Page 18 of The War of Four Winters

The simple intimacy of washing his hair still amazed me sometimes. That he would bare his throat to me like this, trust me with such vulnerability. When I first took him, he would have sooner died than exposed himself so completely.

"What is it?" he said softly. "What are you thinking so hard about, my king?"

"Just remembering." I gathered water in my hands, carefully rinsing the oil from his hair. "How far we've come. How much has changed."

He turned in my arms, water sluicing down his chest as he straddled my lap. His hands found my face, thumbs stroking along my cheekbones. "Not everything has changed. Some things just... evolved. Found their true shape."

I caught one of his hands, pressing a kiss to his palm. "Like us?"

"Like us." He leaned forward, resting his forehead against mine. Water dripped from his hair onto my face, but I didn't care. "Though I never expected this part."

“What part?”

“How peaceful it is,” he said quietly. “With you. Even with everything that’s happening, when I’m with you, it feels… calmer. Manageable.” His mouth quirked up into a smirk. “Maybe I’m starting to believe we can do this.”

“We can,” I said simply. “We can do anything as long as we’re together.”

I reached for the soft cloth near the pool's edge, drawing it over his shoulders.

We washed each other slowly, turning the practical task into something almost like a ritual. His hands were gentle as they traced the scar beneath my ribs where Daraith's blade had carved out my death price. Mine lingered on the fading marks around his throat where the collar had once rested.

When the bell sounded again, louder this time, we could no longer pretend the world wasn't waiting. Elindir's fingers traced one final line down my chest before he pushed himself up from the water. I caught his hand, steadying him as he stepped from the pool.

"Let me," I said when he reached for a drying cloth. He stood still as I dried him carefully, each touch lingering over familiar territory. His skin raised in gooseflesh despite the steam-warmed air.

"You're stalling," he murmured, but made no move to hurry me.

"Can you blame me?" I pressed a kiss to his shoulder as I worked the cloth down his back. Water droplets caught in the hollow of his spine, and I found myself following their path with my fingers.

His breath hitched. "If you keep that up, I'll never make it to the ship."

"That's the idea." But I made myself step back, reaching for the formal clothes laid out the night before. The deep blue jacket was new, cut in a style that mixed elvish and human fashion. Its fabric caught the morning light as I held it up, gold buttons gleaming like stars against the color my mother's house had made famous.

Elindir's eyes widened slightly as he recognized the shade. "That's Starfall blue. Your mother's colors."

"A reminder of what we're really fighting for," I agreed, helping him into the fine linen shirt first. I had chosen to carry my mother's name rather than Tarathiel's Deepfrost, and now I marked Elindir with the same allegiance. "I want them to see exactly who you are when you arrive in Homeshore. My consort. My equal. Wherever you go, you'll carry part of me with you. A declaration to all who see you that I belong to you, as you once belonged to me.”

He caught my hands, pressing them flat against his heart. Through the layers of cloth, I felt its steady beat. "I won't let him break me again," he said softly. "I'm not the same person he betrayed."

"No," I agreed. "You're so much more."

I helped him finish dressing, each layer another piece of armor against what waited in Homeshore.

He kissed me, tasting of bathwater and promise. When he pulled back, his eyes held fire despite the water still dripping from his hair. "I will come back. Whatever Michail thinks he can offer, whatever threats he makes. I will always come back to you."

The horn sounded a third time, and now we could hear the bustling of the fortress properly waking. Soon there would be councils to attend, final preparations to oversee. But for just a moment longer, I held him close, breathing in the clean scent of his skin.

"I should check on Leif and Torsten before I go," he said finally, though he made no move to pull away. "Make sure they understand."

"They understand more than you think." I pressed a kiss to his temple, tasting water and herbs from our bath. "They've seen enough of the world's cruelty to recognize when someone fights to change it."

His arms tightened around me briefly before he stepped back. "Take care of them while I'm gone. Leif still has nightmares, though he tries to hide them. And Torsten..." He swallowed hard. "He acts brave, but he needs someone to sit with him at meals. Make sure he actually eats instead of just pushing food around his plate."

My chest tightened at the worry in his voice. In such a short time, those boys had become so much more than just wards to him. To both of us. "I'll watch over them as if they were my own."

"They are your own," he said softly. "As much as they're mine now."

The morning light caught his copper hair, still damp from our bath, turning it to living flame. In the Starfall blue jacket, he looked every inch a prince, but it was the fatherly concern in him that made my heart ache.

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