Wait a moment—how does he know about the gateway?Was it more common knowledge than I realized? I’d always thought the existence of the gateways, the inauguration ceremony, was shrouded in secrecy, each kingdom’s monarch taking great care not to give away the location or reveal the words of power that would allow a true ruler to step through.
I’d checked the history books. Reviewed all the portraits of each royal family. No Corvin. And yet…he must belong to a royal family, mustn’t he? To know about the gateways? He couldn’t be a crown prince. But could he be an illegitimate son? It was a thought I’d had before. Or perhaps he was a second son, hidden away for his own protection. What was the alternative? That he was living in exile for some reason? Were the relevant court politics simply too new to be reflected within the history books? If he was plotting for a throne, shouldn’t he seem a bit morepower-hungry though? A violent coup seemed incompatible with his gentle, caring nature. I was still mulling over Corvin’s identity when we reached the garden. “They’ll be plenty of water for the seeds at least,” I remarked. “The snow is really starting to come down.”
Careful not to crush any flowers, I knelt down by the community garden bed. I dug away a small patch of dirt, packing a few moonflower seeds into the resulting hole, trusting them to the garden for safekeeping, keeping my fingers crossed they would successfully grow. I would have to remember to check on them when I returned to talk with the jeweler’s guild.
I shivered from the cold as the snow began to pick up, falling in heavy clumps, quickly becoming a heavy storm rather than a light flurry. Corvin noticed my feeble attempts to warm myself up by rubbing my hands over my arms. “Let’s wait out the worst of the storm under there, see if the snowfall subsides some,” he suggested, jerking his chin toward a nearby alleyway covered overhead by a series of blankets.
Nix leapt into the air, batting at a snowflake with his paw. “Suit yourselves. I’m going to enjoy the first snow of winter for a moment longer.” I laughed deeply as Nix’s small tongue darted out of his mouth, enthusiastically lapping up the falling snow. He purred happily, rolling in the snow, now thick enough to blanket the ground. “Alright, we’ll be right over there. Don’t let yourself get too cold,” I told him before seeking shelter with Corvin in the alleyway.
Corvin and I faced each other, sides casually pressed against the wall. He darted his gaze briefly upward, seeking out the only sliver of sky visible through a gap in the blankets covering the alleyway, before settling on me again with quiet intensity. “You look up at the sky quite often,” I remarked, taking a moment to appreciate the deep-blue winter sky myself, though I was conspicuously aware his eyes remained fixed on my profile.
“It’s a bad habit,” he replied. “Sometimes, I think the sky might be the only real sanctuary from feeling trapped. I know I need to learn to be still—but lately, it feels like I’m always fighting the impulse to run far, far away. Like if I flew far enough, I might actually be able to prevent things from changing, or at least escape everyone’s expectations and my fear that I won’t be able to fulfill them. There must be somewhere out there.” He grinned ruefully. “Where nobody can catch me.”
“What about me?” I asked. “Do you think I could still catch you?”
Corvin’s eyes locked on mine. “You’re always catching me—even in my dreams.”
It was a throwaway comment, but it triggered a strong memory of a recent very vivid dream. Could it be that he really had been there with me in my dream that night? No, that was impossible. Wasn’t it?Catch me, and I’ll tell you who I am,he’d dared me and I’d chased him until we’d tumbled together, tangled in each other’s limbs. “Have I been in any of your dreams lately?”
“Perhaps,” he simply said, staring at me.
My breath caught in my throat. “Were we…doing anything?”
Slowly, Corvin peeled away from the wall so that he could face me square on. He leaned his body into mine, resting one palm flat against the wall, so that our faces were now mere inches from one another. The corners of his lips lifted ever so slightly, his voice a silky baritone as he said, “You’re going to have to be more specific.” He reached out, gently brushing away a lock of my hair. “You see—you’ve featured inseveraldreams of mine.”
My heart began to hammer as my breath became uneven. “I had a vivid dream the night we flew home from Kothia when you slept on my floor. Does that sound familiar?”
He was close enough I could feel the moment his breath hitched against my lips, close enough I could see his eyes go wide with realization. “The night of—” He took another step forward, fully closing the gap between us, understanding dancing in his eyes. “Perhaps if you jogged my memory?” He placed his hands loosely around my lower back—waiting. “What exactly were we doing,Moonflower?” Trembling, I brought my hands up to wrap around the back of his neck. “This,” I said and pressed my lips firmly against his own. With a low groan, he reciprocated, deepening our kiss.
Reluctantly, I broke apart from him. “Last time, you said we should have waited.”
“Is that truly what you want?” he agonized, tearing his gaze away from my lips.
“No,” I whispered back. “I want to be with you, Corvin. But you won’t tell me where you’re from. I don’t want something casual. I want something meaningful. I need you to decide whether or not you’re going to tell me. Whether you’ll trust me with your heart,” I stammered, my voice thickening with emotion. “Because…because I think I’m starting to trust you with mine.”
His gaze softened as he tightened his arms around me. “You’re right. I do trust you, Elvira. I’ve never felt more at home in somebody’s presence. Never felt so connected—”
“The debt is still connecting us.”
He shook his head, rejecting my words. “No. It’s not just the debt. It’s you. I can’t tell you about my home; I wasn’t lying about my oath. But maybe, maybe I could take you there instead. Give me the chance to prove it to you, to share with you where I’m really from.”
“Alright,” I agreed. “I will. I want that more than anything.”
“You will?” he echoed.
“Yes,” I repeated, my chest heaving.
“Then I’m done waiting,” he breathed and crushed his mouth back against mine.
And then, somehow, my legs were wrapped around Corvin’s waist and he was holding me against the wall, kissing me like we no longer needed the air in our lungs because whatever this heat was, this passion that was steadily building between us, it felt just as sustaining, just as life-affirming, as the very air we breathed. An icy wind blew through the alleyway, showering us with snow. Still, our lips refused to part. My hands tangled in Corvin’s soft hair. He cupped my bottom, fingers digging greedily into my skin. We were completely lost in one another, and for the first time that day, the sounds of the market completely faded from my mind, replaced by the rushing in my head and the dizzying taste of Corvin’s lips.
The sound of Nix approaching finally drew us apart.
He padded into the alleyway, shaking out his coat. “It’s quite cold outside,” he remarked, looking us over like he knewexactlywhat we’d just been doing.
I said nothing, needing another moment to catch my breath.
“There was a vendor selling blankets around the corner,” Corvin remarked, his breathing just as uneven as my own. “Do you want to come with me, Nix? I’ll buy a blanket or two to keep you both warm. You might need them for the return trip.” He turned toward me. “Feel free to stay here; we’ll be right back.”
