𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐄𝐈𝐑 𝐓𝐎 𝐈𝐕𝐎𝐑𝐘

Chapter-7

Hejaz looked like a dream. 

His dark hair was braided in waves and layers with a small bun overhead, just like Arlane preferred. His warm brown eyes didn't waiver from drinking every inch of Arlane, his to-be wife. Deep red tunic and breeches stretched through his broad and taut muscles with a coat harboring the shades of Arlane's gown in the best possible assortment. There was no hiding that body underneath, especially when Hejaz seemed to breathe heavily. His attire was formal and showed no trace of the Commander he was known to be except for a long sword sheathed to a leather belt on his waist.

Brown collided with grey-violet, and for moments they kept staring. Hypnotized by the moment. Suspended in time, lost in each other's eyes amidst the crowd that surrounded both.

His dark skin had a newly founded glow, and it was all Arlane could do not to think about how his newly grown dark beard would feel between her thighs. Inappropriate her thoughts might be, Hejas's flickering gaze between Arlane's upper and lower curves affirmed she wasn't the only one affected. 

But Arlane knew him better. 

She knew that the sweat lining his forehead wasn't attributable only to their urges for each another. Hejaz was nervous as hell. 

Lousa, Lennox, Yosean, and Polymethus winded behind Arlane to set up a small tent and inspect the perimeters for any dangers or obstacles. In the meantime, the couple could not stand on the shoreline of the lake until Yeelen connected their lamps together as an indication of her blessing. So, there they stood at a distance that seemed too far for their own benefit dwelling and praying to their deities to end this long-lived torture.

The sun had almost set in the distance. It was peak time for the ceremony to start—for Yeelen to rise even if, for a stort while. With the sky now coated in different shades of deep red scattered around messily in the canvas of mother nature.

"How are you doing there?" Lydia's soft voice reached her ears but Arlane's gaze was fixed on the firm body that stood across her. 

"What do you mean?" Arlane spoke incoherently.

"With the whole vision phase?" Lydia said referring to the stage where Yeelen showed the destined couple their deepest regrets. She remembered how petrified she was in her own ceremony and how Arlane repeatedly assured her that there was nothing she could do that would make Yosean reject her. 

"In all honesty, sharing my deepest regrets with another person would send me into a tailspin," Penelope said from her either side. Rethaya sat playing with Kenna behind the pair, allowing the women some time to spend together before Arlane's title shifted to a mated woman. 

The question imposed Arlane's conscious breaking every trail of thought of jumping her to-he husband's bones. She didn't want to put it out in open, but Arlane was terrified out of her damn mind. Not for Hejaz, no. Arlane was self-aware and made weekly introspection a preference. 

It was in the way Hejaz tip-toed whenever they broached the subject. His nervousness wasn't as well-hidden as he tried to portray. Just like now. Arlane knew what she regretted the most, and even Hejaz did, she thought. But he forbid not share. Lord knows Arlane had tried to get him to speak. After all, a warning would be liked. Not that it deterred her. She knew the man she loved, yet his hesitancy..had unnerved Arlane. 

It didn't help how Hejaz sometimes seemed to say something but stopped mid-sentence, or that he tried opening his mouth only to shut it back and smile at her in the past last week. 

She was afraid of what the river might reveal.

"I'm fine," Arlane looked at Lydia with what hoped to be a genuine smile.