Page 45

“Yes. Unless you want me to ask them to stop.”

I look at his hand beside me on the bench. “I don’t. I still want to be free of what Neimura arranged.”

Daurek waits while I find the rest.

“I want to keep seeing you, too. I haven’t decided where I’ll live. I’d like time to find out what being here with you would mean.”

“So would I.”

“Even with the request going ahead?”

“Yes.” He turns his hand beneath mine. “You can want me and still want the release.”

I let my fingers settle between his.

He told me the forest only joins two people when both of them choose it. Nobody has asked me for anything I can’t walk away from. I breathe easier for that, and I keep listening for the question anyway.

His arm rests along the back of the bench. I move closer until my shoulder touches his chest. He lowers his arm around me.

It’s easier to lean against him than I’d expected. The leaves on his shoulder fold aside, and the bark beneath them is warm through my dress.

“Is this comfortable for you?” I ask.

“Yes.”

“You can hardly fit on the bench.”

“I could have it widened.”

I tip my head back. “Then I’d have to move.”

“It can wait.”

I kiss the corner of his mouth. He turns toward me, and the next kiss is his.

Resting against him, I don’t have to stretch to kiss him or wonder what to do with the space between us. I catch a leaf against my lips and laugh while he moves it aside.

“Sorry.”

“I’ve kissed men with beards. You’re doing better than some of them.”

Daurek pauses.

“Only some?”

“I haven’t finished comparing.”

He kisses me again. I stop laughing.

His hand spreads warmly against my side. I turn farther toward him, wanting a longer kiss now that he knows why I’m still waiting for the release.

When I finally settle back against him, his arm stays around me. I turn my cheek against the bark and listen to the water while he tells me about the barkling who returned to the pool with a sail too large for his boat.

“Did you fix it?”

“He asked me to make the pool less windy.”

“That sounds reasonable.”