in her arms—that he did not want to acknowledge.

One night, he sat on the bed, removing his boots, as Ealin looked at a new book he had brought her.

"Thank you, Uachi," she said, flipping through the pages. "Did you know it had pictures in it?"

"I glanced through it. I thought you might like them," he replied. He hesitated before adding, rather gruffly, "The faerie queen reminded me of you."

She gave him a smile, looking charmed. "Do you think?" She turned a page, seeking one of the illustrations featuring the faerie queen. "I do so like the pictures. I've never seen anything so pretty."

Uachi slid his legs underneath the covers, glancing as he did at her face in the light of the lamp and wondering if she knew how beautiful she was. Men talked about women's beauty when paying court, but this was nothing like that—it had nothing to do with untoward attentions or romantic feelings, it was simply was on objective fact, one Uachi wasn't too stupid to notice. He had eyes, didn't he? And hers was a timeless beauty, not a matter of preference or of changing fashions. She was simply beautiful, in the purest sense of the word. Uachi had never told her so, but if she were too modest to know it herself, certainly the men and women she had spent her life among had told her often of her loveliness. The raven-haired faerie queen in a story book could hardly compare.

Of late, each time he looked at her, he felt as if he were seeing her in a way he had never seen another woman. To see an Arcborn woman, unmarked, was unfathomably intimate. It was like unto seeing her unclothed.

Ealin leaned over him, her hair trailing across his neck as she set the book on the small shelf next to the lamp. He closed his eyes, smelling the scent of the soap she used to wash her face. By now, they were at ease with one another; Ealin lay her head on Uachi's chest, and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, wondering if he could give voice to the question that had been on his mind for days. "Ealin..."

"Yes, Uachi?"

"I have something to ask you." He drew a breath, feeling the comfortable weight of her head just over his heart. He did not know why the question caused his pulse to race; could she hear it, he wondered?

"Mm?"

"You must tell me no, if you want to. Do you promise?"

The gentle movement of her head suggested she was looking up at him, but he lay still, with his eyes closed, seeing only the warm red dark. "All right...what is it?" she asked.