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With another giggle, I rose to my feet and winced when my knees cracked, then hopped off the tree. I didn’t understand how Eon could sleep this late with the sun so high and bright—but then again, most of the time I visited him I’d done so during the late afternoon.
I stepped into the waterfall pool, floating around for a while to move my limbs, sinking into the cold water just enough that my eyes were still observing around me.
It was how Eon, way past midday when the sunlight began to dim, had found me.
He still looked drowsy when he moved closer to the edge of the lake, flopping down onto his stomach with his left hand dipping into the water. His half-shut eyes watched me as I moved, swimming closer until I was floating just below him. The massive pool was deep with no shallow ends, and I liked that because I could move freely, unless I got too close to the edge where many rocks were littered.
Silently, I reached a hand up, smiling when his fingers latched on to my skin and dragged my palm to his until our hands were pressed together. His fingers found their way in-between the gaps until they sealed our hands.
“You can continue sleeping if you need,” I said, still smiling as I looked at our joined hands under the water. “I’ll protect you.”
There was silence on his end, but I didn’t mind it. It gave me more time to study the way his large hand engulfed my small one, the way our palms seemed to almost blend together.
“Need to keep you safe,” he murmured, voice quiet and thick, almost distant.
I peeked up at him through my lashes, my smile growing at the soft, lazy smile directed my way. It made something in me bubble until I became fidgety again.
“Did you know that tree has edible leaves?”
Eon groaned, gripping my hands with a little more strength. Giggling, I raised our joined hands to my mouth, rotating them so my lips could touch the back of his hand.
“Noisy,” he mumbled with that gentle smile, referring to my heartbeat and my giggling.
I couldn’t stop any of it. In fact, I began tohumagain as well.
Eon seemed to have decided to give up on getting more sleep, crawling closer to the edge and using his other hand to scoop up some water. I watched as his lips parted and his hand tipped over, watched as droplets ran down the corner of his mouth, down his sculpted jaw and down his exposed throat.
He stared back at me with eyes full of intent, perhaps the same intent my eyes showed him. When he lowered his hand, he lowered himself as well. I rose to meet him somewhere in the middle, neck stretched up and head tilted, the claws of my other hand digging deep into the dirt to support me.
His nose brushed mine, lips close yet sofar,eyes hooded and staring with a gleam that sent a tremble crawling down my spine.
“Did you know there’s a bleeding deer nearby?”
As soon as the meaning of his words registered in my head, I pulled back and scrunched my face, no longer wanting to be near that mouth that tore through flesh and bones. Especially not when he laughed, the skin around his eyes crinkling and his lips stretching wide to show those dips on his cheeks that I adored.
“Would you like to join me?” he asked as I pulled myself out of the water, my skin absorbing every remaining drop until they vanished under my flesh, giving my skin a light blue glow before it went back to its slightly pale tone.
I shook my head with a frown, grimacing again. Despite that, I grasped his outstretched hand, receiving a squeeze in return.
“You’re horrible,” I mumbled, biting the insides of my cheeks to avoid smiling because Ishouldn’tbe smiling at something like that.
Eon leaned down, his lips skimming my right cheek.
I froze, my skin heating when he didn’t pull back.
And helaughedagain, making me shiver and smile and look down, my ears curling slightly under my hair.
43
The smell of blood was coming from somewhere inside the forest in his territory. The closer we walked, the slower my steps became.
Eon stopped and turned to face me. “Don’t follow me from here.” His big hands carefully lifted my face as he leaned down, his warm lips brushing my forehead. “It won’t be something you’d want to see.”
I nodded twice.
“There are some trees with… fruits… if you walk that way.” He angled my head to my left before he moved back. “Don’t wander too far.”
I nodded again, the fingers of loneliness slowly creeping up my spine. He hadn’t left yet, and I was missing him already.
