I'm not exactly unwilling.

Linden's lips parted at her words. She could see his heartbeat pounding at his throat, the way his breath grew quick. 

And the way he looked at her...

It made her own heart race, and not from panic. No one had ever looked at her like this.... like they were hungry.

"Then..." Linden, still on his knees before her, carefully lifted his hand and placed it on her cheek. His thumb brushed along her jaw towards her lips. "I am allowed?"

Anise felt almost dizzy, but she nodded against his hand. "I know what it means to be husband and wife, Sir... And what's expected of me." 

His brow furrowed. He had been leaning in, a few breaths away from kissing her, but now he stopped.

"What's expected of you."

There was something electric about being so close to someone she barely knew, to have his hands on her, his eyes on her lips... She blinked at his words, struggling to refocus. "Hm?"

He stared at her a moment longer before dropping his hand and turning his face away from her. 

"...Sir?"

"Linden," he corrected quietly with a sigh. "Please."

"L-Linden, then. Is something wrong?"

Instead of answering, he stood from his kneeling position and sat at the foot of the bed. The whisper of a thought crossed Anise's mind... Maybe it's me. When her new husband continued to not answer, she swallowed hard. 

"Linden," she tried again, and this time she stepped close enough her knees brushed against his. "I know I'm not as... beautiful or captivating as other--" 

"You are perfect," he said firmly, finally turning to look at her again. 

Pink bloomed across her whole face, then. She blinked, completely forgetting what it was she'd been about to say.

The corner of his lip twitched, and she almost thought it was going to turn into a smile, but it faded. 

She wanted that feeling back, of him looking at her, eyes dropping to her lips as he wet his own... It had been so brief, she wasn't even sure it had really happened. In a last effort to seek it out, she came even closer, standing between his knees. Her hand came to his shoulder for balance and oh but she had never realized a man's skin could be soft like that. Or how warm it might be. Her eyes widened and she stared at where she touched him as if alarmed at her own hand for doing so.

Linden's breath caught. When she finally looked at him again... 

His eyes were on her as they had been before.

Wanting something.

Wanting her.

"Um," she said eloquently. "I will admit to being nervous, and not knowing what to do... at all, so..." Her thumb swiped a small circle on his skin. She couldn't help it. "If you... have any suggestions..." 

It was his turn to blink at her, surprised. He has such long lashes for a man, Anise thought to herself with wonder.

"I didn't get to kiss you," he said softly.

"...What?"

"At the church." 

She felt the warmth of his hand as he brought it near her face, hesitating before he actually touched her. 

Without intending to, she turned her head so that her cheek pressed against his palm. 

"You're right... We were--"

He drew her in, his eyes only closing at the last second before he pressed his lips to hers.