She blinked at him sleepily in the firelight.
“Finnie –” he started to order her to go back to sleep but in a flash, her face brightened, her eyes twinkled with excitement and she exclaimed, “You’re back!”
“This I am,” Frey agreed to the obvious.
She shot up to sitting and he barely had time to contract his muscles to brace when she slapped his chest then bent over him, her hand at his chest, her hair framing her face, her eyes dancing, her cheeks pink with excitement and her voice breathless with enthusiasm when she demanded, “Tell me everything that happened!”
Frey stared into her animated face as it settled in his gut that this magnificent creature in his bed bravely voyaged from a whole other world for reasons of her own, reasons which weighed in his stomach, but also because their destinies bound them together.
And there she was, after he’d deserted her in his filthy cabin and left her for weeks, angry at her twin for her proclivities and frustrated that he was greatly attracted to her beauty regardless of them, thinking, but not much caring, that she would struggle.
But she did not.
Not his Finnie.
She fed on the challenge, bested it and ended up enjoying herself immensely.
Something about this humbled him as his eyes moved over her face.
“Frey!” she cried, her hand at his chest pressing in to get his attention and he lifted a hand, pulling back the thick, unbelievably soft curtain of hair and tucking it behind her ear.
When this was accomplished, her body gave a small, surprised jerk but her lips softened and her eyes warmed in that way he was getting used to and he liked very much.
“They needed to explain a situation to me and ask for my command. They did, I commanded and hopefully,” he lifted his hand again and tugged at the ends of her hair, “they’ve executed my command.”
“What was the situation?” she asked then didn’t wait for an answer before asking, “And what was your command?”
“This I cannot tell you, my new wife, not now,” he said softly and watched her face fall.
Then, as he was becoming accustomed, she did not give up.
“Why would they need your command?”
“So they would know how to proceed.”
“And how do they proceed?”
“With magic.”
Her eyes got wide as did her smile. “No joke?” she whispered and his body shook slightly with his laughter.
“No joke, Finnie.”
Her face grew dreamy, a look nearly as endearing as her delighted surprise as she whispered, “That is so cool.” Then she focused on him again and asked eagerly, “Do you get to watch?”
“If I wish.”
Her eyes got big again. “Did you watch?”
“No and I never do.”
Her face fell again right before it immediately brightened.
“Did you ask if I could come next time?”
“No, but I don’t need to. They are at my command. Sometime in future, when it is appropriate, I will take you to meet the elves.”
Her smile got so big, it seemed to light the space as she cried, “Awesome!” Then, almost immediately, she asked, “Would it be okay if I talk to them?”
“I’m certain they’d enjoy that.”
She smiled down at him before whispering, “Thanks, Frey.”
“You’re welcome, wife.”
She kept smiling and he lifted his hand, hooked her behind the neck and brought her closer. As he did so, her smile faltered but her eyelids lowered, her cheeks started to pink for a different reason and he heard her breath catch with anticipation.
He liked that, all of it, very much, but she mistook his intent.
He brought her close but stopped her when her face was an inch away and then he whispered his order in an attempt to soften it, “It is not wise, my wife, to sleep with the candles burning. Do not do this again.”
She stared in his eyes and she whispered back, “I was trying to wait up for you. I was so excited about the… uh, return of the elves I didn’t think I’d fall asleep.”
“Well you did,” he pointed out and she bit her lip. “They’re easily relit, Finnie. Extinguish them next time. I like you as you are, that is to say, alive and breathing not burnt to a cinder.”
Her eyes locked with his, hope flared before she hid it and then she whispered breathlessly, “You like me as I am?”
By the gods, he’d been a bastard.
Then again, in his defense, he did not know she was who she was and all that she was.
“Yes, Finnie,” he replied gently.
She pulled in a breath he felt as her chest contracted against his.
Then she said, “Well, I’m with you. I like myself alive and breathing and not burned to a cinder so I promise to blow out the candles next time.”