Page 112 of Her Soul for a Crown
Reeri blanched. “What?”
“I forgive you for that night, for not answering my prayer.”
A ringing started in his ears. He sat up, slowly removing her hands.
“And banishment was not your fault.”
He looked away. “Anula—”
But she gripped all the tighter. Pulled him down and nearly growled, “Wessamony is a liar. He wanted to hurt you, the masked women wanted to hurt you, but you did nothing wrong. They were wrong. I was wrong.”
The words caught his breath.
Everything he had yearned to hear.
“I was wrong about you, Reeri,” she whispered. “You’re everything I thought you weren’t. A caring and, unfortunately, handsome shadow.”
More than he had dared to dream.
A tear dropped. “You are a devastatingly beautiful soul.”
Humidity stoked the air, the scent of jasmine sharp and all-consuming. Reeri’s eyes flicked up and down her form. What would it be like…if he were merely a man and she merely a woman living in the same village? No bargains, no deals, no tinctures.
Anula’s breaths quickened and she leaned closer.
Every fiber of Reeri’s being wanted her to close the gap, to press her lips on his—but this mouth, this body, was not his. “We cannot,” he whispered.
She paused a breath away. “I know.”
He saw it then, as much as he felt it. Another echo, this time their desire.
“Reeri?”
O Heavens, his name on her lips—it drew out a dream, and before he could think better, Reeri cupped her face to show her.
That if he were merely a man and she were merely a woman, he would bring her flowers from the mountaintops: binara and blue water lilies. She would not put them in vials around her neck. He would take her to the waterfalls and feed her aluwa by the nightly fires. He would take her hand as they strolled through the city.
If he were merely a man and she were merely a woman, he would have leaned into her embrace tonight. Laid her softly on the bed. Unwrapped her from her sari. He would have found her shape beneath, would have worshiped it as though she were the Heavenly being in his shrine.
If he were a man and she were a woman, he would kiss the soft space betwixt her shoulder and neck; nip along her delicatecollarbone; trail fingers down the length of her curves; journey around her breasts; explore the hidden cave beneath her bush, until her thighs shivered and warmth soaked his fingers. He would taste his way down her body with teeth and tongue until she sang. And then he would deliver her to the cosmos.
Reeri lost himself to the fantasy. His heart beat swiftly as he gazed at the woman whose destiny had never held the wordmerely.
Bee-stung lips parted in a sigh. “Reeri.”
His name sent a flame down his spine, a heat low in his loins. But when they kissed again, it would behislips upon hers. “Anula.”
They paused, allowing the full force of his dream to settle, to simmer, and then to slip away. Slowly, Anula dropped her hands and pulled out of his embrace, and as the morning sun rose, so too did their shared duty.
The time for dreaming was gone.
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The emerald silk sari hugged tightly to Anula’s curves. The weight of the bell earrings and nath nose ring grounded her to the marble floors of the bedchamber. She tucked her sari tighter at her hip, like a soldier cinching armor. Reeri’s face swam before her, along with the gap she’d dared to close, her lips parting.
Cursed blessings, she had nearly kissed him.Again.
But she hadn’t been the only one leaning in, and he hadn’t said no. Simply that they couldn’t. Not as things stood now. He wanted her, too, wanted to live a dream—with her. And what a beautiful dream it had been.
