“I’ll take that,” I smiled widely and started pulling him in the water.
I swam for what felt like the entire day and when I got tired, I started floating on my back, only breaking my connection to Poseidon’s kingdom to check on Dahr. The warrior spent some time with me in the water, but his discomfort was too visible to ignore so, after I tried to make him float and he tensed his entire body to the point where he looked like a rock in the waves, I let it go and told him he could return to the beach if he wanted to.
I didn’t have to say it twice because he jumped at the opportunity and offered to hunt us some food. Always, staying within my line of sight and always reassuring me that I was perfectly safe. I didn’t expect him to cancel his daily training routine to spend the day with me and let me enjoy this freedom I found between waves, and I didn’t even want to think about howupset Markos would be, probably looking for Dahr all around the camp.
I also wondered if he ever took a day away from training, or if he pushed himself, body and soul to get those wins, which brought him a large camp that carried more souls to freedom.
I had asked a few more questions about the living situation in the Fire Kingdom and was told that drakes were put into training as soon as they could walk and they had to fend for themselves, sometimes as young as three years old.
I couldn’t even imagine my students going through such atrocities, let alone children. It made sense that their entire communication and rituals were based on fear and fight. The only things they knew how to do. The only things that mattered to survive.
My heart hurt for them and even though in this particular case they represented the enemy, I did not want any harm to come to them. They were people, just like us. People that were used for their strength, people that were undervalued and had to build their own community with blade and blood.
They were just people.
I started swimming again, pushing myself to the point where pain engulfed my body, the same way I did when I was a teenager and wanted to leave all feeling behind. The sea had always helped. It helped when I did not want to feel the tears on my face, it helped when there was no one to offer me a hug, and it was helping now, when the entire structure of my thoughts was threatening to crumble.
Every time I looked over at Dahr, to see him serenely catching fish or stretching like a happy cat in the sunlight, I felt a shiver deep within my chest, chipping away at the hatred I had initially felt for these people. For this man.
And for once, the sea didn’t keep me as warm as I would have liked it to. Did not offer me better company than the one waiting for me by the shore.
“Are we having fish?” I asked, even though I had already spotted the skewers Dahr had prepared for us, each containing a cleaned fish, placed by the fire for slow cooking.
“I thought you would like to have dinner here,” he replied and pointed at the fur-lined blanket that was stretched out on the sand. Along with two clean towels, folded and waiting for me.
“Can I?” I pointed and when he nodded, I moved over to the blanket, covering my body with the towels, the slow chill of the evening sharpening my skin into goosebumps.
I didn’t ask how he’d managed this. I didn’t want to think about how absorbed I had been in my thoughts and in swimming that I didn’t even notice whoever arrived on the beach to bring the necessary tools for us to have dinner here.
And especially, I didn’t want to think about whatever compromise Dahr had to make to offer me this day.
“We have cod, shrimp and lobster,” he announced as he pointed to the plate that contained the feast, already prepared and laying by the side of the fire to keep a nice temperature. “There was only water available, so we’ll have that as well,” Dahr then motioned to a water bottle leaning by the side of the blanket.
“Is this going to be enough for you?” I asked carefully, not wanting to seem ungrateful for his efforts, but also worrying that a man of his stature probably needed a lot more food than what we had at our disposal.
“Don’t worry about me, I had a big breakfast,” he grinned and turned to me to watch how I dried my hair with the towel. “Unless you want more food?” his brows shot up in question, so I immediately shook my head.
Having dinner on the beach was absolutely perfect. I had the sunset falling over the dark-blue horizon, a shirtless Dahr, which seemed to be the norm, and a small fire to keep us warm.
Though, the warmth I enjoyed most was Dahr’s body as he grabbed me in his arms after dinner and laid us both on the blanket to share a long embrace that lasted through the night.
Waking up in Dahr’s arms brought a new range of feelings I had promised myself never to feel again. This time he did not shy away from holding me, his warm hands touching parts of my body he hadn’t before, yet he always kept it to a respectful caress and never crossed any lines.
Although I wanted him to do just that so, so many times. Like when I pushed myself deeper into him, faking being asleep and chasing warmth or when I felt his desire push into my back. He immediately realised, however, and shimmied further away to remove his waist and everything below it from touching my lower back. My skin sizzled when I woke up, and I knew it wasn’t just from the light of the sun.
We’d both spent a long time asleep, our bodies probably enjoying the connection they started forging night after night and for once, Dahr didn’t rush away from me at the break of dawn. It was my growling stomach that pushed us both awake and made the warrior offer to take me back to the tent for some breakfast.
Part of me wanted nothing more than to ask him for another day. Another day removed from the tribe, from responsibility and from the daily training sessions I assumed he had to leave me for, but I also knew that the more time I was spending by his side, the higher the risk to take the step that would become my doom.
Because no matter how much we played around it, he was still my enemy.
And I was still his captive.
Reluctantly, I walked alongside him to return to camp, this time doing my best not to grab his hand when he walked next to me, the palm of his hand swinging slowly along with the movement of his arm as he walked. It remained loose, his fingers relaxed and easy to grab, should I decide to do so.
I did not.
I did not grab his hand when we stopped in front of a group of women who offered us some cheese and tomato wraps, which Dahr gladly accepted and shared with me, and I did not grab it when Markos showed up enraged, demanding to know where we had been. Dahr had then invited me to return to the tent until he resolved the conversation and organised whatever he missed during our escapade.
