I'd like to thank Dicta Lumen for sorting out some of my grammatical errors in a previous chapter. She's a star and many cookies are flying her way.
Things are hotting up in the next chapter, so here's some more:
"I knew I shouldn't have let them give us wine," Kalvor muttered as he pulled away from her and got to his feet. He reached the table and set down his goblet before turning to face her. "For that is the most stupid idea I have ever heard." His damp hair whisked against the back of his neck as he marched toward her. "What are you playing at Lea?" He sat in the chair opposite and leant forward. "Is this some misplaced gratitude talking? Why are you even suggesting this?"
"I am not drunk," She answered carefully. "Neither am I confusing gratitude with anything else,"
"Have you forgotten that we are on opposite sides?" His voice rapped out, drowning out hers as he declared the one obvious truth about their predicament.
"No,"
"Or that you could be killed just for being on the road in Alliance Territory?" He stood up and advanced on her, intensity in his gaze. "If any of my side notice you, that's it," He ran an agitated hand through his damp hair, confusion and a wary concern flowing across his features.
"I know all of that and I'm still willing to go with you," She held his stare, wondering why she had become so determined to help him find his sister. She was not usually this altruistic or this concerned, particularly over the fate of an enemy. Kalvor and his background had gained a foothold in her thoughts and she could not abandon him to a search that could ultimately be fruitless. A small voice informed her that she was empathising because she lacked a family, yet even this did not feel like the truth. Leanadas shied away from the other thought that was whispering through her mind, the thought that Kalvor meant more to her than she wished.
Kalvor whirled away from her and stalked across the small room. "And you're trying to convince me you're not drunk. Do you have any idea of how crazy this sounds?" He reached the far wall and turned back, looking at her with incredulity. Taking a deep, calming breath, Leanadas pulled herself from the end of the bed and crossed the room. She stood before him, her borrowed clothes hanging like a tent from her smaller frame and he smiled at the sight. He did not move as she reached forward with one delicate hand and brushed his shoulder.
"I know how this sounds," Her fingers caught hold of his upper arm and he looked down at her, his pale gaze betraying a tumult of emotion as his eyes met hers, "I know it is crazy, but I am willing to risk it," He stared down at her face in confusion, a muscle in his cheek working as he tried to make sense of what had transpired.
"Why do you wish to do this?" His eyes raked over her face, searching for answers as the bewildered notes of his voice revealed the depths of his puzzlement. "Why do you want to risk your life for someone you should be fighting?" His hand fell on her shoulder and she looked at his fingers, feeling the warmth in his hand flow through the soft fabric of her borrowed shirt. "After all I am the enemy," His other hand grasped her other shoulder and she took a deep breath. The gentle grip of his fingers provoked waves of sensation and she swallowed nervously. Beneath the warm weight of his hands she grew strangely breathless as she stared up into his pale eyes. "So why are you so determined to help me?" His voice lowered and became softer, its cadences flowing like crushed velvet through her ears.
"I don't know," She struggled for words, his fingers and voice provoking strange emotions. Emotions that flooded through her body, muddling her thoughts and sending small tremors through her skin. "You have risked so much for me and I can't let you go alone,"
"We are even in that regard so why must you do this Lea?" His whispered softly, moving his hand to her cheek. She shivered as his fingers slid across her jawbone, the feel of his calloused hand sending small shudders of sensation along her spine. She tilted her head, following the movement of his fingers. Her lips brushed lightly against his palm; the gentle movement not quite a kiss but he still froze as though she had.
"Lea?" He breathed the words as he raised his other hand, cupping her delicate chin and raising it toward his. A heartbeat's length of time passed as they drew nearer to each other. Leanadas could feel his breath ghosting over her lips and her skin prickled as further shivers raced though her. He was unbearably close; the tension between them electric. As much as her mind screamed at her, Leanadas could not move away him. What had flared between them screamed louder than any rational thought. As they moved to close that last, small, irrevocable gap, she could not think past the desire that had simmered for at least a night. It would take one small step closer and his lips would be on hers.
A loud knock sounded on the outer door, breaking the moment and dragging them apart. Kalvor pointed towards the bathroom, yet Leanadas was already moving, heading for the other room as though wolves were after her. She pulled the door to the bathroom shut and slid the bolt home as Kalvor walked across the main room to open the door.