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Alear wandered the Somniel enjoying the evening breeze. She just couldn’t seem to settle this evening. A slight smile touched her lips as she considered her stop to speak with Seadall. His brief reading for her told her of a pleasant encounter on the near horizon. Her thoughts tumbled over what this encounter could be. She doubted it had anything to do with the end of the war with Sombron, since she was already of the definite mindset that they would emerge completely victorious. Although this would be a pleasant outcome, she doubted it was considered an encounter. With this in mind, it had to mean something else.
The sky was absolutely beautiful, she noted as she continued on her way toward Lookout Ridge. There, she knew she could get an unobstructed view of the stars. It was late, so she doubted many were out and about at all. Other than Seadall, the only other person she had seen was Diamont as he was leaving the fishing pier. As she neared the ridge, she smiled at the figure laying on his back, one ankle resting on the bent knee of his other leg. This was a very pleasant surprise. Her brows lifted as she considered this may very well be her pleasant encounter.
“Hello, Fogado,” she softly greeted as she neared him.
“Greetings, Divine One,” he returned with a smile. “I hope you’ll forgive me for not getting up.”
“I didn’t expect you to jump to your feet,” she replied. “Do you mind if I join you?”
“Now, how could I possibly mind having your company?”
Alear settled herself next to him, smiling as he sat up next to her. “You didn’t have to sit up on my account.”
“Yeah, I think I did,” he responded as he folded his legs cross-legged. “Much easier to share conversation this way. Besides, I can better see you in the twinkling light of the sky.”
Tipping her head upward, she looked at the multitude of stars in the clear sky above them. “It really is a beautiful night.” Looking at him she said, “I’m glad I didn’t find you secretly working out here at your training.”
“Ah—heh, yeah. Again, you just can’t seem to forget about that.” His brows lifted. “But, I suppose as long as you keep your promise to keep your trap shut about it, all is fine.”
“Sorry, and I promise,” she offered. “I just see you pushing yourself so hard.”
“Everyone pushes themselves for your cause, Divine One.” His hand moved in gesture, “All of us want to support your efforts and make sure we’re the best we can be.” He lightly chuckled. “Besides, I get just as much time in partying with Pandreo and doing leisurely stuff.”
“You haven’t forgotten that we are supposed to share a dinner together.” Alear stared at him, her head slightly tipping to side as she waited for his answer.
His eyes stared into hers through the light of the moonlit sky. “How could I possibly forget something so important as dinner with you,” he softly said. Truth was, he thought about it every single day. He wanted nothing more than to spend time with her. In fact, he wanted time with her completely alone. Not the alone time when he was the one that woke her up in the morning, but alone time that was special. Time that he could actually muster the courage to tell her how he really felt about her. Not as the Divine Dragon, but as the one that entered his heart in a way that had nothing to do with being a deity.
“That’s a relief.”
“Is it? I mean, you have time to change your mind, you know.” His habit of remaining lighthearted despite the situation took him over. “No hard feelings, no foul. Just a gal deciding to change her mind. It happens.” He grinned as he added, “I have a sister, ya know.”
Her brows drew together. “Are you trying to find an escape?”
“Whoa, what? Absolutely not.” His hand boldly reached out and pushed her hair behind her shoulder. “If you remember, I brought up the idea of us having dinner together some time ago.”
Her thoughts were still hanging on his gesture of touching her hair, almost losing track of what he had said as he did so. “Um, no, I remember.”
“Good,” he quietly answered. Her hair was like the softest silk. It was all he could do to keep from reaching out to fan his fingers through it, just to touch it again. He had to divert his attention. “Oh, hey! I have a big bunch of grapes in a basket I brought out here for a snack.” He turned and picked up the rounded basket from the grass beside him. “Care to share them with me?”
She looked at basket he held, the big bunch of grapes filling the small bowl of the basket. “Sure. If you don’t mind.”
“’Course, I don’t.” He held the basket toward her. “Just remember, this is not dinner.” He smiled as she broke off a stem of grapes.
“Not dinner. Got it.“ She popped a grape in her mouth and smiled as she bit into the juicy sweetness. “Mmmmm,” she hummed.
“Right? Nothing like good fruits,” he said as he popped on into his mouth.
Alear pulled another grape free of the stem and munched on it as she starred ahead at the sky. Turning her head to look at Fogado, she said, “Tell me something about you that no one else knows.”
He softly coughed for a moment, startled by her suggestion. “I, ah, well, you already know something that no one else knows,” he said as he pushed a couple of grapes into his mouth. His brow hiked as she reached over and put her hand on his arm. If she only knew how the warmth of her hand seemed to burn right into him. Not like a painful burn, but like a flushing warmth that traveled his entire arm and straight to his heart.
“No, the training thing doesn’t count,” she argued. “I mean something more personal,” she explained as she withdrew her hand from his arm, even though what she really wanted was to hold his hand. Would he even hold hands with her? She wondered if he even liked her enough to do so, given the chance.
“Oho, I’m not sure that is a good thing,” he quickly countered. “This lighthearted rascal just can’t be blurting out inner secrets, now, can he?” He popped a grape in his mouth as his brain worked. “I know, how about you,” he twitched his finger toward her, “tell me something about yourself.”
“We’ve had this conversation before, if I recall.”
He chomped another grape before he plucked one and held it toward her. “Yeah, and you evaded the entire topic, Divine One.” His brows shot up when she leaned toward him, her teeth pulling the grape from his fingers.
“Fogado,” she began as she munched the grape, “would you do me a favor?”
“Of course. Well, I should have said that it depends, but you are the Divine Dragon, so turning you down might strike some kind of curse on me.” He tipped his head. “Can’t have that, can we.”
She lightly chuckled. “I don’t know how to cast curses,” she joked. “Would you please call me Alear?”
“That’s a tough request,” he slowly pointed out. “I mean, how would that look if I were to call you by name. Everyone would think I had gotten hit in the head by some big rock or something.” In all honesty, he liked the idea of calling her by name. Seemed a bit more personal. More intimate. He nearly blushed at the idea.
She laughed. “No, I understand that. I mean when it’s just you and me. Like now.” She dared to touch him again, her hand coming to rest on his knee as she added, “I can tell you that really, no one else does. Except Veyle. It would just be you.”
His hand hesitantly moved to rest over hers. “But why? Why me?” He had to ask why she was extending this privilege to him. Only to him. “Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the idea of doing so, I was just wondering why you picked me,” he finished quietly.
Her teeth gnawed her lower lip for a moment. Dare she tell him it was because, if she had the pact ring with her, she would be offering it to him? Sucking a slow breath, she quietly said, “I am going to tell you my secret, Fogado.”
“What? Really?” His fingers slightly tightened on her hand. “I promise to keep it close.”
She hesitated a moment before she looked at him. “I want you to call me by my name because I have special feelings for you,” she steadily admitted.
His mouth nearly ran dry at hearing her words. “You…you…for me?” He nervously chuckled. “Oh, man, you…you may be the only one ever to render me nearly speechless,” he muttered. He felt her slight attempt to withdraw her hand from under his, prompting him to tighten his fingers to halt her. “I’m sorry. I don’t want you to think that I’m not…” he sucked a slow breath to steady his rampaging thoughts. “I feel the same, Alear.”
“Huh? Really?”
“Really. And that was one doozy of a secret, by the way.” He shifted his hand to lace his fingers with hers. “The best I have ever heard, actually.”
She enjoyed his fingers slightly tightening on hers. “I don’t have it with me, but would you accept my pact ring?”
His spirits took flight as he answered, “With the greatest honor, I will.”
She adjusted herself, inching closer to him so she could lean against him, tilting her head to rest it against his shoulder as they sat side by side. “It really is a beautiful evening.”
“The best,” he said enjoying the moment.
Slowly tipping her head upward to look at him, she drew a breath as his free hand came to lightly rest against her cheek while he moved to join his lips to hers. Her eyes closed as their lips slowly moved together. She hadn’t even realized that she had been holding her breath until they parted. Her tongue slowly dipped out to try and taste him on her lips. Feeling his hand drift from her cheek to slide around to her nape, her hand released his to slide around his back as their lips joined again.
“Wow,” she whispered as they parted.
He smiled, enjoying the feeling that was unfurling within him at knowing she felt the same for him that he had been feeling for her. “Yeah, I’ll agree to that,” he softly said as his hand moved to stroke down her hair. “As much as I hate for this moment to end, we probably need to turn in. Got a nasty fell dragon, that still needs a beat down, to deal with.”
“Yeah, and we have to break those shards before we can get to him.”
Reluctantly, he moved to stand and reached his hand out to help her up. As she stood, they noticed a shooting star streaming across the sky. “Make a wish?”
“I don’t know that I need to,” she quietly said as she looked at him. “Then again, I suppose we need to defeat Sombron before I can hope for too much.”
His hand reached out to rest on her waist. “No worries, Alear,” he softly encouraged. “We are sure to come out victorious and make this world safe again. I can’t let it go any other way. We have a pact together.”
“Yeah, we do.”
“I suppose that I should walk you to your room.”
“No need,” she pointed out. “But I do expect you to be the one to come in and wake me up.”
He softly chuckled as the hand at her waist urged her a bit closer. “Count on it,” he whispered as his other arm wrapped around her.
Pandreo stopped short as he saw the darkened silhouette of the couple sharing a kiss in the moonlight. His eyes widened as he realized who the pair were. He expected to find Fogado, which is why he headed out this way. What he did not expect, was to find him with the Divine Dragon….like this. As they parted, he ducked back into the darkened recess behind a tree. It wouldn’t do for him to be seen.
Parting, that little voice that usually coaxed him along was doing so at this moment. Fogado dared to hug her while whispering in her ear, “Love you.” Knowing that she cared for him enough to offer him the pact ring made his confession of how he felt for her that much easier.
She sighed at his words. “Fogado, I love you,” she softly returned as he loosened his hold on her. “See you in the morning.”
As he watched Alear walk away, his eyes widened as he saw Pandreo step out of the shadows and walk toward him. How long had he been there? Had he actually been watching them the whole time? No. This was Pandreo. He wouldn’t. He couldn’t.
“Heh, Pandreo,” Fogado began as Pandreo walked toward him, his hand coming up to rest behind his head, “my pious retainer. What brings you out this way. Please, tell me you haven’t been there long.”
“Actually, I came out looking for you.” He smiled. “I did not expect to find you up close and personal with the Divine Dragon. That was a bit of a surprise, to say the least.” A brow hiked. “Ya know, you could of easily confessed your interest in her rather than your fear of the war outcome.”
“Apparently, I have need for continued confessions. Haaaa,” his voice fading. “Aaand you haven’t mentioned how long you were there.”
“Fear not, my friend, I was only there long enough to see the romantic, kissing silhouettes with the stars twinkling in the back ground.” He couldn’t help his slight smile. “You are one lucky man.”
Fogado smiled now, too. “Yeah, I am.” He glanced up at the sky for a moment before he looked back at Pandreo. “Sooo, what was it on your mind this beautiful evening that brought you out to observe such a perfect, what was supposed to be private moment, between myself and the Divine One?”
“That would be about the party tomorrow night,” he said, as his arms lifted while he leaned back a bit. “Epic. The Divine One even agreed to come out for it.”
With his brows drawing together, Fogado asked, “She did?”
“Absolutely. I explained to her how there are many that just want the opportunity to meet the Divine Dragon.” His hand lifted, finger slightly pointing upward for emphasis. “You know, as well as I do, that her appearance will only inspire people and lift their spirits. This will be one for the ages…awroooo.”
Fogado’s brain was trying to filter through the thought of Alear being at one of these parties. The music, the noise, the people, the dancing. “Yeah, awrooo,” he finally managed in a less than enthusiastic manner.
“Okay, what’s the matter,” Pandreo asked. “Don’t tell me you want to keep her all to yourself. She’s the people’s deity,” he pointed out.
“No, no. You’re right,” he said. “I’ll make sure she gets there.”
“Now, you’re talking.”
Fogado smiled. “For now, we best get some sleep. We have dragon shards to start destroying, you know.”
As Alear settled in for a good night’s sleep, all she could think about was Fogado. Her thoughts rewinding to his arms around her, their lips bonding together, his words whispering that he loved her. A soft smile touched her lips as she closed her eyes. Tomorrow, she would give him the pact ring to wear so that everyone would know of their promise to each other. Yes, when he awakens her, she will give him her ring. Closing her eyes, she drifted off with happy thoughts in her head, rather than those of possible battles worrying her thoughts.
Fogado stood next to Alear as she soundly slept, just looking at her. Somehow, seeing her now was different than it was just a couple of days ago. A smile touched his lips as he leaned down to whisper in her ear, “Wakey, wakey, beautiful. Time to start a new day.” He watched as she slightly moved but didn’t open her eyes. “I promised to wake you, so open those big eyes for me, Alear.”
Her eyes fluttering open, she looked up into Fogado’s chocolatey eyes and smiled. “Good morning,” she softly greeted as she moved to sit up.
“There you are,” he said as he held his hand out for her to get up, his fingers wrapping around her hers as she slipped her hand into his. “It is a good morning, isn’t it,” he said as he pulled her into his arms. His lips hovered a breath away from hers. “Do you mind?” he softly asked.
Her answer came in her closing the gap, her lips meeting his while her arms wrapped around him. Her body relaxed into his, his hand cradling the back of her head. Parting, she looked into his eyes. “This has to be my favorite wake up visit to date.” Her face brightened as she smiled. “I have something for you, remember?”
“How could I possibly forget?” He released her and watched as she walked over to retrieve the pact ring from her table drawer. He couldn’t help his smile as she reached out and took his hand, placing the ring on his palm and closing his fingers over it.
“This belongs to you now,” she said as she released his hand. Her eyes watched as he slipped the ring on his finger. “Perfect. Let’s go greet the day.”
“Hey,” Timerra said as she grabbed Fogado’s hand when he walked out to make sure his sister was ready to depart. “Is this the pact ring from the Divine One?”
“It is,” he confirmed as he reclaimed his hand.
“That is awesome, sibby!” Timerra’s eyes widened with enthusiasm. “I’ll have to come up with a doozy of a song for this later.”
Fogado held up his hands shaking them at her as he said, “Whoa, no! No, you do not. The last thing these people have to hear is your bellowing racket about myself and the Divine One.”
“Hey! That’s mean.”
“Ah, no, not mean, truth.” He hiked a dark brow. “So, you are okay with this?”
“Are you kidding! You and the Divine One? That makes her part of our family!” She smiled at her brother. “I know with you at her side, there’s no worries.”
“Yeah, well, she has stewards,” Fogado pointed out.
“Maybe so, but they aren’t the ones that seem to have her heart in the way that you do.” She lightly smacked his arm. “So, let’s get going so we can help her save the world for all of us.”
Fogado had casually rested back as he watched Alear talk to every single person that approached her at Pandreo’s party. Pandreo had been right, of course, her appearance was definitely one of the high points of the evening. She was clearly an inspiration to many and couldn’t help a sense of pride just knowing that she was closest to him. Now, as he was escorting her to her room for the night, he was selfishly glad that he would finally be able to have a few minutes alone with her.
“Are all the parties that Pandreo throws as lively as that one?” she asked as they walked across the plaza.
“Yeah, they’re always top notch and a lot of fun,” Fogado said as they started up the stairs to her room. “Honestly, I was a bit concerned about you being part of that noise and chaos, but you handled it well.”
“Thank you. It really was fun, even the howling part,” she said as they entered her room. She looked at him as he lingered in the doorway. “Aren’t you going to come in?”
He hesitated a moment before he said, “Well, it’s one thing to come in to wake you just as some of the others do, it’s another to be here at night. Just the two of us…alone,” he quietly added.
Her eyes wandered over the colorful scarf loosely draped around his neck before they lifted to his face. “Please, come in. We didn’t really get much time together at the party, and we were busy chasing shards to break today. No time for just us, like last night,” she quietly pouted.
Being with her, just the two of them, was a dangerous thought. He was well aware that his desire to deepen their interaction was growing each and every hour that passed by since their time last night. The last thing he wanted was to push too much, too quickly. Yet, as he stared into her eyes, her face pulled into a slight pout, he couldn’t help taking a step in and slowly closing the door.
“There, this is better,” she said, as he reached out to pull her into his arms. Her head tipped to meet his kiss, enjoying their lips coming together. She enjoyed the feel of him against her, the way his arms held her. Feeling his lips slightly part, his tongue slowly drifting across her lower lip, she followed his lead. As her lips parted, his tongue slowly pushed into her mouth.
Fogado’s eyes closed as he held her, his tongue leisurely mingling with hers. It was a dangerous line to tread, but it was one he didn’t seem to have the power to resist. Hearing her hushed purr only heightened his desire and was pushing him to a point he didn’t want to cross. At least, not yet. Pulling his lips from hers, he sucked a deep breath. “Alear, I need to go,” he said in a quieted, husky voice.
She slowly shook her head. “No, please, don’t go.” Her hand reached up to his cheek as she slightly pouted. “Stay with me.”
He unconsciously tipped his head into her hand, his resolve melting as he looked into her eyes. “You are asking so much.”
“I’m sorry, Fogado. I just feel so comfortable with you.” A smile touched her lips as she stared up at him. “Just, right, I guess.”
“Yeah, I get that, Alear, I really do. I’m just not sure that I have the strength to keep myself in check,” he honestly confessed. “I mean, you just feel too good when you are pressed against me while I hug you.” He nervously chuckled. “The light-hearted rascal in me could easily morph into a rabid rascal that may be hard for me to control.”
She couldn’t help her little laugh. “Promise?”
“Wh-what?” He stared at her as she stepped back and began to walk further into the room. Despite his reservations, he reached out and locked the door that until now, had always been easily opened. As he slowly walked over, where he had only ever awakened her before, that voice in his head was reminding him that they were bonded by the pact ring now. It really wasn’t wrong to deepen their love to the next phase. It wasn’t wrong if she was encouraging him to stay. It wasn’t…wrong.
He was still telling himself that as he slowly slid next to her, his breath nearly completely escaping his body as their bodies came together, her in her camisole and panties while he wore his boxers. He could feel her through the light material, warm skin to warm skin. “In case I neglected to tell you before, you are beautiful,” he softly said against her cheek. “And I love you.”
“I love you, my prince,” she sighed, enjoying his hand slowly drifting over her back as he captured her lips in a passionate kiss. “So,” she softly began as her hand lifted to ruffle through his dark hair, “what now?”
“Ah, well, as much as I want to explore something much more intimate with you, I think we need to settle in for a good night’s sleep, don’t cha think?” His hand settled at the small of her back. “Big battle to deal with, ya know.” It was taking all the discipline he could muster to keep from sliding his hand forward and upward enough to cup her breast. He wasn’t even sure that she knew the effect she was having on him, the conflict she was causing him.
“Yeah, I suppose you’re right,” she softly agreed. Her lips softly touched his. “Still, this is really nice.” Her hand slowly drifted down to his chest before easing around him as she nestled closer.
“I couldn’t agree more,” he softly said as he held her, his eyes closing in contentment while he considered spending more nights with her. All of his nights. Nights where they would definitely expand their intimacy without a major battle for the safety of the world looming over them. “Good night, Alear,” he whispered.
“Mmmm, good night, Fogado.”