it.”
Before she had a chance to reply, he kissed her. Not a peck. Not a frantic kiss on the middle of the battlefield surrounded by his blazing magic. But a real kiss that promised his heart, his soul, their someday.
She dug her fingers into his short hair and kissed him back with all the emotion she’d had building up inside her from the moment she’d left him behind while she escaped. She’d missed him so desperately. She’d missed his shy smile. The way he’d get up early and swing through windows and loved hot chocolate even more than she did.
She trailed her fingers down his neck and traced his collarbone, feeling the length of one of his new scars.
Farrendel made a sound in the back of his throat and yanked away from her, his hands coming up between them as if to protect himself from a blow. His breathing had grown ragged again, a wild light in his gaze before he squeezed his eyes shut.
Essie froze, not daring to move or even speak while he gathered himself. How long would it take before he stopped flinching as if he expected her touch to hurt?
After a moment, Farrendel lowered his hands. “I am sorry. I just...I need time.”
“I know.” Essie kissed his forehead before she stepped back. “I have one more thing for you.”
She bent and pulled his sheathed swords from the canvas sack. “I brought these for you.”
He took the swords, running his fingers over the sheaths and hilts. Instead of buckling them on, he hugged the swords to his chest as if they were a favorite, childhood blanket.
Essie held out a hand to him. “Are you ready to face the others?”
Farrendel nodded and pushed off the table with his free hand. As soon as his feet touched the ground, his knees buckled. He managed to catch himself with his grip on the table, but Essie still hurried to prop herself under his arm.
His jaw set, Farrendel shakily strode from the healers’ tent. Essie suspected he was leaning on her as little as possible, though she still stayed at his side in case he stumbled.
Outside, their siblings crowded around them. Weylind took Essie’s place helping Farrendel walk while Averett hovered on Farrendel’s other side, though Farrendel was too busy gripping his emotional support swords to reach out for more help walking.
By the time they reached the tent only a few yards from the hospital tent, sweat beaded on Farrendel’s forehead, and he gasped in panting breaths. He sank onto the cot, one hand braced on the cot’s side bar, shoulders hunched.
Averett pulled the end table from the corner, positioning it as if it were a dining room table while Julien arranged the chair and folding stools around it.
Circling around the table, Essie sat on the end of the cot, shoving aside the pillow. Perhaps she should have taken one of the seats, but she would rather sit close to Farrendel. Even if he was too busy trying to stay upright to even notice her.
Edmund and Julien mumbled something about fetching food while Weylind and Jalissa grew the table into a large, round table. After a moment, Jalissa also left to help Edmund and Julien.
Farrendel swiveled, easing his feet onto the cot and curling tight to fit in the space left, his sheathed swords gripped to his chest. Bracing himself on an elbow, he pointed at the pillow she had dumped on the floor. “Could you hand me that?”
Essie reached down for the pillow, then halted, a slow smile crossing her face. She patted her lap. “Use me as your pillow. You’ll be able to stretch out more.”
Well, that was the excuse she was going to give. She’d always heard the whole head-on-lap thing was romantic. Time to test it out.
Farrendel glanced from her, to Weylind and Averett talking quietly across the table, and back to her, raising an eyebrow. This probably crossed all sorts of elven etiquette boundaries. Farrendel wasn’t big on cuddling when others were around. She normally wasn’t the type to show affection to this level in public either, but after coming so close to losing him, she didn’t care.
He apparently didn’t care what the others thought either. Or he had realized that once he was lying down and the others were sitting, he would be hidden by the table. With a shrug, he curled on his side, resting his head on her thigh. It took a little shifting before both of them found a spot that was