The Tales and Tellings of Hallows' Grove (MLM)

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

                Henry woke the next morning to Edward's sleeping face. Then he lifted his head, startled for a moment at the sight of a ghost asleep. The sky had cleared with spotted clouds here and there, and the fresh smell of rain on the earth left a chill in the air that had Henry shivering pleasantly under his blanket and burrowing deeper into Edward's warmth.

Edward tightened his arms around him but slept on. Henry raised the tips of his fingers to trace Edward's thick, dark eyebrows, his long lashes and rosy cheeks, his brown stubble and beautiful lips.

Edward caught his hand and kissed his fingers. Henry chuckled, hiding his face in Edward's neck.

"Who was watching who now?" Edward teased.

"You were asleep," said Henry very matter-of-factly. "I'm a man of reason, after all. I was trying to make sense of it. I thought you didn't care for sleeping."

"I wanted to share this night with you," Edward admitted quietly.

Henry started to smile when he heard something boiling and remembered, "The potion!"

He stood, realized he wasn't wearing anything, and pulled the throw blanket off the bed to wrap around his waist.

"Pity," said Edward, watching him intently.

Henry ran into the kitchen, praying the concoction hadn't burned, and turned off the stove without touching it. He stood over the cauldron and breathed out slowly. The mixture was a midnight black with hues of deep violet and silver sparkling lumps here and there of various sizes, like stars in the sky.

Henry hung the blanket around his shoulders, grabbed a wooden spoon, and poked the mixture. Though it looked like liquid, it had the feel of cookie dough. He stared at it as it fell from the spoon and back into the cauldron, a sudden stone in his stomach.

Oddly enough, he thought he might be ill.

"Henry?" Edward came up behind him. He gasped softly at the sight of the potion. "Is that it?" He didn't need to ask what was wrong. Henry was sure he felt it already.

Barely ten days left, Henry thought, but didn't say.

Edward only gripped his wrist and lowered the spoon. He kissed the nape of Henry's neck, his shoulder, and tilted his chin to press a kiss to his lips.

"We should go to the Cathern manor, yeah?" Edward all but whispered, his voice steady as Henry knew his own ought to be.

Henry swallowed, eyes still closed. He nodded wordlessly and as Edward tugged on his hand to the bedroom, Henry gave a snap of his fingers, and a single glass jar floated out of the cabinet. The last thing Henry saw before Edward pulled him inside was the wooden spoon ladling the paste.

Henry kept one hand on the jar's lid on their drive, Edward's hand on top of his. Nox slept in Edward's lap.

"At least he's starting to like me," said Edward. He tried to pet Nox, and Nox woke just to hiss at his hand. "Never mind."

"Trust me," said Henry, "that's as loving as he'll get."

Instead of taking the road into town out of the forest as he normally did, Henry took a left toward the pine trees.

"Where are we going, Henry?" Edward asked in a tone that implicated he was not particularly eager to hear the answer.