Redsand Canyon You're just like an angel

It's a date. The promise was rumbled lowly against her nape. He had nuzzled his way there from her cheek while she was talking. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad with Aquene. He knew she would be in her element, and he wanted to see more of that. 

She mentioned that the imperator had offered her a role that would be both medicus and auxillary. She would be training as a soldier—flashes of her on the borders with that bastard's teeth in her skin assaulted his mind; he hadn't even been there but it didn't stop the images from appearing, clear as day. Kallik froze and pulled back to look at her. Fear clawed at his heart. 

She was talking about weather and teaching, but his mind didn't process the words; it was too busy telling him how miserable he would be without Aquene. He tried to keep the panic from his face, but he wasn't sure if he had. He was more open and relaxed with his healer, so the icy mask was harder to keep in place. So, you will be in danger more often, he said. There was no acknowledging her growth, no excitement for what she had accomplished—basically none of the emotions that were appropriate here. The soldier had suffered more than one devastating loss and had learned early that the more you cared about someone, the more it hurt when they were gone. He refused to lose Aquene.