They all filed into the old, familiar building, their discipline. Sandry looked around in wonder, she felt like a student once again, standing here where she so often had in her younger days. She glanced at the others, her sibling, those she had grown up with. Then she felt a familiar tug on her braid.
She glared at the young man beside her and said, "I swear Briar, even though you look like you've grown up, you haven't one bit."
He gave her a big grin, and tugged at her hair again. Her stomach did an odd flip at the grin and she was taken aback, maybe something at dinner had disagreed with her.
Several days had past since they had returned from Namorn, and all were still a little shaken. All of them knew that Daja cried herself to sleep each night, wishing for her missing lover. But they didn't know what they could do to help, for they had not left anyone that special behind. Sandry sighed and leaned outside Daja's door, she wanted to go in and comfort her, but she knew that the comfort that she needed could not be gotten from her. She leaned back, feeling Daja's pain almost as her own, remembering the harrowing experience that she herself had gone through.
She shook her head to rid herself of such thoughts, then went downstairs to see if she could find a glass of milk. She got a glass down from a shelf in the dark and went towards the milk. She bumped into something warm and solid, and started to shriek. A hand clamped over her mouth before it could even start.
"It's okay Sandry, It's just me, Briar, I'm not going to hurt you", he said when she started to sob, "You're at discipline cottage, not in Namorn, you're safe."
The familiar voice soothed her nerves, and the hand left her mouth. She threw herself at Briar, hugging him fiercely. He was taken aback for a second, then wrapped his arms around her.
"Don't worry, I'll protect you", he said to her, hugging her even tighter to his body.
He wanted to go back to Namorn and hurt the men who had done this to her all over again. He held her for a long time until she could cry no more. He smoothed her sun streaked hair and she felt better than she had in a long time.
"Go up to bed, Sandry, you have to wake up tomorrow", he said at last, pushing her towards the stairs.
"Why were you up", she asked him suddenly, stopping before she reached the stairs.
"I don't sleep much anymore, too many bad memories waiting to haunt me", he said, going towards his room.
"I can't sleep either, want to go for a walk", she asked shyly, motioning towards the cottage door.
"That could be nice", he said, following after her.
They walked through the campus, which looked so different at night. Everything looked corporeal and unreal. The moon turned everything to molten silver, and bathed them In its eerie light. Sandry tilted her head up and let the moon shine on her face, and Briar was captivated. They stopped as she stood there, a look of complete bliss filling her for the first time in she knew not how long. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her, a passionate kiss filled with untold longing. Sandry was startled for a moment, then started to kiss back, her body molding into his. He stopped and pulled away and she almost whimpered in regret.
"I, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that, I don't know what I was thinking", he said, then rushed off.
She stood there for a moment, hurt and confused, her body felt weird and tight. She lifted her head to bathe in the moonlight, but it wasn't the same, it couldn't be the same when Briar was gone.
"We've enrolled your students in classes, so you can finally have some peace and quiet", said Rosethorn, "Though, with you four around, I don't know how I will."
They all laughed as there old teacher sat down at the breakfast table, and eyeing the food with hunger.
"It looks like Gorse sent breakfast over", said Lark, who had just walked into the room, joining the table, "What's wrong with you two?"
They both muttered and avoided Lark's gaze.
"Normally you two sit next to each other, did you two have a fight or something", she asked the two, who were sitting as far away from each other as possible, "Well, I expect you to work it out, you're too close to let something like a fight get in the way of your friendship."
They both nodded, embarrassed, and went to eating the meal in front of them with great relish.
He climbed up on the roof and lay down looking up at the starry sky, he was tired, so tired, and yet he couldn't sleep.
Yanjing and Chammur still haunted his dreams, so that he could not and would not sleep until he was so tired that all was an oblivion.
He heard a noise and tensed, pulling one of the knives out of his sleeves, scanning the roof for an intruder. He saw a silhouette coming out of the window and froze, watching as the intruder turned out to be Sandry. He slipped the knife back into his sleeve and waved to her. It was not as bright as last night had been, but the moon was still almost full. She froze when she saw someone on the roof but relaxed when she saw that it was just Briar.
"I don't mind that you kissed me, it was nice, much better then when Shan kissed me. I, I want to try it again", she said, inching closer to Briar.
"Sandry, I can't just kiss you, you're a noble, and I'm a street rat", he said, looking at her lips sadly, "You have to get married and produce heirs, and no one will want to marry you if you're caught kissing somebody like me."
"Maybe I don't want to get married to some stuffy nobleman, maybe I want to get caught kissing somebody like you", she said, trying to sound coy and seductive.
Briar groaned, it was too cute, watching her attempt to be a wild temptress, but he naivety showed through. She reached him and threw herself into his arms, aiming her lips for his.
"Unless I marry you, which isn't going to happen, then I can't kiss you. You're a lady, and I'm street scum", he said, trying to push her off.
"You're not street scum, you're a world renowned mage, and I want you to kiss me", she said, not used to not getting her way.
"Fine", he said in a huff, pulling her to him.
She grinned in triumph as there lips met, then she forgot everything but the feel of his lips on hers. She felt his tongue snake out and push against her teeth, confused, she opened her mouth and it slipped inside. She almost bit his tongue when she felt the strange sensation, it was the taste of Briar fencing with the taste of Sandry, and she fenced back, relishing the taste of him in her mouth.
His hands gripped her waist, and he stroked her belly slowly. With each stroke he got closer to the fire inside of her that she didn't know existed. A fire that only he could bring and only he could quench. She sighed into his mouth and he pulled back reluctantly.
"You have no idea what you do to me, do you", he asked in a low husky voice.
He pushed her off and shimmied down the roof and off towards his bedroom. She felt a burning in her womanly place and did not understand it, she knew what it was, but she knew someone who did, so she went through her window and headed towards Briar's room. She heard him sit on his bed and entered to room quietly.
Briar looked up and thought he was dreaming, someone who looked just like Sandry had just entered his bedroom and was walking straight towards him. She sat down in his lap and put her arms around his neck, cornflower blue eyes meeting his gray-green ones excitedly. He looked stunned as she shyly brought her lips up to his, he broke the kiss gently.
"I'm not dreaming, am I", he asked her softly, and her eyes shined with amusement.
"What makes you think this is a dream", she asked.
"A gorgeous noble woman walks into my room, sits on my lap, and kisses me, so it can't possible be real, right", he asked, still looking dazed.
"Ever since that first kiss last night I've been wondering something", she started to say.
"What", he asked, looking confused.
"I've been wondering if you'd consent to marry an obnoxious noble woman", she asked, and his jaw dropped, "I know it's sudden, but I want my husband to be someone I trust who isn't after me for my money or title, someone I could be friends with and come to love. My uncle has been bothering me for sometime to pick someone, and I've picked you, I know my uncle won't care, and he's the only one that I want to approve."
"Y-you want me to marry you? This really must be a dream, and since it is a dream I can honestly answer, and yes, yes I'll marry you. I would marry you even if didn't have a title, or money, or power, or magic, and I don't know how long I've felt this way", he said, hugging her to his chest.
"How are we going to explain this to everyone", asked Sandry, and they both laughed, "But this will Make my uncle happy, he's been wanting me to get married since forever. But I want to know what it's like to be married now."
"I'm not going to sleep with you until you have that wedding band on your finger, because I've spent the past few months doing things that I regret with woman, and I'm not going to do the same thing to the person I'm married to", he said, and she nodded slowly.
"As long as you promise that from now it will be nobody but me", she said firmly. "Yes, I promise", he said, kissing her cheek, "Now go to bed, I'm going to buy you a ring in the morning."