12. Kiss on the knee

Summer leaned her head on Merlin’s leg, smiling. Firelight flickered off her face, and she stretched a hand to it, calling it a little higher. The woods stretched silent and still in winter snow around them. They had played for hours on the frozen river, sliding around and throwing random bits of magic at each other; somehow snowballs had got involved, and when they were thoroughly breathless and more than a little damp they’d come back to this hollow on the hillside.

Turning her head, she knocked her forehead against his knee, then kissed it briefly. “Thanks, Merlin. Today was perfect. You were right.”