white-haired elder told them solemnly when he met with her and Stefan. “But I will not file them. Instead, I will give them into your keeping. When and if you can, you will file them.”
“Thank you,” Stefan said. “We’ll do so the instant it becomes safe.”
The older man nodded. “It is a thing for the world. You will be married in the eyes of the family and the village as soon as the dawn ceremony is complete.”
Stefan disappeared for an hour after that, and Tazia worried until she saw his tall form beside her father and brother in the courtyard, where he was helping to put up the wedding pavilion of hanging silks. Not strictly according to tradition, for the groom wasn’t meant to be at the bride’s home until the time of the wedding, but the family was being flexible.
It was hard to sleep that night, and she twisted and turned. Part of her hoped Stefan would teleport to her, but she knew he was too respectful of her family to do so. The hours passed torturously . . . and heatedly, as she imagined the intimacies they would share once they were man and wife. She wanted to touch him, wanted to kiss him again and again, wanted his hands on her, wanted . . .
Sheets tangled around her legs, she came awake to her mother’s soft, “Tazi, my Tazi. It is time to bathe and dress for your wedding.” A gentle hand brushing back her hair, a kiss on the forehead, a smile in Kaya Nerif’s dark gaze. “He loves you very much, your Stefan.”
“I know,” Tazia whispered. She didn’t need words, saw the truth in those eyes that said so much.
It wasn’t until a half hour later, after she’d bathed in rose-scented water that left her skin soft and silky, and her mother came in to help her dry her hair, that Tazia realized how her mother knew the truth of Stefan’s love. “Oh.” Her lower lip quivered.
In her mother’s arms lay the beautiful aqua and silver outfit she’d admired, complete with the stunning scarf of fine silver lace.
Smiling, her mother laid out the clothing and cupped Tazia’s cheeks. “You did well, daughter. A quiet man who does such things is worth far more than a man who says much and forgets to care for his treasures.” Another kiss on her forehead. “Now sit and let me dry your hair. Today, my daughter gets married and I would have her look a princess.”
Chapter 10
Tazia felt exactly like a princess when she entered the wedding pavilion in her finery. Stefan, dressed in formal black but for a black and silver man’s scarf she recognized as her father’s, waited for her.
Oh, but she could not wait to call him her husband.
The ceremony was simple and poignant, the embraces afterward warm and loving.
“I wish we could stay,” she said to Stefan when they had a moment together in a quiet corner as the delicate hues of dawn became true daylight.
“We can stay another day or two,” he replied. “That’ll give us enough time to get back to the Alaris offices on the jet and get in some exercise to further strengthen our bodies before we go back under.”
“No.” Tazia ducked her head, cheeks heating. “Much as I want to stay, I want more for us to have time as husband and wife.”
Stefan cupped the side of her face. “As do I.”
Turning her cheek into his touch, she blushed as Mina came over and waggled a finger. “Not yet, Tazi.” Laughter filled her friend’s expression. “You are yet in your father’s house.”
They stayed for another two hours and the leave-taking was filled not with tears but with joy, as they were ordered to return on their next trip upside. Many kisses and hugs later, Tazia walked into Stefan’s arms, and with a last look at her family until the next time, they ’ported directly to their hotel suite.
It was warm with sunlight, the windows opened by the staff.
“I don’t know how far we’ll be able to go,” Stefan said. “If there’s a risk my ability will totally slip the leash, hurt you—”
She pressed her fingers to his lips. “I know. We go as far as we can go.”
They kissed in the light, but the heat between them had nothing to do with the sun. His hands on either side of her face, Stefan glanced at the windows.
They all shut with a quiet snick, the shutters just open enough to color