Everlasting - Iris Johansen [42]
He frowned. “Why the devil are you looking at me like that? Have I grown two heads or something?”
She smiled bemusedly. “You're definitely not Quasimodo.”
“What?”
Marna stepped forward. “It is nothing. Kira is a bit fey tonight. Where is Paulo?”
“Here.” Paulo stepped from the shadows behind the wagon. “We begin?”
Marna nodded. “We begin.”
The crystal misted again as she and Zack knelt on the white sheepskin pallet before the fire. How beautiful to see things with perfect clarity and yet enhanced by this diamanté veil.
The ceremony was not long. Rich red wine was sipped from a single goblet. Marna murmured a Tamrovian blessing as she stood before them. The halves of an ancient coin that had been severed glittered in the firelight on two separate golden chains. The first talisman was slipped over Zack's head and the second around her own neck. Then Marna stepped back and there was silence for a long moment.
Kira looked up at her inquiringly. Was it over?
Marna shook her head. “Face each other and put your left hands palm to palm.”
Her hand felt small and helpless as it pressed against his large palm. Fair against his darkness. Woman against man. Against? No. Merging, blending, bonding. Her startled eyes lifted to Zack's.
“Yes, I felt it too. Mondava.” His fingers slowly threaded through her own. “Mine.”
“Mine,” she repeated softly. Together. The current flowing between them was as deep and timeless as it had always been. How many times, how many moments, how many mondavas? It didn't matter. There was only now, only Zack looking down at her.
She was barely aware that Marna was backing away from the fire, leaving them alone in the circle of intimacy she had helped to weave about them. “Paulo,” Marna prompted. Like a giant shadow, Paulo crossed to stand beside her. Kira could feel Marna's gaze on them. Love, loneliness, sadness, resignation. The emotions flowed from her in a sweeping tide that Kira felt with a poignant sensitivity she had never known before.
“Joy,” Marna whispered.
The next moment Marna and Paulo were gone. The only sign of their passing was the crisp crunch of the leaves beneath their feet as they disappeared into the woods on their way back to the encampment.
Kira couldn't seem to move her gaze away from Zack's. “What are we supposed to do now?” The words were a breathless whisper.
“I think we're on our own.” He smiled gently. “I know what I want to do.”
“What?”
“I want to lie here beside the fire and hold you in my arms.”
“That sounds like a very good idea.” Each nerve and muscle in her body seemed to melt toward him. But it didn't seem all that unusual when every particle of her being was flowing into him anyway. His arms were around her and he was turning her spoon-fashion so that her head was pillowed on his arm. He hadn't released her hand and she could see their fingers still entwined in the flickering light of the fire.
His voice was low and thoughtful. “I've been in a fever for you since I left you this morning. I thought I'd be wanting you too much ever to hold you like this without making love to you.”
Her eyes were fixed dreamily on the orange-gold flames of the fire. “You are making love to me.”
He was silent a moment and then he kissed the tip of her ear. “Yes, I am. How perceptive of you to notice.” He settled down beside her in a silence filled with companionship, beauty, and a closeness that was, at this moment, even stronger than desire. How magical to know there would still be moments like this when passion had faded.
“You're not angry with me any longer.”
“I wasn't angry, I was…” His words trailed off. “It doesn't matter now, does it?”
No, it didn't matter now.