Neverwinter Forest [m] Places far away and we're not you and me, but

At first, he thought she would continue to sulk, leaving him to pine for her dubious affections. But the tightness in her shoulders eased under the press of his mouth, and he smiled to himself, safe from her penetrating gaze.

But when she spoke, it stole the smile on his face and the earth underneath him. His heart beat strangely — too hard, and in every inch of him — for one painful second. If she said anything else, he missed it over the static clamoring in his ears.

It was a long while before he, too, relaxed, and longer still before he finally slept.