It was difficult to breath without gasping, and forcing herself to take slow measured breaths was much more difficult than it'd felt not to reach out to touch him a moment ago. A moment before he'd grabbed her and pulled her in and this. A younger girl might have blushed, at being kissed in such a way. Eithne, however, was warring with her emotions behind her rather blank eyes. Surprised, she was surprised. Angry, a little. Breathless, she was very breathless. She couldn't ever recall getting a kiss like that kiss before. She might have told him what a kiss it was if they hadn't been in the middle of the damned Yard with everyone watching them. Oh she was angry about that, embarrassed by it. to be on such public display with people clapping, laughing, and she even thought she heard someone yell something back there. Too busy with being unable to function thanks to Eragos and his kiss, she had not the time to figure out who did what so she could dispose of them properly.
For a moment her eyes were heavy lidded as she looked at him, carefully trying to gather her thoughts enough to speak to him. What could she say in response to that, when all she was thinking was that this was the clear message she'd wanted from the beginning. that he was unafraid of telling someone, or showing everyone, that he loved her. That she didn't have to hide this from everyone, as she felt she'd have to before. they hadn't had a chance to talk privately since they were last together alone. Now she knew but she felt naked because of it. Paralyzed because she didn't know how to behave normally in public when she loved someone.
Not just someone, him. She loved Eragos. She didn't know how to behave because it was him. She could yell at him, start a fight, deck him, push him down, or she could.. She could have, once. Easily. It was as if someone had rewritten the rules of the game without telling her. He was supposed to be the one with propriety, who had burned red in the face when Tirad had interrupted their second kiss. He had wanted to place distance there and hide it and now she felt as if she wanted to hide it. Him. Protect them. As if they'd burn them both alive for having this happiness in them. This love.
"Or.. what?" Eithne began, her voice was breathless in that moment, her eyes moved from his eyes to his hand, which had grabbed her. A smile slowly slid across her face. "What will you do if I do not take it?" She looked back up to him, clearly challenging him, the mirth was in her eyes. Betraying her youth in that moment. She was not clumsy in the way girls normally were. Too many hard years robbed that from her.
But she liked the idea of a challenge. She was not a timid girl. Even if for a moment she'd been frozen by it. If she'd looked back, she would have felt something else entirely. Guilt. She would have felt guilt, and maybe even sadness. But she did not feel either. She did not even recognize that there was anyone else here but him, because right then none of the rest of them mattered.
She closed what little distance there was between them, there had been very little, but now there was nearly none of it left. Her hand clutched the elbow of his arm which clutched her own.
"What will you do if I demand more than that, Eragos?"