His thoughts drifted.
And in the dark behind his eyelids, the memory of her began to rise again, gentle and maddening and warm enough to undo him if he let it.
Come to me… Please…
------
Aveline waited.
At first, she waited with the kind of restless hope that made time feel harmless. Theron had come the other day, had he not?
So today, surely, he would come too. She had things to say to him. More than things, really. A whole tangle of questions and complaints and feelings she had not yet sorted properly in her own mind.
She did not even know why he had sent Kael instead of coming himself, and that annoyance alone was enough to keep her awake longer than she wanted to be.
She sank into the bath and waited.
Then she dried her hair and waited.
By the time she sat in front of her mirror and began brushing her hair, her patience had begun to unravel.
The brush dragged through her golden locks far more aggressively than necessary.
"Where are you?" she muttered.
Poor hair.
