The kiss ended the way it began, soft and unhurried, and Aeryl drew back first. She found the candle stubs in a crate by the corner of the cellar and lit three of them with the last coal in the brazier. The flames pushed the dark to the edges of the room, gold against the stone. The bedroll lay at the center. Aramisius watched her from it, his eyes catching the flame. His eyes were still too bright in the candlelight, but they were his now, the silver-red fading to something that looked almost like amber. She crossed the cold stone, knelt beside him, and his arm came around her waist and pulled her onto the bedroll. Onto him. “Come here,” he said. He pulled her in before she said a word and his mouth found hers, deep and hungry. His hands went to the laces of her gown. His hands worked the fastenings of her dress. And quickly, fabric fell away. He pushed it from her shoulders, down her arms, past her hips, until she was naked in the candlelight. The cellar air touched her skin,
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