His hands moved to cup her face, her skin so soft, her hair like strands of silk, her flower-starlight scent engulfing him. She tasted of sunshine and honey.

How many times had he imagined this moment? He’d been with lots of girls back in Old Port, but that was different. He hadn’t truly cared about any of them. He wasn’t sure he’d ever truly cared about anyone at all until Sera fell into the Knottle Plains and his whole life had shifted course.

Kissing Sera was something entirely new. This was a tingling upside-down, inside-out, disorienting joy that was so sharp it could almost be confused for fear. Her lips were timid, and he held her gently, as if afraid she might break. But then he felt something in her surge, and she was winding her arms around his neck and pulling him closer and his tongue slipped into her mouth and she gasped and sank her fingers into his curls. Leo’s hand slid down her back, feeling the length of her spine beneath her dress and wishing there was nothing between them at all. He wanted to know her, to know every part of her. He wanted to taste her kindness and the backs of her knees and the generosity of her heart and the curve of her shoulder blades. He wanted to live in this spot under the turquoise canopy of the Arboreals and never leave.

Culinnon, Ambrosine, Braxos, the tether . . . it all ceased to exist. There was only Sera.

Even if this was all he got of her, even if he had to let her go at the end of this journey . . . it was enough. It was enough to have kissed her, to have held her close, to have felt her breathing against him. It was enough.

How long they stood and kissed, he didn’t know. But at some point, the Arboreals around them began to speak in that strange tree language, and they broke apart.

“What are they saying?” Leo asked.

“They are happy we are happy,” Sera said.

“Oh.” Leo hadn’t been thinking they’d had an audience. “Thanks,” he said to the trees, and Sera laughed.

“They cannot understand you,” she said.

“Right.” He honestly didn’t care if all the Arboreals and mertags and strange things in the world were watching them right now. He was acutely aware of every place Sera was touching him, of her chest pressed against his and her hands on his back.