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After an hour of rest, Rath stood with a groan. “We should get moving.”
“Are you sure?” Iris climbed to her feet and touched a dried bloodstain on his sleeve. He’d refused healing from her multiple times now. “You’re still pale.”
He smirked. “You could use a tan, too, you know.”
“Rath—” Iris started, frowning, but Char interrupted her by tossing Rath a pack. Rath caught it with ease.
“He’s fine. I’ll take two this time.”
“Ooh, does that mean I get to carry Iris if something happens?”
Char rolled his eyes. “You wish.”
Rath set out toward the west, with Char and Iris following his lead by unspoken agreement. “Not really. She’s too dangerous for me. I’m looking for someone a little tamer, someone less likely to drag me into life or death situations every day.”
It was Char’s turn to smirk now. “Like Misa?”
“Misa. That’s the girl with the silver hair and golden eyes, right?” Iris asked. “She’s beautiful.”
“Yeah, she is, but I wouldn’t follow her into a life or death situation, either,” Rath replied, shrugging. “I’m starting to think that’s a prerequisite for a solid relationship.”
“Well, you have to get to know someone before you’re willing to risk your life for them. Do you know Misa outside of parties?”
Char snorted. “He doesn’t know any girls outside of parties.”
“I don’t have time for any girls outside of parties, and you didn’t, either, until you met Iris.”
Iris pursed her lips and tilted her head to the side. She wasn’t buying that excuse.
“It’s true!” Rath insisted. “Char and I are always on the move. Training, missions, the war, our own personal stuff—the only free time I have is on the weekends.”
“‘Our own personal stuff?’” she repeated, raising an eyebrow.
“He won’t even have time for that after we give Kelnor our report,” Char said, grinning.
Rath scowled at him. “I’m not doing leadership training. No,” he added, cutting Iris off when she opened her mouth. “If you say one word about leadership training, I’ll say you should go to the magic school to learn how to use your magic appropriately.”
“The magic school? You mean the place that had her locked up in a dungeon like a dangerous criminal?”
“What I’m saying is, she belongs there as much as I belong in leadership training. Of course I’m not actually suggesting she go back there. And even though we have to tell Kelnor everything that happened, neither of you can say a word to Mother about that thing in the tunnel,” he added, his sharp blue eyes flicking from Iris to Char and back.
Char sighed. “Hate to break it to you, but I bet she already knows about Black Mountain.”
Rath’s eyes settled on Char and narrowed. “How would you know?”
“She told me as much when we went back to her house to get Iris’ clothes. Father ran everything by her before he took us anywhere. I’m guessing that started after Black Mountain.”
“She talked about Father?” Rath asked, his eyes widening.
“Yeah. A lot.”
Rath fell into a momentary stunned silence. Iris looked from him to Char in question.
“She doesn’t talk about him much anymore,” Char explained. “But she had a point to make.” He grinned and leaned in to kiss Iris on the cheek, and she blushed.
“What was that for?”
“She was talking about their marriage and how they made it work, even though they were very different people. That’s why I told her I was thinking about proposing to you.”
Char could almost feel Rath’s eyes rolling, but he was much more interested in looking at Iris. The bright morning sunshine was at their backs and climbing over their heads, highlighting the long brown hair hanging down her back in soft shades of gold and lighting up her darker brown eyes, but her smile shone brighter than it all.
The thought of cutting south and sneaking into the capital city to take her to that church crossed his mind again.
He dismissed it. His mother deserved to be at the wedding, and although he’d told Iris he was taking her to the first church he saw, she deserved better than a hasty, spur-of-the-moment affair.
But he was torn between wanting to continue walking at this leisurely pace and wanting to sprint. Let the moment linger, or rush to get home? Which was better?
Travelling at this slower pace was risky. The capital city wasn’t within sight of their current position, but it was probably close enough for the guards in the watchtowers to see Rath’s short flight. Char knew his brother would have been pushing them to move faster if he weren’t still weak from earlier.
But Rath was weak, although he was putting up a strong front for Iris. His normal lighthearted manner and easy teasing reassured Char that his brother hadn’t sustained any serious injuries, and yet Char saw the subtle signs. The slight hitch in Rath’s step from time to time. The care with which he adjusted the pack to settle in one specific position.
Slow it was.
Fortunately, the rest of the day was uneventful. They stopped at midday for another hour’s rest and lunch, and then they walked again until sunset. Char and the fairies set up camp while Iris tried convincing Rath to at least let her look at his wounds, with no success, and after dinner, Rath crawled into his bedroll and fell asleep.
Char was tired from carving stone for the first time, but Rath had done that and broken rock with his own body, all while somehow managing to find Iris and Char in the suffocating darkness from that thing and tossing them to safety. He’d earned his rest.
Char took off his damp shoes, set them next to the fire with Rath and Iris' shoes, and took a seat to watch the flames.
“You’re not going to sleep tonight, are you?” Iris asked, padding toward him in her bare feet.
He lifted his arm for her to sit beside him. “No.”
“I can switch with you later.” She snuggled up to him, and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and kissed her forehead.
“I’ll be fine.”
“I know how tiring it is to use magic for the first time. Rath needs his rest, but so do you. If anything happens, I can wake you up.”
It was a tempting offer. He was considering it when he felt her hand slip across his stomach to the other side of his waist. Her other hand reached around his back to complete the embrace, and she sighed, her soft body pressing into his—soft except for the enormous belt buckle digging into his side.
“Ow.” He pushed her back a little and fingered the ring of metal over her stomach. “This thing hurts.”
She giggled. “Sorry, but if I take it off, my pants are going to fall down.”
“So?”
She shoved his shoulder. “Stop it.”
He tickled her stomach, and she doubled over, one hand trying to fend off his attack, the other hand clapped over her mouth to stifle her laughter. The flickering flames caught in her eyes and sent the gold into a dance. He grinned and went after her with both hands. Bursts of giggling escaped her as she writhed and twisted to evade him, but she couldn’t put up much of a fight with only one hand. She fell onto her back, and he grabbed her wrists, pinning them into the dry grass above her head.
“So, what now, Iris?”
She shook her head, rolling her lips inward and biting them to keep the laughter inside. He leaned in and swiped his tongue across her hidden lips.
“Char!”
He cut off any further rebuke with a kiss. Her giggles vibrated against his lips, but the giggling died down with the second kiss, when her lips molded with his. Their breaths and kisses became hotter and hotter in the cool night air until he pulled back for a moment to catch his breath. She gazed up at him from dark, hooded eyes set in a rosy face and haloed with brown hair.
“You’re beautiful, Iris.”
She licked her parted lips. “Don’t stop.”
His already pounding heart sped up. He lowered himself down to her with his next kiss, slipping his tongue inside her mouth and releasing her wrists to cradle the back of her head. She sighed into him. Her hands were warm on his neck, her body warmer still against him, and that infernal belt buckle was cutting into his stomach.
“This thing is really annoying,” he muttered, tracing it with his fingers.
“Sorry, but it’s staying.”
She pushed on the back of his head, bringing him back down to her lips, and he decided he could deal with the belt buckle. He slid his hand across her stomach to her waist and down to her hip, indulging in her sweet kisses and savoring the shiver he felt run through her from his touch. Her hands glided across his shoulders and down his chest. Fire pooled in his gut.
“Darn it, Iris,” he groaned, tracing her jaw with his lips.
“What?” She tilted her head back, gasping when he nibbled her earlobe.
“You’re making me crazy.”
“Mm, Char, your brother…”
“He’s asleep.” Char followed the contours of her neck, felt her fingers curling into his shirt as he showered her in kisses. “And you should be, too, if you’re taking a shift later tonight.”
“A little more?”
He groaned again and closed his eyes, nuzzling into her neck. “You can’t say something like that to me.” He pulled back and looked down at her, caressing her flushed cheek with the pad of his thumb. “Not when I have you like this.”
Her eyes dropped away from his face. She turned her head to the side, and he cupped her cheek in his hand, urging her to look at him again. He didn’t like the fine line between her brows or the guilt in her eyes.
“Don’t look like that,” he murmured, stroking her cheek. “I don’t mean that I’ll lose my self-control with you, because I won't. You’re beautiful, and you drive me crazy, and I love you so much that it feels like my heart will explode sometimes, but I can handle myself, okay?”
A shy smile spread across her face. “You really think all of that about me?”
He grinned. “Do you even have to ask?”
She scraped her teeth across her bottom lip. “Because that’s how I feel about you.”
He groaned again and crashed his lips onto hers. His hand tangled in her hair; his other hand slid up from her hip to her waist and around to the small of her back, pressing her into him. He wished they could melt together. Her soft curves against his hard muscles weren’t enough. His tongue intertwined with hers wasn’t enough. If it weren’t for that belt buckle—
He forced himself to pull back and roll off of her. He sat upright, panting and staring into the dying flames of the campfire, and he heard the grass rustle as she sat up beside him.
“Char?”
He took a deep, steadying breath, and then he turned to look at her and laughed. “You have grass in your hair, Iris.”
He reached over to pick the strands of grass out, and her eyes fell away from his, self-conscious. Everything she did was infuriatingly adorable and irresistibly beautiful. He traced a finger down her cheek and under her chin, guiding her eyes back to his.
“Good night, Iris.” He placed a light kiss on swollen lips he wanted to keep kissing. “I’ll wake you up in a few hours.”
She gave him a shy smile. “Goodnight, Char.”
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