Chapter 52

52 Waking Up

~ HARTH ~

Tarkyn gave a grunt, holding her face in his hands and kissing her slowly, deeply. “Perfect,” he murmured against her lips. “You are perfect.”

Harth snorted. “If you believe that, either the dehydration has stolen your mind, or the bond has blinded you,” she said dryly.

He pushed himself a little higher, staring at her with a mock-stern expression as he took one of her hands and kissed her knuckles. “You are perfect-for me. The Creator’s chosen One.”

Harth nodded. “Isn’t it incredible?” she breathed. She put one hand to his chest to feel his great heart beating under his skin, her own prickling with disbelief because their hearts beat in time and it seemed impossible.

Tarkyn blinked, then shook his head too. “I never understood,” he murmured. “I couldn’t even conceive it.”

“Me either. I thought I knew-”

“So did I.”

“But it’s so much more, Tarkyn. It’s so much more. I can feel you in... in me. In my heart,” she said, cheeks pinking. “It’s like I’m carrying you with me now.”

.....

Best

He nodded, then ducked his head to kiss her again.

“What a gift,” he breathed. “I yearned for you so desperately I was willing to die to find you, Harth. But I never knew... I never knew how it could be.”

She put a hand to his handsome jaw, curling her fingers into the stubble on it so it scritched under her nails, then she blew out a breath. “I love you, Tarkyn. I love you like I’ve known you my whole life.”

He nodded solemnly, stroking her hair. “I know. Me too. And I’ll never stop, Harth. No matter what. No matter what comes today, or tomorrow. You’re mine. Body and soul. And I’m yours. Even to death.”

The word pinched at her, but she pushed the fear and darkness it conjured away.

This wasn’t a moment for grief, this was a moment for joy.

So she pulled him down, laid her lips on his, and kissed him. And as he curled his arms under her head like a pillow and sipped at her lips, she prayed that whatever was needed to bring peace between their peoples, it would show itself today.

She prayed for the day that they could lay like this without thought for the future. Because the future would be full of only good promises.

And when they did finally part, only to roll to their sides and curl into each other and breathe each other’s air, as Tarkyn’s hand played up and down her side, Harth thanked the Creator above for making him, for bringing her to him.

No matter what price they might have to pay in the end.

*****

~ TARKYN ~

“Are you hungry?” he asked her a few minutes later. They’d finally broken apart, but both of them were reluctant to get out of the furs until it was necessary. They stayed, laying there facing each other, his hand playing up and down her side, hers flat against his chest.

The morning sun was beginning to glow at the cave mouth, turning the opening from gray to pink. Tarkyn would have gambled his tree that it wouldn’t be long until they heard footsteps.

“Is she going to be angry that we completed the bond?” Harth asked suddenly, as if she hadn’t heard his question.

“Who, the Queen?”

Harth nodded.

Tarkyn considered that. “I think she knew... we had a lengthy discussion last night. She offered a great deal of caution, but she never forbade it,” he said, frowning.

Watching Harth for a reaction in case she was cold, he flipped the furs back to her hip, so that she lay bare from the waist up. She smiled at him, but didn’t move as he drank in the sight of her there...

Her skin was much paler than his, but still warm. She had single freckles in interesting places that made him wonder if she’d seen the sun, or whether it was just the painting of the Creator.

She lay with one arm resting under her breasts, the other extended to lay her hand on his chest. But that meant the position of her arms framed her breasts and made his heart patter faster.

“You’re so beautiful,” he said hoarsely, trailing fingers down her arm, then from her ribs, to the dip of her waist, and back up to her hip.

“And you’re definitely biased,” she laughed. “But I’ll take it. The mate bond must be blinding. I guess that’s a good thing.”

He growled his disapproval of that, but she was grinning, playing with him. The sparkle in her eyes made his heart flip, so he chose to ignore it. He was inching closer, about to kiss her again when the distant rush of wings flapping reached his ears across the near-silent dawn and he slumped.

“Sarayu...” he sighed.

Harth had heard them as well and nodded, but her arm sagged and her face pulled down, tension lines appearing around her mouth and eyes. “For goodness sake, drink something. She’s going to kill me for not making you drink more,” she muttered as she rolled out of the furs to find her clothes and dress.

She was mostly clothed, though still doing up some buttons on her shirt, when the snap of Sarayu back-flapping to slow herself as she reached the cave, buffeted the air.

Tarkyn was in his leathers, but still shaking out his shirt when the healer took her human form and trotted forward, the strap of her bag slung across her chest.

“Good morning-” she cut herself off and slowed her steps, raising one eyebrow. “A very good morning, I see,” she said dryly.

Tarkyn shot her a warning look. “I ate, drank, slept, and woke rested. You cannot expect-”

“Relax, Tark. I didn’t really expect you to keep your hands to yourself. I just wanted to make sure you’d fuel your body first. You were ready to collapse last night. How are you this morning, Harth? I hope he treated you with... delicacy rather than all that warrior nonsense.”

Harth’s cheeks flushed, but she laughed. “My mate is... wonderful.”

Tarkyn shot her a look of pure promise and the color in her cheeks deepened, but she beamed.

“Dear Creator, please give me strength to deal with the fluttering of new mates,” Sarayu said with a glance skyward. Then, after another look at Tarkyn with a fond smile, she added, “Help us all.”