so reckless you might start feeling; beth

[adna]

one touch will make you so nervous you might stop breathing
one touch will make you so reckless you might start feeling
one touch will finally show to me what you can't hide

Adna does not understand the way that he can remain composed.

She doesn’t understand the way that his soul is so steadfast, regardless of whether it is in the face of her anger or her hurt or, now, her fear. It doesn’t matter what she throws at him because he can weather it all. He just stands quiet and still and she can feel the warmth of him radiating into her.

There’s a moment where she feels the space between his breaths.

She can hear him breathing and she presses a little closer.

“You’re right,” she says, feeling her pulse begin to steady slightly. She stays there for another moment and then breaks away from him. Her breathing more even, she takes a moment to study him and feels that wave of need to reach out and trace those curves of his face. She feels that need to feel the way that he feels like granite beneath her lips, the way that she has learned all of the ways he can soften.

But not now, she reminds herself. Not when she doesn’t know where their own daughter is.

“She’s smart and strong and she wouldn’t have gone far.”

Another swallow as she feels her head clear, her thoughts beginning to settle. Her serpentine eyes turn to the horizon, to the trees that lock around them. “Maybe she went to one of the surrounding kingdoms.”

There’s a pause and a muscle in her jaw jumps.

“Do you think that she would have gone to Tephra?”

She had told her daughter of her grandparents and relatives in the volcanic land.

But she had never imagined that she would sneak out there without her.

ADNA