Land of Light and Shadows

Chapter 28

"I'm good. I'll...wait."

Maybe something to get at least one laugh out of her... "Or do you want to get in with me?"

"Hmm," she hummed.

Sighing, Jai left her to her thoughts and headed into the bathing room. It was when he was lathing up soap in his hands to run through his hair that he saw her walk in, a towel tight around her.

Lyv dropped it as soon as she stepped into the shower, letting it fall into a pile on the floor. Jai's eyes slowly trailed up and down her body as she stepped closer under the spray of water as he rubbed the soap into his hair, though his motions had slowed as well. His body instantly heated up, but he had to laugh when he realized she wasn't getting close to him for that reason, rather to get the soap on the ledge behind him.

"Tease," he grinned, leaning down to kiss the tip of her nose.

"You were in the way," she shrugged, but she still looked him up and down, too.

Jai leaned his head back under the spray of water to rinse. Once he was finished, he grabbed the soap and a cloth as he switched places with her, watching as she closed her eyes beneath the water and steam.

"Are you all right?" Jai asked as he ran the soapy cloth along his chest and arms. "With everything that happened in the council room..."

"I'm fine," Lyv promised as she lathered soap in her hair. He knew she meant it this time, too. "That just wasn't the way I wanted my first meeting with family to go. Renna..."

"Renna's obviously still grieving for Meron, Evander, and Adeena. Sometimes it takes a lot of time to get over something like that, especially when it was so traumatic. You know what she's going through just like I do."

"I do, but it's not like it's my fault about what happened with me and the dark magic. But with the transfer with you...well, I did have a say in that."

"Not too much since I wanted you to do it."

"You think when she looks at me and you, all she sees is Corliss and Meron? A history doomed to repeat itself? Is that what Kalla, Allel, and Mik think, too? Cleo even?"

"I can't answer that, princess."

Lyv heaved a sigh, grabbing for the second cloth as she stepped closer to him. "So, no more talk about this today. Let's just...give everyone some time to adjust, to get to know one another. I want a conversation with Cleo that doesn't address both of our dark magic, you know? I want some normalcy."

"Can't say I don't feel the same."

And that was that.

After finishing in the shower without too many knowing looks and not so innocent touches, they got out to wrap fluffy towels around them. Lyv grinned as Jai ran a second through his hair as she pulled on her clothes, keeping her hair twisted up in a towel. He knew why, too, as soon as he looked in the mirror after managing to pull on his pants. It was a mess of tangles, having been longer than it had been in quite some time.

"You need a haircut," Lyv laughed as she jumped up to sit on the counter.

"Definitely. Soon enough, it's going to be as long as yours."

"You know, you still haven't let me play with it."

"Why? So you can put braids and bows in it?"

"Maybe?" she said while batting her lashes and running her fingers through the damp tangles before going at it with her brush. "Though I have been wondering how you'd look with a cut like Destan used to have. You know, since you said he stole the look from you."