Noctisardor Bypass reshwe

flanks flattened by the water, the willowed delicacy of her bones standing stark, heda felt she looked very dismal. unattractive. a crone surviving day to day on luck.
she shook out her soaked pelt and wondered if she had ever felt beautiful. as usual, such sensations had their beginning and end in caracal. and the last time she had answered her hunger for a man, well.
it was the self-same guardian who watched her now, she knew, sensing anselm and searching for him with her peripherals.
why did he watch?
she was not his lover, and this had meant very much for etienne to know. and yet — wouldn't they be? heda's mouth had gone dry. with all the ugly knowledge between them, she had no right to look back at the man.
and yet she did, at last, letting her own gilt gaze trace the strength in his broad shoulders, the height of him, the handsome detailwork of his jawline. anselm truly was striking, and despite her unsurety and perhaps even a minute aversion, she felt her body respond fiercely to the remembered power of his arms, and how he had pinned her to the earth thereafter.
perhaps that was the last moment she had felt worthy of desire.
heda's heart raced for she did not understand what this moment meant. in time she found the shadowed gold of his gaze, and waited in uncertain anticipation, more for his usual dismissive irritation than anything else.