Dawnbringer: A Forgotten Realms Novel by Samantha Henderson

Gareth.
    “Nevertheless, a rock. A very big rock.”
    “A rock we’ll make a fortress,” said Gareth, his eyes gleaming.
    Jandi turned to Ivor with a laugh on her lips, and caught him looking at her with a peculiar intensity—a look he didn’t intend her to see. When she returned it, he looked quickly at the ground and his tanned cheeks reddened.
    “The sun’s going down behind the range,” said Gareth, oblivious to the silent exchange as he watched the sky turn pink. “I suggest we camp tonight and explore tomorrow.”
    If he hadn’t been so distracted by his plans, Gareth would’ve noticed his friends’ replies were more subdued than was their wont.

     
    Jandi sat at the base of an oak, watching Ivor pile black pockmarked lava stones into a ring for their fire pit. Gareth had ventured into the woods a short way to find firewood.
    Ivor positioned a stone and stood up, stretching his back. In doing so, he caught her gaze, as she had done his down on the plains, and like him she felt herself blushing. He smiled at her, and the breath caught in her throat. A strange tingle that had nothing to do with her Art spread over her body.
    When he turned to look at the ponderous monolith, she could breathe normally again, and the evening breezefelt cool against her flushed cheeks. She tilted her head back to look at the oak above her. The enormous spread of its branches showed its age, and it looked out of place in a wood thick with elm and birch. Perhaps it was an ancient remnant from the oak vastness of the Chondalwood, surrounded here by upstart trees spreading from the forests at the base of the Cloven Mountains. It was as strange among these younger trees as the black stone of the Giant’s Fist was in the softer flank of the mountain range.
    She was still studying its interlacing branches when she felt someone approach and stand in front of her. She waited and counted her heartbeats—one, two, three—before lowering her head.
    Ivor kneeled in front of her, bringing their eyes to a level.
    “You said you could open the inside of a man like a lock,” he said.
    “I can.”
    “How?”
    Jandi considered him a moment. “By making my will into a key and reaching inside,” she said.
    He smiled, a teasing smile just short of mockery. “Do it to me.”
    “What? No!” she exclaimed.
    “Why not?”
    “Because I don’t wish to kill you.”
    He rocked back on his heels. “I don’t think you can do it.”
    “Then more fool you,” she said tartly.
    “You can’t.” His smile was maddening.
    “Is that a challenge?”
    He bent close. “Yes.”
    She looked a long moment into his dark brown eyes, studying his face. Then she reached out and placed the palm of her hand beneath the open ties of his shirt, against the bare skin over his heart. Her hand was cool and his flesh was warm; she could feel the strong, steady beat of his heart.
    He didn’t move, still staring into her eyes. It seemed to that her his breath became quick and shallow, and she felt the blood rush to her cheeks again. She dropped her gaze, concentrating on her hand on his heart.
    He didn’t move as the sigil on her cheek pulsed once with a green light. Tiny green sparks, bright now in the gathering dusk, danced across her body and down her arm. He felt something insubstantial push through the wall of his chest, between his ribs and through the muscle. His pulse quickened at it.
    She raised her eyes to his, and it was as if she held his heart cupped in her hands. He knew she could unlock him, but she wouldn’t—not this way.
    Jandi closed her eyes, and he felt that gentle, dangerous touch withdraw. When she removed her hand from his chest, the skin it had covered was suddenly cold.
    Her lips were warm when he bent forward and covered her mouth with his.
    “Where are you laze-abouts? Come help me with the load!”
    Gareth’s voice tore through the moment and Jandi and Ivor pulled apart, the breeze chilling their lips. Jandi glanced over Ivor’s