Completion of the Whisper

Chapter Eleven.

He didn't hesitate to tangle his fingers with the hair in my neck, nor did he hesitate to let his other wander to my waist to pull me closer. Nyshard's moved gentle, slow, as if he didn't want to push me or scare me off.

It was perfect.

A perfect moment, a perfect man, a perfect night.

Happiness.

Pure happiness filled my crumbled self and healed those inner wounds that I still had from his near death. Nyshard was alive, he was well, he came here for me. And he wanted to kiss me, he wanted to have this – whatever it was – with me.

Slowly, he broke the kiss, but didn't withdraw, instead he leaned his forehead against mine and inhaled slowly. "I've never been much of a dreamer, but you make my dreams come true, myn pri."

"Pri?"
"Precious. That's what you are to me, the Whisper's been right about it all along. You are my first and my last thought, Adriyele, every day."

I swallowed, and his hand brushed along my waist as his lips brushed against my temple and he slowly leaned back a bit, opening his eyes. The expression in them took my breath away.

He'd not said it once, and maybe, he just didn't feel like he could, but there it was, right in front of me.

Admiration, trust, worship, and maybe even love. Maybe, he felt the same. Maybe, it had been there right along.

Maybe, he'd felt so much for me, that he had wanted to keep away from me to protect me. He'd always said it. He had said it so clearly, all those countless times.

He had wanted to stay away.

But not because he didn't like me, no, he had stayed away for the exact same reason I had left Sulrantis when the Whisperers had told me to.

To give me the opportunity to have a life, a future with someone else, even though it would have hurt him to see it. He would have stayed away, but he would have protected me all the time. All those times he had told me he would make sure I'll get whomever I loved. All those times – right from the start – when he had asked me about my friendship with Caaln, when he had tried to suggest that Caaln liked me.

"All the times you pushed me away, you did it..."
"Because of what you mean to me."

I nodded and leaned against his chest, taking his hand in mine. "It just still feels... unreal. Do you... think it possible, that maybe we head to... lose each other to come to the realisation that we'd rather take this chance and try to be happy?", I kept staring at his big hand, that now closed itself around mine.

"I'm not trying to be happy... I am", Nyshard pressed a kiss into my hair "And yes, maybe... it had to happen this way. The Whisperers kind of sent you away, and then they kind of made sure that I would come for you. Which I would have, either way."

Smiling, I closed my eyes at his words and when he moved slightly, I looked into the night sky again.

His hand trailed down my waist and he chuckled, when I shivered "Are you cold?"
"No, I'm not. I'm... fine", tore my eyes away from the stars and glanced at Nyshard, who was only watching me.

Slowly I leaned closer and this time, it was him who crossed the last tiny bit of distance, pulling me into a deep kiss.

"We eventually have to go back down, don't we?"

Nyshard sighed against the side of my head "We have to. And by now, the majority will probably be drunk... or... worse – and high."
"Because of that weed? What is it like?"