Everything was warm and hazy as Damien awoke. He looked over at Selene next to him and studied her in the morning light. She was still asleep, her body rising and falling with each breath as she lay curled on her side. Her hair was scattered across the pillow and bed in long black strands. He reached over and felt a lock between his fingers, then spotted a bluish mark beneath her hair along her back.
He moved onto his side and gently moved her hair away. His eyebrows rose. Along her back, right near the shoulder blades, were bluish-grey wings spreading from her spine, like a bird’s.
Amazing.
His finger trailed one of the wings.
Selene gave a start and sat up. She glanced over her shoulder at him, then her face blossomed into the deepest red as she reached for the coverlet.
“Is this your mark?” he said.
She nodded, her eyes wide as she stared back at him.
He pushed up on an elbow and brushed her back again with his fingertip. “It’s beautiful. Like two wings across your back.” His gaze moved from her back to her face, then he reached over and brushed her hair from her shoulder.
Her eyes trailed down his chest, stopping at his upper hip. “Is that yours?”
He glanced down at the familiar mark. “Yes. Three waves for House Maris.”
She hesitated, then reached over and lightly brushed his skin. His muscles tightened under her touch. “So different than mine,” she murmured. “When did your gift appear?”
Damien lay back down, his hands behind his head, remembering the day when his gift came. It had rained all day and night and into the next day. “When I passed sixteen harvests.”
“So young.”
He glanced at her. “Really? How old were you when your gift came?”
“Eighteen winters.”
“And how old are you now?”
“Almost nineteen winters. I was born a fortnight after the Turn of Winter.”
He hummed thoughtfully. “So you’ve only had your gift for a year?”
Selene smoothed out the blanket in front of her. “Yes.”
“And yet your dreamwalking ability appears powerful. It took me years to master raising the waters. Is that common for all dreamwalkers?”
She shook her head. “No. My mother said I was special since the day I was born. My mark is not small like my predecessors and has not faded. And it didn’t take me long to control my gift.”
“Interesting.” Damien grew quiet as he stared up at the canopy. Just how strong was Selene’s gift with a mark like that? Then he calculated their ages. “I’m twenty-four harvests. So we’re not far apart in age compared to most couples.”
“That’s true.” He could feel her eyes on him and looked over. “You became grand lord at twenty-two, my father said. That’s young.”
“Yes.” He let his breath out. “It’s not been easy.”
She placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled down at him. “I know.”
His heart beat faster at her touch. Sunlight filled his bedchambers, casting a warm glow across the room. He didn’t want to leave. He wanted to stay here and spend the morning with Selene. To talk. To share their lives. To be a married couple. But there was much that needed his attention.
He sighed and sat up. “I wish I could stay with you this morning, but I’m afraid I have a lot to do today. Soon most of the ice will be gone and we’ll need to be ready to leave for Lux Casta. And the navy will need to be ready for when the empire moves.”
Selene gave him another smile. “I understand.”
Her look made his stomach turn inside out. “I would love for you to join me again tonight. Or every night if you want. I know most grand lords and ladies have separate rooms, but perhaps you would consider something different?”
He held his breath. Maybe it was too soon to ask.
Her smile widened. “I would like that.”
He felt like he had been hit upside the head with the blunt end of the sword, knocking his thoughts out of his head. “I-I will have Steward Bertram see to it that your belongings are brought to our room today.” Did he really just stammer? Like a youth? Then what he had said hit him.
Our room.
There was something right about those words. “Let me know if you need anything. I’ll be with Taegis or in my study.” On impulse, he leaned over and kissed her, savoring the feel of her lips. Reluctantly, he pulled away. “I’ll see you tonight.”
“Yes,” she said breathlessly, her eyes shining.
He stared at her, mesmerized. She was so beautiful. Never did he realize what they would become when they stood beside the Hyr River and said their vows.
Move, Damien, his mind demanded.
He mentally shook his head, rolled to his own side of the bed, and stood. Compared to the comfort and warmth in his room, he had no desire to head out and plan more strategies or talk to his naval personnel or prepare for a war. Why couldn’t things have remained peaceful? Then again, he would have never married Selene if the times had been peaceful. They probably would have never even met.
Life could be both bitter and sweet.
Damien headed outside into the frigid cold. He stood upon the cliff outside Northwind Castle and raised his hands, then began his usual morning routine of raising the waters and praying for his people.
His oiled cloak whipped around his boots as his hands grew cold inside his thick gloves. But he needed this. He needed this time to commune with the Light and to continue to strengthen his gift. He had grown used to the pull of both water-walls on his power, but he would be happy when he could take the sea barrier down when they left for Lux Casta.
As he went through his intercessions, he paused on Selene. The water roared in a wall reaching the edge of the cliff he stood on, spraying his boots and cloak with salty mist. His heart swelled with love and thankfulness. He closed his eyes and breathed in the cold air. Thank you, Light. Thank you for my wife.
The corners of his lips turned upward as he resumed his exercises. What would his family have thought of Selene? Would they have been shocked that he had married a Ravenwood? Would they have accepted her? Would Quinn have joked with her in his usual manner?
His throat thickened as he raised the waves again. They would have come to love her as he had.