“A different one from what you are. I’m grateful to the one you are.” She skirted the worktable, rose to her toes to kiss both of his cheeks. “Very. You gave me comfort, Hoyt, and you gave me sleep. And you left the fire burning. I won’t forget it.”
“You’re better now.”
“Yes. I’m better now. I was caught off guard, and I won’t be the next time. I wasn’t prepared for her, and I will be the next time. I didn’t take precautions, even the simplest ones because I was tired.” She wandered to the fire he kept burning low. “Sloppy of me.”
“Aye. It was.”
She cocked her head, smiled at him. “Did you want me?”
He got busy again. “That’s not to the point.”
“I’ll take that as a yes, and promise the next time I jump into your bed, I won’t be hysterical.”
“The next time you jump into my bed, I won’t give you sleep.”
She choked out a laugh. “Well, just so we understand each other.”
“I don’t know that I understand you at all, but that doesn’t stop the wanting of you.”
“It’s mutual, on both counts. But I think I’m beginning to understand you.”
“Did you come here to work, or just to distract me?”
“Both, I guess. Since I’ve accomplished the latter, I’ll ask what you’re working on there.”
“A shield.”
Intrigued she moved closer. “More science than sorcery.”
“They’re not exclusive, but joined.”
“Agreed.” She sniffed at the beaker. “Some sage,” she decided, “and clove. What have you used for binding?”
“Agate dust.”
“Good choice. What sort of shield are you after?”
“Against the sun. For Cian.”
She flicked her gaze to his, but he didn’t meet it. “I see.”
“We risk attack if we go out at night. He dies if he exposes himself to sunlight. But if he had a shield, we could work and train more efficiently. If he had a shield, we could hunt them by day.”
She said nothing for a moment. Yes, she was beginning to understand him. This was a very good man, one who held himself to high standards. So he could be impatient, irritable, even autocratic.
And he loved his brother very much.
“Do you think he misses the sun?”
Hoyt sighed. “Wouldn’t you?”
She touched a hand to his arm. A good man, she thought again. A very good man who would think of his brother. “What can I do to help?”
“Maybe I begin to understand you as well.”
“Is that so?”
“You have an open heart.” Now he looked at her. “An open heart and a willing mind. They’re difficult to resist.”