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They’d never quite left the bed. After such an intense and intimate ride together, they’d stayed in the furs sleeping and talking deep into the night. And still, despite the late hour the night before, Tarkyn woke before the birds.

After the first breath of awareness, adrenaline flowed-something driving him up and out.

It happened this way sometimes. He had yet to discern whether it was simply a hangover of trauma from being a soldier at war. Sometimes his body was convinced there was danger near, even when nothing could be found. Yet, other times when he’d woken this way, it had been to find a true need or threat.

He didn’t throw the furs back and leap into the darkness before dawn though. He lay there for several breaths, watching Harth.

She slept on her side, her knees curled towards her chest and her hands under her pillow. She looked adorable and young and so precious.

The urge to reach out and touch her, to wake her, to love her was strong. But if he couldn’t sleep it didn’t mean she shouldn’t.

So using all his feline powers of stealth, he slowly drew the furs back and slipped out, dressing silently, then padding out of the cave to take a circuit of the valley, scenting the wind.

While he was out, he checked the snares he’d set the day before, celebrating when he found two hares and what must have been a clumsy pheasant. Each of them were quickly dispatched and stuffed into his bag to be taken back to the cave and cleaned for eating.

.....

Half an hour later, having found no strange scents or trails, he turned back for the cave. The sun was just beginning to rise, lining the mountains overhead in a lavender glow that made his heart sing.

He’d always loved the early morning. It came from years of guard shifts, returning home, or leaving home in these early hours when so few Anima were awake. The never-silence of nature always making him feel embraced, as if he shared their secrets.

He crept back into the cave to find Harth still asleep.

He took off his shirt to keep it clean, then spent minutes dressing his catches and hanging them to cure, then washed his hands in the stream of the waterfall.

When he turned back into the cave, dawn light was beginning to glow through the water-glinting on Harth’s eyes following him as he crossed the cave to the sleeping platform at the back.

She smiled as he approached and his belly clenched-her cheeks were pink and warm, her hair mussed, and her eyes hooded and puffy.

She looked delectable.

She stretched just as he reached her, lifting her arms over her head and arching her back. It was such a childish gesture-one he knew he still indulged as well-so it wasn’t until the furs fell away from her chest as she arched that his breath quickened.

Her bare breasts, full and round, suddenly pulled tight in the chill morning air.

“Good morning,” she sighed through a yawn.

It was, he thought, the best morning yet. But he couldn’t find the words, and so just reached out with a gentle hand to cup first one breast, then the other.

Her breath whooshed out of her at his touch. He knew his eyes must be gleaming, because she caught his gaze and her smile widened. “A very good morning,” she giggled.

The temptation to strip and leap into the warm furs with her grabbed at him. But Harth clearly had other ideas as she flipped the furs back and pushed up to sit, her legs hanging over the edge of the sleeping platform.

“Hold that thought,” she said, sighing and pulling him down to a chaste kiss before she got out of the bed and padded across the cave.

Tarkyn busied himself preparing food for breakfast. With the hares already there for dinner that night, they could use the last of the bread and fruit.

When the morning well and truly arrived, it found them sitting at the side of the fire, bellies already full, Harth’s knee resting on his thigh. He held her knee without thought as they spoke.

After such intensity the day before, and their conversations late in the night, it was a morning for dreaming of the future-of peace between the Anima and Chimera, of introducing each other to friends and family. Of anticipating joy.

Harth’s smile grew with each passing minute and she asked question after question about his home, what their days might look like, and who would be important to it.

“I didn’t get to tell you!” she said suddenly, eyes wide.

“What?”

“Suhle! Thank you for sending her. She is... lovely.”

“Like you,” Tarkyn said with a sly grin, loving the way Harth’s smile sweetened, even as she rolled her eyes.

“Yes, sure, but... honestly, Tarkyn. There’s something about her. It made me feel like... like I could belong here, learning to know her.”

Tarkyn nodded. “She’s very wise and loving. And she was gone from WildWood for many years-she knows what it is to feel like an Outsider.”

“I know. She told me. It’s an incredible story.”

Sadness tweaked at Tarkyn’s heart as he nodded. “Elreth’s father was... a wonderful ruler. And wise as well. She’s more like him than you’d think.”

He could tell from her expression that Harth wasn’t so sure, but she didn’t lose her smile. “When this is done, when we get to live again... could we have Suhle and Lerrin come to the house? Share a meal, or something?”

“Of course,” he said, pleased by the thought. “In fact, I hope we can do it sooner than that. I hadn’t thought about it deeply, but I believe those two might be able to advise all of us on ways to... embrace the Chimera. Help us to understand how to bring others in.”

“I hope so,” Harth said, running a hand up and down his forearm. “Gosh, Tarkyn, it feels like everything is just... waiting on this edge. I can see what it would be like if this fear was gone. Can’t you?”

He nodded, saddened that this was how it had all come together. His nerves fizzed. “I want peace as much as you do, Harth. But it’s going to take patience. I’ll do everything I can to bring us together.”

“So will I,” she vowed seriously, squeezing his arm. “But no matter what, Tarkyn... I’m not leaving your side. Please... please don’t leave mine.”

“I never would,” he breathed, his chest tightening even at the thought, so that he had to lean down and kiss her, just to reassure himself-and her-that he was true.

*****

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