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I like this plan,Jax said from beside them.I am an excellent cuddler.
“You have softened in your old age!” Killian exclaimed at his furry friend. “You never cuddle with me.”
Killian reached his free hand toward his friend who rolled away with a shake of his head.You have never asked. Nor do you smell as good.
Raela giggled, and the birds twittered back a lyrical song in response to her laughter. “What is cuddle?”
“It’s like a hug, only you hold on for a long time.” Killian scratched at his face, when she looked confused, then he stood and held open his arms. “If you were to do the same to me, this would be a hug.”
Raela rose to her feet and held her arms open to the sides as well, a few feet away. “This is a hug?”
Killian approached her, and his heart pounded. “No, like this. Like you did when I was sad.” He slowly wrapped her in his arms. She reached back around him as well and snuggled her head against his chest. Killian’s throat closed with a sudden swell of emotion.
Raela murmured, her voice muffled by his vest, “Like this?”
“Yes.” Killian’s voice was thick and low. “This is a hug. Do this for a long time, and that is cuddling.”
She pulled away slowly from Killian, casting a brilliant smile with flushed cheeks before she turned to the wolf. She tucked her hair behind her ear. “Jax, will you cuddle with me when there is snow?”
Of course.
Killian raised his brow at his friend. “Aw, Jax, what about me?”
Absolutely not. You’re only asking because she did. You told me you were too old for cuddling when you were ten.Killian grinned, but he wondered if that had been the last time he had been close to anyone. His father certainly didn’t hug him.
“Do not worry, Killian. I will cuddle you,” Raela said.
His cheeks pulled tighter in a smile with her sweetness, but Killian did worry. Exceedingly. There was no one else that Killian wanted to be that close to. The strength of his desire to be with Raela struck him hard, and he felt suddenly vulnerable. But his betrothal, his duty. He looked at her again. His heart.
Raela, mercifully oblivious, sat again and picked up the latest book he had brought her. “Killian, read to me. I like your voice.” She settled her head back onto her hands and closed her eyes, a picture of true peace.
“I’m happy to read to you.” He collapsed into the grass next her and began, trying to lose himself in the story. Anything to distract him from the storm of emotions inside.
Chapter 11
Affection
Raela
Severaldayslater,Raelaand Killian walked in their usual pattern around the border of the meadow. He never asked to go farther, and she never offered to take him past the brush. They were cloistered in their secret, special place. To take him past the line of brush would ruin the spell. Under the hot sun, cooled by the autumn breeze, and engrossed in their mutual study of languages, Raela was perfectly at peace, and perfectly distracted—even if her aunties were crazy and had started her birthday soup this morning—a whole day early.
She watched his scruff as it was pulled taut over the corner of his jaw, the muscle beneath pulsing, struggling to pronounce the full names of her and her aunties. His face was so sharp and angular, more similar to Jax’s than her own round one. Her cheeks were soft to her fingertips, and she wondered how his short facial hair stayed so short. It had felt rough but not unpleasant when she’d touched it before. She made a fist to hold back the impulse to do so again. His neck was threaded with thick muscles, like cords of trees that grew from a shared root with shoulders twice as broad as hers and arms wider than her splayed hand. His green-gray eyes reminded her of crystalline frost on the winter pine needles and they were wholly focused on her. Her heart trilled under his attention.
“Why are your names so long?” he asked.
She shrugged. “Our names are words combined. Prayers from our families. The meanings are often discovered throughout our lives, after events, or sometimes they show up as character traits.”
His brow furrowed. “So, what does your name mean then?”
Raela bunched up her nose. “I do not like it. Raela means break into many, many pieces; meta is bright light at end of a long, dark tunnel; and nashi means rest like sleep.”
Jax sat up, one eyebrow raised.I think that in Common,metais the word forhope.
Killian gathered his thoughts. “So shatter, hope, and rest?” he asked. She nodded. “That is an odd prayer.”
“Yes. Why shatter? Why is that my name?” Raela smiled in exasperation. “My aunties say that maybe it is, ‘May what was broken find the light and rest,’ or ‘shatter the curses, and run to the light.’ Or maybe, ‘Even though you may break, push to the light and find your rest.’ But neither of those sound very happy to me. Who wants to be shattered or in a dark tunnel? But the magic of the forest told Auntie Shou these words, so”—she shrugged—“they are my name now.”
“And your aunties? What are their names?”
