"I can't explain it. The guy who sent us here seems familiar to me." Zoe stopped fanning the fire. The larger fallen branches had finally caught.
"Don’t worry about it. His name will come to you in time." Orden cut the last lashing of the lean-to and stepped back to observe his handiwork. He turned with a smile. "Reminds you of the old times?"
She looked at up. "I thought our traveling to different worlds was done." Her gaze fell back to the flames. "All this is missing is Zauk."
"I’m not missing him."
"He is our friend, how can you say that?"
"Because he was always underfoot when I wanted to be with you alone." He sat down next to her, and put his arm around her shoulders. "Don’t fret. We’ll be alright. Actually, this gives us an opportunity to talk without any well meaning interruptions from your family."
"What do you want to talk about?" She leaned against him.
"Us, our future. Is it proving your mother wrong or is it me?"
"What?" Zoe straightened to look at his face.
"Why you won’t marry."
She stroked his cheek. "How can you even think it would be you?"
"Because I can’t think of one good reason why we shouldn’t." He caught her hand and squeezed it.
"Mother has to stop with the meddling. I’m not doing anything because she said I should." Her face darkened. "Besides she’d want a big state wedding and die of embarrassment after I trip in the dress and knock three rows of attendees over. All the kingdom would be a buzz and she’d bring it up at every meal." Her shoulders slumped.
"You can get married in chainmail for all I care."
"Orden...."
He spoke quickly to keep her from going on. "Your mother has nothing to do with us. We can run away and get married if that will make you happy. All I want is a commitment that my leaving my life and world behind was not in vain."
She shifted and turned his head to look at her face. "Do you doubt my love for you?"
"At some point, your actions must match your words."
"Well, take heart in these actions." She reached out and pulled him into a kiss.
No comments:
Post a Comment