Solar Reign

X X V I I

Of course she couldn't say no. It was Nohx. Instead, Andorra grinned up at him. "Only if we can get cookies after."

The memory popped as she felt Nohx slide his hand across her back. "Andy?" he murmured in the dark. "Are you awake?" His cold breath skated across her skin, causing her to shiver in his arms. She felt the way he pulled away, likely thinking the shiver was a bad thing, and she tightened her own hold on him.

"Yeah. I couldn't sleep." She looked at his light eyes, smiling at the way he looked at her beneath hooded lids. He was sleepy; something Andorra didn't see often.

Nohx pressed a kiss to her forehead. Then, deciding it wasn't enough, he trailed kisses down her temple, down the slope of her cheeks, across her jaw. Soothing kisses, just because he could. Just because she was there, in his arms.

"I was remembering something about us watching the stars. You were mad I wanted to leave." She tried to smother her little giggle at the memory, wondering if Nohx remembered. If it was a memory he had held onto, or if it was something that had faded over time.

Nohx pressed a kiss against the spot beneath her ear. "Mmm. You wanted to get cookies with Oberon." Even his voice was sleepy, and it sent a thrill through Andorra. She rarely got to see this version of him, and her chest felt tight at that realization. She wanted this, for the rest of her life. And she would get it, too.

"You wanted to show me something, but I don't remember seeing anything."

Nohx's hand moved slowly, pulling from her back to sneak under her shirt, pressing against her warm, bare skin. She flinched against the chill, pushing herself closer against him. He kissed her against her throat in an apology.

"I was reading the stars, I think. You were too impatient to understand, you little imp."

His words startled a laugh out of her. "I was young!" She protested. "Show me now."

Nohx froze against her. He pulled back slowly, looking into her eyes, reading the truth he saw there. "Really? I don't think you'll be able to understand. When I first tried to show you, I didn't realize it was a skill other fae didn't have. You won't be able to see what I'm seeing."

Andorra shrugged. "Looking at the stars is pretty enough."

She thought back to that night at her school, when they were stargazing. She paused, thinking over what she had wished for on the shooting stars. I wish I was home.

Nohx watched the way her eyes widened. He rubbed his thumb against the bare skin of her hip. "What is it?"

"How does it work? Reading the stars?"

Nohx sat up, his back leaning against the headboard. He rubbed a hand over his face, then rubbed his eyes, properly waking up. He motioned Andorra to sit up, and when she did, Nohx pulled her against him so that she was straddling his lap.

He let his hand rub up her bare spine lazily. "The stars rearrange themselves for me. Sometimes in words, sometimes in images. I can't always make sense of what they're trying to say, and sometimes it takes weeks for a message to make sense. Sometimes, I'm reading the future. Sometimes, I'm reading an urgent message."

Andorra's fingers found his face. She held his cheeks, marveling at how smooth his skin was. "I... there was a moment in the human realm, before I met you. I had wished upon a shooting star..."

Nohx leaned forward so his nose was touching hers. "If you're asking whether or not I got your message, I had."

Surprise lit up her face. Her eyes widened, her mouth opened, and she stared.