Page 104 of Tides of Shadows

“None of your business,” I snapped, looking away.

Aidenar rose, laid the apple aside, and came toward me.

“Stay away,” I warned, taking a step back.

“The all-powerful Nerissa Veymaris, Lady of Waters and Seas, trembles to step upon a balcony,” he said with feigned solemnity.

“Shut up,” I was already standing at the edge, clinging to the stone wall. Before I could do anything, he stepped out onto the balcony and stood on the stone railing. The chasm yawned beneath.

“Aidenar, please, come down!” My voice broke.

“Are you worried about me?” He asked, looking down as if it were just a small cliff. “That I’ll fall?”

“If you fall, I shall be left alone here with Mina.”

“Then drag me down.” He laughed.

“No way. I’d rather let you fall than step out there to get you. I will lay flowers on your grave.”

He began to laugh, truly laugh, loud and unguarded, with a boyish carelessness I had longed to hear from him again. Then he turned his back to the abyss, stretching his arms out to either side. I covered my eyes with my hands.

A moment later I felt him beside me. He gently took my hands and drew them away from my face.

“It is good to know you are not always so hard and ruthless,” he murmured.

He lifted my arms and wrapped them around his neck. I felt the tension in his nape, the heat radiating from his skin. His hands rested on my waist. He stepped closer, until my back met the chill of the stone wall. He leaned in, his nose brushing my temple, then my cheek. My breathing quickened, my heart started pounding.

And then the door burst open.

“By the Four Gods,” the servant said. “My Lady, my Lord, forgive me. I only wished to see if the food had come.”

Aidenar did not even flinch. He did not look at her, did not draw back so much as a finger’s width. He stood as he was, as though the world beyond the two of us had fallen away.

The handmaid froze upon the threshold, then quietly turned and slipped out, pretending she had seen nothing at all.

“You could have at least pretended to be embarrassed,” I whispered once she had gone.

“Embarrassed of what?” he raised a brow. “That I desire you.”

Heat flared in my face. He watched me in utter seriousness, no trace of jokes in his eyes.

“I will wait. Until you are ready,” he said, more softly, his voice lower, roughened at the edges. “But I do not promise what will happen when you let me in. I want you, Nerissa. All of you. When you let me in, I will take every inch of you.”

I swallowed and slipped away from him and the wall, pretending nothing had taken place. I did all in my power to turn my thoughts back to breakfast, rather than to the young Cavareth who just set my blood aflame. He just grinned like a cat that allowed his toy to run away.

“You have another meeting with Mina today,” he reminded me. “And I must see to the matters of the mines. I must admit, your ships handle the deliveries with remarkable swiftness. I think this will be a long-term partnership.” He stepped to the table, took up the apple, and went to the door. “Until later, Veymaris.”

I dressed in leather trousers and a white open-necked shirt and went to meet Mina. I had no wish to go there again. All I could recall was the pain of the previous session, yet I knew I needed her. I entered her study, but she was not there. She called to me from deeper within the chambers. I followed her voice into another room.

There were wide windows in the wall, but they faced the mountain, and water slowly trickled down the rocks. The stone formations looked like great shining mushrooms, growing one atop the other. It was a kind of natural fountain. Two chairs stood by the inward window, set opposite each other.

“It is beautiful,” I said, my eyes still on the water.

“I am glad it pleases you,” Minerva answered with a gentleness I had not expected from her. “I thought you might feel safer by the water. Today there should be less pain. Or at least not the same kind as before. We will try something new. I will attempt to draw your memories out, and you must stop me”

“How am I supposed to do that?”

“Turn to the water, but only in your thoughts.” She paused for a heartbeat. “I would prefer not to have my chambers flooded.”