"Can I just hold you?" he asked, not answering my question. He didn't need to. We both knew the answer. "Here, on this balcony, where no one will see. Can I pretend for a short while that you love me unconditionally, and I don't have to be alone?"

A tear fell out of one of my eyes, hot and full of the grief in his voice. "Yes," I said through a throat gone thick. "Let's pretend together that everything will be alright."

Dain nodded against my skin, and we stood there together a long time, with his arms and sorrow wrapped around me.

42. Invitation

Chapter 42

Invitation

The witching hours slipped towards dawn, the warmth of Dain's body keeping me comfortable in the night air as the sky lightened to the east. The voices of birds started to wind through the early morning, the clouds turning lavender and the morning glories growing on the balcony's railing unfurling their violet faces to the sky.

At last, he sighed and kissed me softly on the neck. "We should probably go to bed."

"I'm tired of being apart from you," I said, my voice quiet. "I'd rather stay here."

Dain went still for a moment, then let out a shuddery exhale and rubbed his cheek against mine. "Then come sleep next to me," he replied, as quietly as me. "I want to fall asleep in your arms, and wake up wrapped around you. It's agony to watch the days slip away, and to know that my time is running out, but if all I have left is fifteen days, I would like to spend them with you."

I turned and looked up at him, one corner of my mouth pulling back into a sad smile. "You make it sound like your execution."

Gently, he brushed my loose hair away from my face. "Isn't it?"

"Dain," I whispered, horrified, the pain of those words leaving me breathless.

Without saying anything, Dain took my face in his warm hands and kissed me on the mouth, chaste and full of sorrow. When he leaned back, he smiled at me, his quiet despair in his golden wolf eyes. "Come to bed with me," he said. "Let me wash my blood off your face, and brush your beautiful dark hair for you. Wear my clothing to bed again, and run your hands over my body so your fingers can remember what they already know." Dain brushed the backs of his fingers along my jaw, the feel of his smooth scales better than the touch of any other man's skin.