Guardian (Sequel to Fearless)

Chapter Sixty Two

"Anything else?" Iris asked, hardly able to hide the fact that she was mightily touched by his ridiculousness.

"Well your jaw... what a nice structure. It's thin and heart-shaped. And it's attached to a graciously long neck..." His finger ran up the side of it, and Iris almost visibly shivered at the allusive contact.

"Don't tell me you've actually managed to come up with a nice little backstory for my neck," Iris interrupted with a disbelieving shake of her head.

Kayde grinned. "Not your neck, no. But it's exquisite... and I like it."

She turned around to face him with a bemused twist of her lips. "I get it."

"Ah, but I haven't even gotten to the best part." He turned her back around with a hand.

"I'm scared," Iris teased. "What's the best part?"

"Take a step up to the sconces and blow out both of their flames." Confused, Iris did as told and Kayde shut the door at the same time, leaving them in darkness as black as pitch.

"I can't see anything," Iris stated the obvious.

"Mhm. Now I don't care which direction you turn. What I want you to do, Iris, is shut your eyes and start taking deep breaths. In your nose... out your mouth. Take care to make sure they're a bit faster than your normal breathing. Just think about nothing -I want your mind to be completely quiet, so that you can comprehend what makes you the world's most stunning woman. I want you to do that until I say stop. When I tell you to stop, I want you to hold in your breath for several seconds. Then you'll know."

"This is a joke," Iris muttered. "Is this going to make me see things or something?"

"Just do it."

She huffed once, and then did as told. His instructions had her breathing like a mongrel for a little over a minute.

"Stop," came the instruction.

Iris held her breath. And waited. For the first few seconds, she was looking at the darkness to see if she'd hallucinate or something. And then, after a second, she knew. The rapid breaths had made her heart pound like a drum in her chest. She could feel it in her throat... hear it in her ears. Iris put a hand over it and let out her breath.

"Do you understand?" he quietly asked, referencing the heart in her chest.

Oh, he was good. She simply answered, "Oh, you sly dog."

His answering laugh broke the darkness and he opened the door, letting the light from the hallway pour in.

"You're absolutely mad, do you know that?" she said with a snort. "I love you."

They began walking down the hallway back to the common room. "And I you, dear girl. Maybe you liked the speech." His eyes twinkled. "I like the braid by the way. You did a good job on it."

"Thank you," Iris replied. "And your speech was good. How long did you work on it?"

"It wasn't rehearsed," Kayde said. "It's just how I see you."

He kissed her on the forehead once they got back to the fireplace. "Now, it's getting late," he began and pointed to his left, "There's a master bathroom down that hall. I got some bath oils and scented soap for you while I was shopping for the food. There's dried petals in there for you too if you want rosewater. I'll put out the fireplace and wash up in the other washroom."