Water slid down the tiles with a sound like a lullaby: steady, rhythmic, hypnotic.
The shower had become their refuge, a small world suspended in vapor and breath.
Clara and Adrian stood there, surrounded by steam and silence.
No words, only the liquid whisper that drowned out the noise of the world.
The water ran down their skin like a continuous caress.
Light flickered across the walls, shaping shadows that merged and swayed, as if even their outlines were slowly becoming one.
Clara lifted her gaze.
Her eyes, glistening and deep, locked on his like a promise.
She took a step closer, placed a hand on his chest, felt his heartbeat, steady, powerful, ancient like a drum.
"Close your eyes," she whispered, her voice melting into the sound of water.
Adrian obeyed, trusting her the way one trusts air itself.
"Relax… let everything fade. Feel only the water sliding down your skin. Listen to my voice."
For a while, time lost all weight.
The warmth of the water, the faint scent of soap, their breathing, everything fused into a single rhythm.
Then, something changed.
Adrian felt… nothing.
No warmth, no droplets, no touch of steam on his skin. Only silence, heavy, complete, enveloping.
He opened his eyes.
The water was still falling, yet it didn't touch him. It curved before reaching his body, flowing away as if deflected by an unseen barrier. A thin, translucent veil surrounded him, pulsing softly with each breath.
Clara watched him, her smile shimmering through the mist.
Light reflected off the water and wrapped around her, making her seem almost made of light herself.
"It's a protective field," she said quietly. "One of the abilities Elias taught me to control. I thought I'd try it."
Adrian stepped closer, hands half-raised, afraid to disturb the miracle.
"It's incredible what you can do," he murmured.
Clara tilted her head, a delicate smile curving her lips.
"I can do something else too. Do you want to see?"
He nodded, slowly, as if speaking might shatter the spell.
Clara turned off the water, and silence fell thick as velvet.
Steam coiled around them as she wrapped herself in a towel, then took his hand and led him to the bedroom, where the dawn light was painting everything in shades of rose and gold.
She gestured for him to sit on the bed, remaining a step away.
"Now relax," she said softly. "Don't fight what you're about to feel."
Adrian closed his eyes.
At first, there was only quiet… and then warmth, faint, but growing, like sunlight spreading under his skin.
He felt hands that weren't really there, a breath that wasn't air but thought, Clara's mind touching his own, tracing invisible lines along his body, brushing against his memories.
Every cell in his body seemed to wake up, responding to her presence, her love, her very essence.
He could feel everything she felt for him: the tenderness, the pain, the longing, the light.
He opened his eyes.
Clara stood before him, still, her hands hovering in midair, her eyes closed, tears streaking down her face.
"Do you feel it?" she whispered.
"Yes…" he breathed, his voice trembling. "I feel you."
Adrian felt Clara's touch grow... as if her body, hot, wet, touched his. It was a disarming feeling, the pleasure he felt grew and he had the instinct to move to touch her but Clara told him: "Stay still there, I can make love to you without touching you, Adrian."
He widened his eyes and the feeling growing inside him was becoming uncontrollable.
His breathing was labored: "Clara how are you doing? I can't resist anymore", his voice was broken by spasms of pleasure. She looked him in the eyes, hinting at a smile and said: "Come for me, my love". Those words made him explode with pleasure, a pleasure he had never felt before, of a destabilizing intensity perhaps precisely because of the absence of the real but only mental touch.
Still short of breath, Adrian took Clara by the wrist and pulled her to him, throwing her on the bed.
He kissed her as if his life depended on that kiss, then whispered in her ear: "you are mine, and I am yours."
He turned her on the stomach on the mattress and with a quick, urgent movement, he slid inside her, making her moan with pleasure. "Shh, they can hear us from over there" and he increased the pace, putting a hand on her mouth.
Clara gasped in his hand and that broken sound made him crazy with desire. He moved his other hand over her body, down, and began to touch her with his fingers faster and faster.
Clara's body seemed to be driven by electric shocks, her breathing was increasingly accelerated. "I want to hear you, I want to come with you."
Their bodies trembled, Adrian emitted a hoarse, guttural sound and Clara screamed into his hand, taking it with her own and squeezing it.
She turned around, meeting his eyes. They kissed deeply, exchanging breaths.
Adrian took her in his arms and whispered against her wet hair,
"If this is your power, Clara, then it's the closest thing to heaven that exists."
She smiled, closing her eyes against his chest.
Outside, the dawn was bursting into a soft pink glow. It was the prelude to the final battle but for a few more hours, the world could wait.