My whole body trembled, but my fingers most of all as they undid his buttons one by one, and try as I might, I couldn’t steady them. As my hands traveled down his chest, my heart hammered, betraying a need I didn’t know lurked inside me.
He locked his hands around my waist and kissed me again, more tenderly than ever before. “Thank you, Master Tailor,” he murmured. He started to rebutton his shirt, but I placed my palm on his bare chest.
Surprise flickered in his eyes; I felt a spike in his heartbeat, and that pleased me. I liked seeing him like this. Vulnerable, and tender. More boy than enchanter.
Before I lost my nerve, I slowly slid his shirt off his shoulders. Edan went very still, almost rigid. There was a tingle ripening in my core that wouldn’t quiet. A hunger I’d been suppressing for days, maybe weeks. The hairs on his chest bristled as I ran my fingers down him, and I placed the softest of kisses on his throat.
Edan’s breathing quickened. “Maia,” he whispered, almost a gasp. A question hovered on his lips, but I placed my finger over them before he could ask. I unfastened his belt, then moved for the one holding my robes together, unthreading my arms from my clothes until they tumbled behind me.
The wind swept across my bare back, and I shivered, feeling suddenly shy. Edan pressed a warm hand on my spine and drew me against him. He kissed me, exploring my mouth with his tongue, then tantalizing my ears and my neck until I was dizzy and feverish. Finally, when my knees weakened and I couldn’t bear to stand any longer, Edan eased me onto his cloak against the soft, damp earth.
Our legs entwined; then we became flesh upon flesh. All of me burned, my blood singing wildly in my ears, my senses soaring. Above, the stars faded behind the misty sky, and the sun fanned its light upon us. We melted into each other until the dawn slid into dusk, and the sun paled into the moon, and the stars, once lost, became found again.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
We arrived at Lake Paduan three days later than scheduled, but they were three days I wouldn’t have traded for all the magic in the world. Admitting my love for Edan was like succumbing to a beautiful, rapturous dream and wanting never to wake. If not for Edan’s oath and my promise to the emperor, we might have forgotten ourselves completely and stayed forever by that poplar tree under the sun.
The morning we were to make our journey across the lake, I unrolled the carpet over the dry yellow grass. I heard Edan rustle behind me. Every time I saw him, my heart became fuller, yet heavier. A faint golden crown still rimmed his pupils; he’d just finished his night as a hawk.
“Good morning,” Edan greeted me, kissing my cheek. The fatigue weighed on him more heavily with each passing day. Sometimes, in the early morning when he slept, he would cry out from a nightmare; when he woke, his eyes would be almost entirely white.
He didn’t seem to remember. I knew it would only hurt him if I asked about it.
I unrolled the carpet at my feet. “Is this good enough?”
Edan surveyed my work. “It will do nicely.”
“Thank you.” I flexed my hands. I hadn’t realized how sore my fingers were from constantly knitting, knotting, and sewing. The magic scissors helped, of course, but only to a point.
Edan rolled up his sleeves, and the cuff on his wrist glowed slightly, the way my scissors did when they knew I was about to use them.
He knelt and touched the carpet, tracing its border with his fingertips.
Nothing happened. I could tell Edan was getting agitated, though he tried not to show it. His shoulders tensed, his brow creased, and he wouldn’t look at me.
Finally the carpet began to tremble, so subtly I thought I’d imagined it. Its fibers stretched, wiggling and vibrating until they hummed a low, deep song. I hoped I’d woven it strong enough to weather Edan’s enchantment.
Then, miracle of miracles—it floated. A mere inch above the grass at first, then higher and higher until it was level with my hips. My head grew dizzy from the impossibility of it. Familiar as I’d become with Edan’s magic, I’d never seen anything like this.
“After you,” Edan said, gesturing with a note of triumph in his voice.