She had something to tell him.
Phei knew something was off long before she finally found the courage to speak it in the way her fingers kept worrying the edge of the blanket between them, smoothing the same fold and then ruining it again, in the little breaths she drew as though rehearsing words somewhere behind her lips, and the strange happiness she kept trying to hide whenever she thought he was looking elsewhere.
They had been sitting beneath the ancient tree for nearly an hour, wrapped together inside the great hanging bed suspended from one of its immense branches. Thick ropes rose into the darkness overhead, draped in tiny golden lights, while pale curtains descended around the circular bed and moved gently whenever the sea breeze climbed the cliff.
Lanterns had been placed among the roots and along the stone nearby, their flames casting a warm amber glow across blankets, pillows and skin while leaving the world beyond their little sanctuary gloriously dark.
