Page 107 of A Promise of Peridot
Gods, I had been right—she looked like a night-blooming vision, born out of starlight itself. Her long dark hair pulled into a low ribbon but still messy from tossing and turning, unable to sleep. The silken white robe veiling her like a divine spirit. I wanted to worship at her feet. I would, if she’d let me.
“I was going to make some tea,” she said. “Do you want some?”
Yes. Anything you are willing to offer me. I will drink it from your very lips.
“No.”
Her face fell slightly, but she made no move to walk past me.
“Good night,” I said, my voice sounding more like a growl than I intended. I cleared my throat. “Sleep well.”
I should have apologized for my outburst after seeing her withFedrik. But I compelled myself to enter the guest room and close the door before I did something idiotic instead like kiss her. Or ask her to marry me.
I needed my head looked at.
Kicking off my shoes and clothes, I crawled into the stiff bed. My skin was hot, my heart restless in my chest. Being stalled in this manor together was the problem. We needed to get back on the road. Perhaps I’d—
When my door squeaked open, it was honeysuckle and orange blossom that drifted through the room.
31
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Arwen walked over to the bed, shocking me—a man rarely surprised, if ever—by climbing onto the mattress and folding her legs underneath her. “Can I stay with you for a while?”
I squinted at her in the darkness. “Are you feeling well?”
A small laugh. “I just can’t sleep.”
“If this is about... I’m sorry. For lashing out at you after—”
“Don’t be.” She wrapped the robe tighter around herself. “I shouldn’t have let him kiss me in the first place. Fedrik and I are just friends.”
“I meant what I said before, though. If it makes you happy, then that’s what I want for you.” A depressing thought blared through my mind, and I added, “But if this is... I’m afraid I can’t help you self-sabotage. Can’t give you another reason to hate me.”
“I don’t hate you.” She sighed through her nose. “And there’s nothing with Fedrik to sabotage. You’re so fixated on him.”
Then why...
Oh.
Oh.
I was an idiot. I had done this my entire life, and yet somehow didn’t recognize Arwen’s need for release. A distraction from the horrors of her own mind. A quieting of the constant roar.
Cautiously, I lifted the cotton sheets up for her, like offering a sugar to a wild horse. More of an invitation than a challenge, but she still took in the open sliver of bed for an extended beat.
In the end, she crawled forward and slipped underneath with a shaky exhale.
And then Arwen was lying in my bed.
Next to me.
Her body heat and honeysuckle hair overwhelming all my senses.
And in this moment—these peculiar, private witching hours, when Arwen was serene and soft, and starlit, her placid eyes appraising mine—her beauty wasmerciless.It was... beyond anything I could comprehend. After all these months and months of wanting her, the tether tied around my resolve had frayed to dust.
Relax, I told myself.
