He falls asleep so quickly that it catches me by surprise. It was always like this, even back then. He would hold me and fall deeply into sleep. I found it hard to believe when he said he usually struggled to sleep.
It feels so precious to see him like this, almost vulnerable in my arms. He is lying on his side next to me. I keep my leg wrapped around his hips because it feels so good, so right.
With a fingertip I trace the lines of his face. How I have missed it. His dark brows and his heavily lashed eyes, his almost sultry lips and his strong jaw. I love every centimeter of them.
The years have changed him. There are dark shadows under his eyes, and lines between his brows where there had been none before. He looks as strong as he always did, but somehow he seems thinner, more careworn. It makes my heart ache to think of what troubles have made him tired and so angry.
I shiver, thinking how like Dane he is. I wonder if Dane looks like this when he’s asleep, so vulnerable and sweet once the wariness and self-control of the day is gone.
Would Dane let me lie next to him like this? And stroke his face as he sleeps? Instantly I feel guilty. Why am I even thinking about Dane when I am here with Aeron, where I have always wanted to be?
My finger runs down the strong column of his throat, down his collarbone, and follows the silver chain down to his chest where the pendant rests. My fingers hesitate before they touch it. I worry he will sense it and wake up.
Not daring to take it in my hand, I examine it with my eyes. It looks identical to the one that Dane gave me. The red of the dully gleaming stone is as dark as the color of blood.
Aeron murmurs in his sleep, and I realize that my arms and my legs, which are wrapped around him, have tensed up. I take a deep breath and make a conscious effort to relax them. I don’t want to wake him.
It hurts that he accused me of not being honest with him. He was right. I haven’t told him about Dane. I don’t know why Dane wants Aeron’s pendant so much, but I will not be the one to take it.
This decision brings me some sort of peace. I place my head against Aeron’s chest and listen to the steady rhythm of his heart beating. I fall asleep to the sound.
