“Tell me again about your nightmares,” she said.
Fingers still plucking strings, he took another step and obliged her.
“They weren’t always nightmares. They were just dreams, once.” She felt him smile in the darkness, thinking about them. “Dreams about a scarred girl who rode a black dragon.”
The music stopped as he lowered his lute. It fell to the sand with a soft thud.
“And then you got burned. That’s when I knew, for certain, the girl I’d been dreaming about was you. That’s when the dreams turned into nightmares.”
Asha swallowed.
“I know what it means,” he said. “I’ve always known what it means.”
Asha felt her eyes burn with tears.
“I’ll put you in danger,” she said, admitting her deepest fear.
“Haven’t we been through this? Ilovedanger.”
“Torwin.”
“Asha.” His voice went soft and careful. “I’ve only ever wanted three things. A lute of my own, to make music with. A life of my own, to do what I want with. And the girl I’ve been dreaming about for as long as I can remember. A girl who was always out of reach....”
He reached for her, his fingers curling around her arms, closing the gap between them, tying up their loose and fraying threads.
“You could die,” she whispered.
“Everything dies,” he whispered back. “I’m afraid of so much more than dying.”
A lump gathered in her throat. Thinking of Willa, she said, “Then may Death send his worst.”
Torwin cupped her neck with his hand, touching his forehead to hers.
“Cold to freeze the love in my heart.”
His thumb, warm from playing, brushed along her jaw.
“Fire to burn my memories to ash.”
He pressed his mouth against her throat, making Asha fumble her words.
“W-wind to force me through the gates.”
He trailed kisses up her neck, and Asha had to close her eyes against the pull of him.
“Time to wear my loyalty away.”
The kisses stopped.
“I’ll wait for you, Torwin—”
The final words were lost in the softness of his mouth.
Several heartbeats later, Asha broke away, needing to finish. “I’ll wait for you at Death’s gate.”
And there was the tapestry: its threads no longer fraying.
There was the tapestry: finished, whole.
