Before he could reply, he caught another glimpse of the squashed flowers behind her. He straightened his expression and looked at her dead on. "Yes. Please, stop me if you can. If that means that we will be lifelong partners, then I want that, too. I don't want to hurt anyone." He stood up and pulled her out of the flowered cave, then with his eyes consciously avoiding the scarlet flowers, he scattered the branches back in place so that the poppies were well hidden. He sighed with relief and gazed down at her feet. "The color of it… It has a lot of power over me." He looked up into her pitch black eyes. "You can stop me, if you want to. You just saved us both from what could have been really bad. Thank you."
She twisted her fingers around his. "I know," she smirked. "After all, these people wouldn't make their queen out of just anyone, would they?"
He tilted his head. "That's a strange thing to say..." She gestured to the wall behind him and he looked back over his shoulder. The crowd of angry house members had shifted to the other side of the house and were watching from the windows. Their expressions were a drastic turnaround from what they had been. They were loose, grinning or fidgeting, and their eyes were soft as if they were watching a movie.
The blood drained from Iggy's face and his erection disappeared. He quickly grabbed the small pile of natural specimens from the ground and covered the front of his pants with it, just in case. Nothing knocked him harder in the head than embarrassment did.
Nansen barged out of the side door with his face screwed up in a knot. He marched across the lawn with his knuckles stuck in his hips and then planted himself before Emi and Iggy. His eyes trampled Emi from her head to her feet. "You're practically having sex out here!" he shunned them. "That kind of behavior is to be reserved for the bedroom."
Feeding off of the attention, Emi drew her shoulder back and matched his attitude. "That's a bit hypocritical for you to say. We all know about the dirty business that you get into."
Nansen jerked his chin forward and he burned a hole into her forehead with his glare alone. "Baine gave you the goddamned talk, didn't he?"
"Oh, come on Nansen!" an onlooker heckled from a high window. "Let em' have some fun!"
He spun around and faced the group straight on. He pointed his finger at each window and shouted, "are you done gawking, or what?! Get out of here already, you perverts! Have ya'll forgotten the law?!" Everyone inside the house let out a long groan and scattered behind the curtains. Nansen whipped his hand in a circled motion over his shoulder. "Get your shit, and get inside."
"With pleasure," Iggy trotted across the lawn cradling the bundle of branches, flowers, and grass over his lap. With his head low enough to block out everyone's faces, he went up to his room with Emi on his tail. He set the specimens down in the middle of the room and immediately went to work.
Anxious, excited, and embarrassed, he found a ball of string and sat down on his knees and laid the first few branches into a circle. Then, Emi joined in, tying them together with string. Soon, they were building a wreath together. The branches were the bones, the leaves were the muscles, the flowers were the accessories, and the grass was the clothing.
As they made this piece together, all of the shadows in between the leaves and the branches were on Iggy's side no matter what position the two were sitting in. And the light… it emanated from her. He tossed the wreath a little to the side and then back, trying to work with it, but it was confusing to adjust. It was as if his fingers were feeling it differently than what his eyes were seeing. Emi shifted over and sat at his side. When she did that, the light danced along with her and came into his shadow. Only then was the balance corrected again.
He tied the final knot and their eyes met. She had been grinning the entire time, yet only now was he realizing it. Her hand lifted impatiently and her palm pressed against his cheek. Through her flesh, he could hear her heart beating and her lungs breathing more clearly. He lifted his own hand and pressed it on the back of hers so that she could feel the bones in his face.
A dreary look glazed her eyes. Her hand detached, leaving a cold spot on his cheek and she yawned. "We still have six hours before sunrise-" she yawned, again "-but, I am tired." She stood from the floor and stumbled over to Iggy's bed, then pummeled into the blankets. Her lips parted, her white teeth showed, and with the last few bits of energy she had left, she whispered, "I like you, Iggy."
Feeling the heaviness in his own limbs, too, he crawled across the room and laid alongside her. Her breath brushed his skin and the smell of lilacs filled his lungs. He gazed upon her. "What do I smell like, to you?" he asked.
She inhaled and exhaled. A little grin appeared. "Like… sweet… cucumbers, or flowers… I'm not sure, but it's... nice." Then, she snored.
Iggy giggled at her expense and draped his arm long over her chest. Her warmth guided him into a comfort that no blanket could ever deliver, and they sank into a deep sleep together with their wreath laying in the middle of the floor. That was the night that they had their first wedding without even realizing it.