Page 59 of Asher
He smirked. “You underestimate me.”
“That’s…weirdly sentimental for someone like you,” I teased, but my tone lacked the usual edge.
He glanced at me, his expression softening. “It’s been centuries since I’ve stopped to enjoy something like this. Sometimes it feels like I’ve forgotten what it’s like to just…be.”
The raw honesty in his voice caught me off guard.
I didn’t know what to say, so I let the silence settle between us, only broken by the faint rustle of the forest.
After a moment, I cleared my throat.
“When Finn and I were kids, we used to camp out under the stars. Our parents thought we were asleep, but we’d sneak out with a flashlight and a pile of blankets.” I smiled faintly at the memory. “We’d stay up until dawn, making up stories about the constellations.”
Gael tilted his head, his gaze thoughtful. “Sounds…nice.”
“It was.” My chest tightened as I thought about how much had changed since then. “Feels like a lifetime ago.”
He nodded, his expression distant.
“I used to do something similar. Long before…” He trailed off, his jaw tightening. “Before Beric. Back when I was still human.”
I glanced at him, surprised. “I forget sometimes that you were, you know, normal once.”
He huffed a quiet laugh. “Normal. That’s generous.”
We stood in the clearing, the weight of the past pressing down on us.
The stars above seemed to mock the fleeting nature of everything. Our lives, our choices, this fragile moment of peace. It was all so temporary.
Gael turned to me, his eyes catching the moonlight. “It feels like the world’s holding its breath, doesn’t it?”
I nodded, shivering slightly. “Yeah.”
He noticed and shifted closer, his shoulder brushing mine.
Vampires normally burned cold, but the warmth of his presence seemed to seep through the thin fabric of my jacket.
Without thinking, I leaned into him, and he instinctively wrapped an arm around me.
It wasn’t calculated or deliberate. It just…happened.
For a moment, we stood like that, the silence between us no longer heavy but comforting.
His fingers curled lightly against my arm, and I felt a strange sense of safety I hadn’t known in years.
Gael broke the quiet first. “You’re full of surprises, Asher.”
I laughed softly, the sound almost foreign to my own ears. “Funny. I was just about to say the same thing to you.”
His lips quirked into a half-smile, and before I could stop myself, I turned to face him.
His arm stayed around me, his touch steady and grounding.
The tension that had always simmered between us softened into something warmer, more profound.
He leaned in, his lips brushing my temple in a feather-light kiss. My breath hitched, and I returned the kiss, taking my time.
The stars began to fade, swallowed by the creeping light of dawn. We’d stayed up for hours, talking, gazing at the endless sky.
