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Dutifully, he downed the fragrant tea she made for him each night for the past three days. The bittersweet potion spread warmth and lethargy throughout his frame, dulling the jagged edges of knife-like pain.
He had to be strong for her. He wouldn’t let the Master win.
“Come here,” he husked, opening his arms.
She came immediately, all but rushing into his body. Her own arms wound tight around his waist as she buried her face in his chest, just breathing him in.
“I’m afraid, Sai,” she murmured against him, tilting her head so that she pressed one ear right over his thumping heart.
“I feel strong and weak at the same time,” she confessed.
“Before now, I’ve lived mostly in my dreams. I was invincible there. But my dreams are starting to merge with reality. The darkness is all too real. I feel…”
A shiver wracked her body from head to toe. He pulled her tighter against him until she stilled once more.
“…out of control,” she whispered. “I’m not the master of my own domain anymore.”
He knew exactly how she felt. He’d existed this way for the past untold millennia, trapped in a hell pit of despair. He had no will but the Master’s. No thought or feeling they didn’t put there.
But he didn’t say any of this to Brigid.
Instead, he vowed, “Whatever comes, we will face it together. You are stronger than you know, Titania. Stronger than anyone I’ve ever met.”
He took a deep, shaky breath and tried to calm his mind and body. Willing the ever-gnawing pain to recede.
He focused only on Brigid. On her goodness and light.
“Tell me,” he said, tipping her chin up so that they looked into each other’s eyes.
“Why do you love the rain so much?”
She blinked at him with wide eyes a couple of times, spectacles already removed and sitting upon a small bedside table. Without the glasses, her round, innocent gaze looked slightly unfocused, full of trust and…a strange sort of reverence.
Sai’s heart galloped faster as he looked down at her. He wondered if his gaze held the same wonder and awe.
And then, those shimmering orbs squeezed into crescent moons in a sweet, womanly smile.
“That’s what you want to talk about tonight? Why I like the rain?”
He shrugged one shoulder and crooked a tendril of hair behind her ear, letting his fingers linger on her smooth, apple cheeks.
“I want to talk about you,” he replied.
“I am still learning you. I always want to know more. So, tell me. Why do you love the rain?”
“Mmm,” she hummed, taking refuge in the sound of his voice; taking strength in his warm embrace.
“I love everything about it. The beauty and wonder of it. Before, during and after. How the clouds could be dark or white, and the rain could be violent or light. It could fall like hail and destroy. Or it could shimmer like fine silken strands to wrap the world in life-giving dew.”
As she spoke in soft words like a lullaby, Sai began to undress them both.
They moved as if in a dance, lifting their arms, extending their legs. They circled each other and flexed and bowed. Until both were naked in the flickering firelight.
“I love the sound rain makes as it slashes through the air and plops upon the ground,” she continued, looping her arms around his neck and pulling him close.
“When it taps leaves and rattles shutters. The tinkling drips and bolder splatters. Like a symphony all its own. Punctuated by the drumbeat of thunder and the whistle of wind.”
He laid her on the bed and laid himself on top of her, so that all of his skin touched all of hers.
