Sage found Alex sitting on a bench by the giant willow tree at the southeast corner, his dark uniform contrasting with the silver fountain of branches flowing down behind him. He jumped up when she came along the path and folded her in his warm arms.
“Did anyone tell you how beautiful you are tonight?” he whispered. Before she could answer, he pulled her up the sloping grass into the shelter of the drooping tree branches, hiding them from any passersby. He turned her face to his and brushed her lips with the gentlest of kisses.
“You know,” she said, slipping her arms around his neck. “You’ve told me that several times, but I’ve never gotten a chance to tell you how good-looking you are.”
He shrugged. “I’m all right.”
She laughed and threaded her fingers in his dark hair. “You were a major topic of conversation among the matchmakers. They’ll be coming after you in droves.”
“Tough for them. I’m taken.” He pressed his forehead to hers and pulled her lower body closer. A familiar heat spread through her. If he pressured her for more than kisses, Sage didn’t think she’d be able to say no. He did not, however, though from the way he was breathing she knew he felt the same things she did. He didn’t even try to kiss her again, as if it would tip the balance of his self-control.
“Marry me, Sage,” he whispered.
It was too much. She didn’t doubt his sincerity, but the proposal took her completely by surprise. “But it’s late; I don’t have time to find a proper wedding dress before midnight.”
“Dammit, Sage, you know what I mean. I want you to promise me now.” He released her from his hold, angry beyond what her nervous joke merited.
She understood him too well to be hurt. “What’s wrong, Alex?”
He closed his eyes and ran his fingers through his hair, scratching the back of his head. “I’m leaving tomorrow.” Her heart squeezed painfully in her chest as he continued, “D’Amiran’s conspirators and the Kimisar are stirring up trouble, and we still haven’t found the count. I’ve been ordered to go after them. After what they’ve started—what they’ve taken from my family—I have to go.”
She nodded. “Yes, you do.”
“The next few months will be rough, but I can get through them if—”
“I promise,” Sage interrupted, reaching for his hands. “I’ll wait for you.”
Alex sighed and laced his fingers with hers, pulling her close again. “Thank you.”
Sage lay her head against his collarbone, breathing him in. “How long will you be gone?”
“Till midwinter, I expect. I’ll write as often as I can.”
“As will I.”
“Then if you want, I’ll resign and we can marry as soon as I’m free.”
Sage leaned away and shook her head. “Don’t be ridiculous. You can’t do that for me.”
“I’ll be a farmer.”
She laughed. “Be serious.”
“I am. As long as you’re there, I’ll clean the pigsty every day.”
She looked down at their interlaced fingers and shook her head again. “No, it’s because I love you that I could never take you from the army. It’s your life.”
“I think you underestimate my feelings for you.” His tone was light, but there was a trace of hurt.
Sage raised his hands to her lips and kissed his fingers. “What I have now—a home with friends, respect, a useful and important occupation, a chance to learn more…” She looked up. “Would you want to take these things from me?”
“Not for the world.”
She pulled her right hand free to trace the scar over his eyebrow. He closed his eyes and exhaled heavily. “That is why I can’t take you away from the things you have now,” she whispered. “They’re part of you. They’re inseparable. And that’s one of the things I love most about you.”
Alex caught her up in his arms and kissed her with a passion that made her seriously reconsider her words. “Damn your persuasiveness,” he muttered in her ear before trailing his lips down her neck to her shoulder.
“And yours,” Sage managed to gasp. He lowered her down to the soft grass at their feet, and there was no more talking. Alex paused to pull his jacket off and put it behind her head as a pillow. Then, starting at her fingers, he teased and explored every inch of her bare skin with his lips, making her dizzy by the time he moved past her wrist up her arm. He never tried for more than what was already exposed, but she almost wished he would, though she doubted she had a clear enough mind to stop him. Then his hands gripped her skirt, like he was trying to prevent them from doing something else, and he moaned in her neck in a way that made her shiver.
For a long time he held still against her, and she instinctively didn’t move, knew he was struggling with the same desires that left her breathless. Then he whispered her name and wrapped his arms around her again. She sighed into his chest, trying not to cry at the thought of missing him. Two months ago she hadn’t even known he existed, yet now she couldn’t live without him.
Alex nuzzled her temple. “You’ll want to fix your hair before we go back in,” he murmured. “It’s a real mess.”
Sage laughed into his shirt. “That is truth.” She pushed up to look down at him. “Yours isn’t much better.”
“I guess we’ll just have to stay out here all night, then.” Alex sighed with mock sadness.
“No argument here. It’ll be one hundred and eighty long days and nights before I can muss your hair again.”
Alex traced her lips with his thumb. “Who’s counting? Not me. Too depressing.”
He leaned up to kiss her forehead, and she settled back into his arms before daring to voice her deeper concern. “Alex?”
“Mmmmm?” he breathed into her hair, deliberately tousling it further.
“Three years is a long time.” His arms tensed around her. “I just … I know things can change, especially with distance.” For several heartbeats he remained motionless. Then he relaxed.
“I guess if you forget me, I’ll just have to use my persuasive powers. Let me practice them now.” He moved to kiss her neck.
She scowled and shoved him away. “I’m serious.”
“So am I.” Alex leaned in again, and this time his lips hit the mark. “Besides,” he whispered, the heat of his breath curling around her ear, “it’s not three years, it’s two and a half. Nine hundred twenty days, to be exact.”
Sage grinned. “Who’s counting now?”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First thanks go to you, the reader, who made it this far and for whom Sage’s story was written. I hope you enjoyed getting to know her as much as I have. She is way cooler than me.