Page 15

Jasmine

I woke up with fresh determination to make this trade alliance work, no matter how distracting Ryburn was, or how good he looked in his fresh set of clothes. Hopefully, I looked better too, now that I'd had a wash and changed into something that I hadn't spent three days travelling in.

Though maybe that was a danger in itself. We'd given in to temptation while travelling, now we were somewhere with working showers, it was going to be even harder.

I looked over at Ryburn as he led me deeper into Grower's Cove. Was it sensible that the two of us were going to inspect the tea plants on our own? No, but there was so much to see and do, it made sense to split up. After all, that was what we had done when they visited us.

I just needed to keep my head clear and stop thinking about Ryburn's nice eyes, or his smile, or those muscled arms of his.

"I can feel you looking," Ryburn said in a low, inviting voice.

"As if you're not doing the same," I murmured.

He laughed. "Oh, definitely. And I think I actually missed sleeping in a tent last night."

I snorted. "You can flatter me all you want, but we both know that's a lie."

"It was. But I did think about sleeping in a tent a lot last night."

"I don't think what you were thinking about was sleeping."

The corner of his lips quirks up into a smile. "Perhaps not."

The tea fields came into view, providing a nice welcome distraction from the conversation that was making me more hot and flustered than it has any right for. This was what I'd come for. If we could make this alliance work, our healers would be able to keep doing their work without having to exhaust themselves as much.

"Here we are," Ryburn announced, waving his hand to the neat lines of green bushes that stretched as far as I could see.

"Wow, that's a lot of tea." It was a far cry from the small garden we had and definitely put on perspective how big the plants could grow.

He nodded. "There have to be a lot of plants to make even a small amount of tea. And some of them aren't mature enough to harvest yet."

"It's amazing."

"It is," he agreed.

He guided me into the adjoining building, and it didn't escape my notice that we were alone again, and away from prying eyes.

I shook the thoughts out of my head and tried to focus on the tea. Tea, tea, tea, that was what I was here for. To avoid falling into temptation again, I didn't look at him and concentrated on the box of tea leaves instead. They were dark and dried, exactly how they should be. I brought some pieces to my nose and just the scent of it had magic tingling through my body. It was grassy and bitter and reminded me of home.

"Can I brew some?" I asked, eager to drink some more of their tea. The small batch they brought as a gift had been excellent, and I wanted to make sure this was just as good.

And I kind of just wanted a cup of tea right now.

"Of course." Ryburn got the kettle from the stove and set it on a placemat. He grabbed some cups from a top shelf which gave me a great look at the backside of him. He really was tall and well-built, something that I knew firsthand.

He brought the cups and caught me staring at him.

"If you keep looking at me like that, I'm going to have a hard time staying sensible," he remarked, his gaze dipping down to my chest.

"Says you. You're the one who is devouring me with your eyes," I remarked, heat sparking up within me at the idea of touching him again. I couldn't blame him for that, it had been what I'd been doing too.

He scratched the back of his neck but didn't look away. "I just keep thinking about it."

"Me too." I bit my lip, drawing his gaze to it. "You're doing it again."

"I'm sorry, you're just distracting. I'll behave." He cleared his throat and turned his attention to the tea cups. "Do you have to brew the tea a special way?"

Grateful for the change in subject, I also focused on the tea. "No, it's just the regular way."

I dropped two spoonfuls of tea into the teapot and poured hot water over it. There was something so beautiful about watching dried leaves unfurl, but I put the lid on so the heat couldn't escape instead. Though maybe I should watch, it would give me something to focus on that wasn't Ryburn.

"There are some teas that need different preparations. Grey Steeper likes to make sakura tea in the spring."

"With cherry blossom leaves?" Ryburn checked.

"Mmhmm. I don't particularly care for it myself, but he does it every year without fail."

"I didn't realise you had sakuras in Purple Oak."

"Oh yes, I think we've got three or four. It would probably make more sense to call our home Sakura Oasis rather than Purple Oak."

"Why is it called that?" he asked.

"Oh, because of the purple oak tree."

He frowned. "I don't think I saw it when I was there."

"I didn't show it to you. It's in a sacred grove, not everyone is allowed there. It's usually just for important ceremonies when we need to thank the tea gods for their bounty. Stuff like that."

"Ah."

"But we used to sneak in all the time when we were kids," I said. "If you ever come back to Purple Oak, I can show it to you." I met his gaze and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. It was the first time either of us were really floating the idea of a future where we awa one another, and I was nervous about how he might react.

"I'd like that."

"I would too." I distracted myself from my traitorous thoughts of a future that probably couldn't happen by pouring tea for us both. Once it had cooled a little, I took my first sip. My magic reacted instantly, surging through me and making my hands tingle. My sharpened senses allowed me to pick up on more of the tea's subtleties and distinguish earthy notes and aromas, no doubt derived from the soil they grew in.

This was quality tea.

Ryburn looked at me. "And?"

"It's really good." I drank a little bit more, surprised by how steady my magic stayed. It wasn't usually so present and emboldened by that, I got up from the table.

"Where are you going?" Ryburn asked with the cutest confused look.

"Take your shirt off."

His eyebrows raised up. "I thought we were behaving."

"Not for that. For your shoulder."

He looked surprised but did as I asked, pulling his shirt off to expose his bare chest. I could see the muscles I felt that night and stared for a few seconds too long before remembering what I was supposed to be doing.

I stood behind him and hummed the song my father taught me before he died, the one designed to help with channelling the magic correctly. As far as I knew, Brew still sang it when he was healing people.

I pressed my hand against Ryburn's bad shoulder, and a faint green glow appeared from where we were touching. My fingers tingled like pure electricity was running through them and I drew on as much power as I could before I got dizzy.

It was only a few seconds, a poor showing compared to what some tea witches could do, but I could tell from the way Ryburn held his shoulder that it had helped in some way.

He turned to look at me, his lips twisted up in a smile. "Wow."

"Good wow?"

He nodded and reached up to touch his shoulder. "I could feel your magic."

"You were supposed to," I pointed out. "Does your shoulder feel a bit better?"

He rotated it a couple of times and nodded. "It does. Thank you."

"It'll only help for a little while. I'm not very good at it." I smiled apologetically.

"If this is what not very good feels like, I think Grower's Cove would benefit massively from some tea witch healing because this is much better than anything we have." He rotated his arm. "Yeah, this feels great. You're amazing."

"You're welcome."

He grinned and snuck his arms around me, pulling me into him. "I mean it, you're the most incredible woman I've ever met."

I melted into his embrace and pressed my lips to his, even though we just agreed that we shouldn't. I just couldn't resist, not when I could feel the warmth of his hands and see the longing in his eyes.

He was craving this just as much as I and it was foolish to pretend otherwise.

"Does the tea meet your expectations?" Ryburn asked with a smile.

I nodded. "It exceeds it. I really hope Taz will come back with good news about the mill because I think both our homes will benefit massively from this trade deal."

"I agree and not just because I want to keep seeing you."

The thought of seeing him more regularly sparked excitement and hope in my stomach, along with worry. I wanted to spend more time with him but that would also make resisting whatever this was between us a lot harder.

I brushed my fingers down the side of his face. "So we're not fighting this?"

He looked up at me. "Once the trade alliance is in place, there's no reason for us to resist. And I think we could be great together."

That was an excellent point, one I hadn't thought of myself. If everything went without a hitch, there was no reason why I couldn't pursue this.

"We might not see much of each other, even if the negotiations are successful," I said softly, not wanting to dash his hopes. "It's really exceptional that I leave Purple Oak. I'm my mother's right hand, I oversee a good amount of the day-to-day running of the village. I can't be gone for long periods of time. And you seem important here. Maybe sporadic and casual is all right for you, but I don’t think it’s my thing."

"I'm not that important," he murmured.

"Your brother is on the Council, and he's just become a dad. Aren't you going to be busy too?" I reasoned, not sure why I was taking a sledgehammer to this before it even had a chance to get off the ground.

Ryburn looked at me with a broken expression. "I suppose I am. I just really like you, and it feels like there's something here."

I touched his cheek and dipped down to kiss him. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Trade alliance first, then we can talk about us."

He wrapped his arms tighter around me. "I like that. Us."

My heart fluttered at the way he said that and I selfishly felt myself wishing that Ryburn wasn't as attached to his home as I was to mine. Maybe if that were the case, something could blossom from this.

I just had to hope this wasn't a situation where I was going to return to Purple Oak with a broken heart.