The Winds of the Past [Rune Factory 4]

Chapter 27

As soon as Dylas left, Avani sighed, then turned to me. “Do you have work to do today? Or do you want to do something together?”

“Well… I really should work on that translation….” I said, hesitantly. She looked so disappointed, though, that I grabbed her hand and pulled her firmly to me, saying “On the other hand, you’re irresistibly adorable. As you wish, My Lady—what did you have in mind?”

She looked up at me, her eyes half-closed, and ran her fingers through my hair, trailing them deliciously down my spine as she whispered, “The dungeons in Idra Cave.”

I pulled back in astonishment, then burst out laughing. “So here I’ve placed my body entirely at your disposal, to do with me as you will… and you want to go fight monsters?” I teased.

“Oh come on, you know you want to!” she grinned up at me. “That’s one of the things that I love about you—we both love the thrill of danger and adventure. Dylas is much more cautious—he’ll never understand that part of me, and it’ll always worry him and make him fuss over me. But I don’t even need to try to explain it to you, because you get it.”

I caressed her cheek affectionately, saying, “I suppose you have a point there. I dread boredom more than anything. And many people are just… dull. Until they’re teased, that is.”

“Hmmm, is that why you tease me so much?” she asked, looking up at me through her long eyelashes. “Do you find me boring otherwise?”

I swept her up in my arms, nibbling along her neck as I carried her to the bed. “Far from it,” I murmured into her ear as I laid her down and reached for the top button of her blouse. “I find you more and more exciting every day.”

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Standing at the mouth of Idra Cave, I watched in amusement as Avani scowled at Arthur, hands on her hips as she stared down the elegant, poised young prince. “What do you mean, you don’t have better armor? You’re a prince! How can you not have better equipment than… than this?!” she scolded him, gesturing scornfully at his rudimentary equipage.

He took her berating good-naturedly, just shrugging with a smile. “Well,” he replied, “since I specialize in commerce, not combat, I’ve just not needed anything better before now.”

Avani sighed. “I suppose that’s true enough… and I suppose I should have checked and not just assumed. But honestly, Arthur, you should invest in some better equipment. These are dangerous times in Norad, and as a prince, you could be a potential target. So promise me you’ll see to that, okay? Because if you don’t… I’ll find out.” she said, in her scariest voice.

“Ahh, Avani, you’re kind of making me nervous,” Arthur said, drops of sweat beading on his brow as he looked down at her.

“Good!” she said, suddenly cheerful again. “Then maybe you’ll follow through! I just don’t want you to get hurt, okay, Arthur? So please promise me?” she looked up at him with such a meltingly adorable look of concern that she had me shaking with suppressed laughter, as I knew it was all an act—she certainly knew how to turn on the charm when she wanted to. However, Arthur didn’t realize that, and he blushed bright pink and stammered out a promise to upgrade as soon as we returned.

Satisfied, Avani turned and peered into the dark cave.

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After we’d made love, I gave in to her wish to go adventuring, even agreeing with a sigh when she said she wanted to bring Arthur along for some training. I’d been looking forward to possibly exploring those caverns with her… in ways that precluded additional companions. Some other time, perhaps, I thought regretfully to myself. But I extracted a promise that, in return, we’d do something afterwards that I wanted to do. She’d blushed so adorably at that—obviously drawing her own conclusions as to what I might have in mind—that I almost dragged her back to bed right then. But instead I followed her downstairs to the storeroom where she kept armor and weapons.