Cruel Summer

The Shape of Your Body

"It's new, the shape of your body.

It's blue, the feeling I've got. 

It's a cruel summer. 

It's cool, that's what I tell him. 

No rules in breakable heaven, but

It's a cruel summer with you."

Cardan blinked sleepily into the dimly lit room he laid in, a candle beside his bed and the fire in the hearth the only sources of life. He was sprawled on the left side of a king bed, and looked sleepily to his right to see if anybody lay with him. There was the body of a girl, laying on her side. His moved closer and put his hand on the dip above her hip, and planted a gentle kiss on her round ear.

The time piece on the wall told him it was a few hours before noon, several hours before the two sleeping royals had to wake up and start their day. Cardan closed his eyes and breathed in the scent of Jude's hair, trying to will himself back to sleep. He couldn't drift off, though, as there was a pit in his stomach from the lonely dream he had just had.

Cardan debated with himself on whether or not to wake Jude. While it would bring him comfort, tired Jude was often quite grumpy. However, Cardan realized that he would be comforted even with Jude yelling at him, and so he gently shook her side and whispered her name.

"Is everything okay?" she whispered, turning her head slightly to see him.

"Yes, my dear," Cardan said. Now that she was awake, he wasn't sure what to say. "I just wanted to talk."

"About what? Can it wait?"

"Nothing of importance. I'm sorry for waking you. I just...I had a dream and woke up and I thought having you yell at me might bring me back to reality."

Jude flipped on to her other side to face him. "Was it nightmare?" She still seemed disgruntled, but at least she was responsive.

"In a way, yes." There was a beat where Jude waited for him to explain, but Cardan didn't want to delve back into the lonely expanse and throat rawing yelling of his mind. Instead, he changed the subject. "Do you remember the field behind your house?" he asked instead.

"The one you stole from me," Jude responded, her tone somewhere between a question and a statement.

"Yes! Exactly the one. When's the last time you went?"

"A long time ago," Jude answered and brought her hand to lace with Cardan's above the comforter. "I didn't go back after you started going there."

His face fell slightly. "I'm sorry. I'm sure you think I was trying to take something good away from you, or mock you. I hope you now know that wasn't the case."

"I haven't thought about it in a while, actually. I probably felt that way at the time, though." Jude paused, watched her husband's face. She wasn't good with soothing words, but she gave it her best effort regardless. "I don't anymore, though. We can't blame each other for childhood miscommunication."

Cardan nodded, then sat up. "We should go now," he said, already swinging his legs out of bed and into pants.

"I'm still half asleep, you know," Jude said, but she was moving to get ready as well.

"We'll bring a picnic and blankets," Cardan explained, not listening. "We can sit together. You can fall back asleep there, if you want."

Jude couldn't keep the laugh from her lips as she watched him get excited. "Okay. Okay, we'll go."

...

The saplings had grown a little taller and the grass had grown a little thicker, but the meadow and its flowers were still there. Once in sight, Cardan rushed forward and put the blankets on the ground, creating a warm nest in which he sat and waited for Jude. She was a few steps behind him, a dark blue blanket wrapped around her shoulders like a cape, but she sat next to her husband and reached into the basket they brought for a pastry.

Jude's legs extended across Cardan's, and his arm stretched to rest behind her back. They ate pastries and scones in silence, the sweetness of the food filling the room for words. Jude licked her fingers clean when finished, and Cardan watched before taking her mouth in his.

"I'm glad that I can do that now," he told her before moving in to kiss her again. It wasn't rushed or heated in the way the two had a tendency to be, but was instead passionate in a different way. Their lips worked together softly and slowly, as if they were teenagers just learning the rules of love.

"I'm glad too," Jude told him once they had pulled away. Cardan had moved to lay with his back on the ground, and Jude threw a leg and arm over him and rested her head on his shoulder. "I'll fall asleep here, you know," she told him through a yawn.

"I know," he responded, and for once in their lives, they were at peace.