Swiftcurrent Creek spice-heart

lestan lay with @Reverie in the little hollow where she had been brought by the three swiftcurrent wolves. it was only after hours of being pressed hip to hip with her that he realized kvarsheim had all but faded from her scent.
the mayfair rolled and looked quizzically at her. "are you staying here? or will you —" he found he did not want to say it.

She did not expect Lestan to question her; he rarely did, and Reverie had come to accept it as fact by now that he did not want her here. If he did, he would have asked. Admittedly, she was glad that he had not. Until now.
Do you... want me to stay? Reverie asked hesitantly, meeting his eyes. She didn't know what she would say if the answer was yes. She didn't know what she would do if it was no.

"of course i do!" lestan kissed her forehead, a soft thing after the passions they had shared. "but what about bjarna?" gunnar? kvarsheim?
"akavir and arric, they have children due in swiftcurrent." he assumed they had both shared the favours of jakoul, and now she would give birth. "i want to stay until she is settled. but after that," he did not know.

He wanted her to stay. That complicated things, didn't it? Lestan went on about Bjarna, about Akavir and Arric and their children, but Reverie's thoughts were elsewhere for a moment. She was thinking about Tybault, and the danger he presented. What would he do to Lestan, if he found them together?
Her expression turned anxious. Lestan, I'm not going back to Kvarsheim. I can't, She looked away. Not while Tybault is - stalking me. She didn't know where she could go.

"tybault!" lestan's voice was an indignant seethe. "he can do absolutely nothing to you! not while you are here." perhaps then, a reason for staying. the mayfair was far from a violent man, but protectiveness was his lot for reverie.
he exhaled. "what if we both left? not now, but —" someday. perhaps someday soon. "arric and akavir and i, we can keep you safe here." but did she wish to stay?

Panic gripped her as he spoke. He wanted her here. He wanted to protect her. That meant violence — that meant that someone would get hurt, and what kind of fucked up world would make her choose whether she wanted her brother or her lover to fall? Reverie could only look at Lestan for a moment, but she didn't see him. She saw blood, she saw ruin, she saw everything she'd spent her whole life running from.
Okay, Reverie said before she could stop herself. She would have to leave in secret, then. Slip away while Lestan wasn't looking. If - if Akavir and Arric agree, then - I'll stay. And... we can leave together when you're ready. If you want. For a day, perhaps. Then she would leave, and she wouldn't think of how it would hurt Lestan. If the way to keep him safe was to break his heart, then — she would.

lestan relaxed with an easy smile then. "good," he said, nosing beneath her ear. "we can call them in the morning." and for now it would only be he and her, reverie and the mayfair.
"when the time comes, we can talk about what is out there for us," lestan assured, smoothing her cheek with a radiant kiss. "but tybault cannot hurt you here."

But he can hurt you. Reverie bit back the words and forced her thoughts away from what she had planned. She wanted to cry. Under any other circumstance she would have given anything to hear him say things like this, and now the time was here and she could only see the end on the horizon.
Couldn't she at least enjoy it for a moment?
Us, She echoed softly, and a hesitant half-smile played on her lips. I like the way that sounds. And maybe if Reverie hadn't been planning to leave, she would have told him then that she was sick of being called his friend. They were more than friends! So much more! But it hardly mattered what they called their relationship if Reverie meant to flee the valley. So she didn't say anything else. Instead she excused herself and left him with a kiss, meaning to find Akavir and Arric. She wouldn't mention what she and Lestan had spoken of, not until he was ready.