Honor

Simon was unable to ignore the small sounds that came from the woman's throat as she drank the water that he had provided for her. Maintaining a grip on his senses, he rationalized that the sounds were those of someone who was obviously dehydrated. They were sounds very similar to those he himself made when he had been at a forced march for several hours and was granted a few seconds to drink what water he could. It was harder to focus when he saw a few drips of water escape from her lips to make their dangerous and tempting journey down to her bosom. Jerking his eyes up as they ventured just past her collarbone, he began to chastise himself as he retrieved the food and began preparing it for her. Now that he was back at the fire, he could not ignore the glint on her chest that showed the path the water droplet had taken, nor could he ignore the movement of her dress over her bust as she breathed in the air from the fire as if it was the first time she had really been able to breathe in her existence.

Pulling his eyes quickly from her form entirely, he focused instead on tending to the flames as the food prepared for her consumption. That was until he had the bread ready to offer and so extended his hand across the flames so that she could take it from him without him getting any closer to her than necessary. He was able to avoid her eyes, but that was unfortunately because they were instead moving to her waist and the gentle curvature down to where her hips disappeared in the folds of the dress. He hated himself for allowing his eyes to wander and quickly moved them to where their hands met. He could see that the bread was large enough to prevent any contact between them, but still he felt as if her fingers had graced themselves under his hand before gently raking her nails over his fingers and taking the bread. Fighting an urge to gasp at the realistic sensation on his hand, he realized how close he had gotten to the flame as he reached across, the flames licking the underside of his arm in a gentle series of heated kisses that drove his skin into goosebumps from the intensity of the sensation.

Hearing her thank him, he made an effort to simply nod his acceptance, but he could not bring himself to be that rude when she sounded genuine. The way the words hung in the air, he had no choice but to believe that she had been absolutely sincere. In his years, he had learned that lies were quick to dissipate on the wind so that they could not be found out for what they were, while true words stayed in the present so anyone who doubted them could easily judge them. Glancing towards the tent, he brought his eyes then to hers and fell deeply into the golden hue of her orbs. It was a beauty like nothing he had never seen before, the tales of dragon hordes coming to his mind. But, along with the precious metal, he was instantly reminded of his mother's love when he would sit at the hearth and gaze into the flames. His lips began to fall open slightly as he looked into her orbs, but he quickly shut them and readjusted his position, his left hand moving to grasp his shins in order to place his forearm over his modesty. Clearing his throat gently, he stared back into the flames in order to watch the meat cook before speaking in a gruff voice, "You are welcome, but I do not feel as if thanks are truly in order. You look famished and ready to die of thirst, I could not simply ignore your peril and send you on your way."

Reaching into the flames, he bit his lip gently to keep from groaning as he grabbed the two pieces of meat from the stick in order to let them cool slightly. Placing them on a round stone that he had placed beside the fire, he pushed himself up onto his knees as he lifted the stone from the ground, transferring it across the fire, he made an effort to make no sound as the heat intensified on his chest or his modesty. Placing the stone don on the ground in front of her, he settled back down and placed his arm over his trousers again, using the weight of his arm and slightly applied pressure to try his hardest to disrupt any annoying blood flow.