The wash of feelings was vast, tremendous, engulfing her. Pleasure and heat and a rhythmic pulsing and pleasure, and she heard herself cry out… maybe it was his name, because he came to her then, joining their bodies in a merging so stark and powerful and absolute that it felt utterly right. There was pain, but it was fleeting; and when the pleasure returned, she forgot there had ever been anything else. And even in the instant of naked vulnerability when she knew that everything she was lay exposed to him, she was utterly fearless because she loved him.

Merlin couldn't take his eyes off her, drinking in the beauty and mystery of her. She was so giving, so honest in her responses; he could see her every emotion in her eyes. He watched her desire build until it took her beyond herself, until he took her beyond herself, saw her wonder and joy. He saw her brief pain and watched her forgive him for causing it. He saw her hunger rise again, this time even more intensely, and he was with her now, completely with her, their bodies moving together with urgent intent, driven toward the release every part of them demanded.

Serena cried out wildly, surging beneath him, her eyes going wide and dazed, and her beautiful features stamped with a profoundly female satisfaction. Her strong inner muscles tightened around him in spasms of pleasure, and Merlin shuddered, groaning, as that shattering caress sent him over the edge.

And even then, even in a moment so primitive and overwhelming that it completely blocked coherent thought, even in that instant of being beyond himself, Merlin whispered her name.

He had absently conjured another blanket for them, because neither wanted to move long enough to get under the ones beneath them. Serena's cloak supplied soft and sensuous bedding, and the fire only a couple of feet away provided warmth (since it was a wizard-created fire, it would burn on exactly the same until it was told not to), so they didn't miss being covered until the heat of their bodies ebbed.

Exhausted and wildly happy, Serena lay close beside him as he lay on his back, her head pillowed on his shoulder and her ringers sliding through the thick black hair on his chest and probing the skin beneath. He was so hard, she thought, yet it was a hardness her body and all her senses welcomed eagerly. She felt one of his hands toying with her hair, stroking it and smoothing it over her back, and his other hand came up to where hers was touching his chest. Their ringers twined together.

He hadn't said anything since they had come back to themselves. A little anxious, she closed her eyes and concentrated. It wasn't actually cheating, she assured herself, trying to do what she had managed twice before, because she wouldn't be able to read his thoughts. But if she could perhaps get a sense of his emotions…

She saw the front edge of the lean-to and, beyond, the darkness of a sky that was cloudy. She felt that alien sense of a different body with greater muscle and mass, and she felt utter relaxation, and she felt-

You're cheating, Serena.

Startled, she opened her eyes and lifted her head with a jerk to stare down at him. He was smiling. She cleared her throat. "Well. I was curious. Sue me." Before he could do more than lift an eyebrow, she added, "How is it that you can say things to me in your head even though I can't read your thoughts?"

"Because I'm a Master wizard," he replied simply.

"Oh."

"What were you curious about?"

"Now, what do you think?"

The exasperation in her voice made his smile widen, and he reached up his free hand to stroke a wayward tendril of bright hair off her cheek. "I think you're beautiful."

Serena would have protested-if only weakly-that the reply hardly satisfied her curiosity, but his hand slid to her nape and pulled her head down so that he could kiss her quite thoroughly.

"I think you're incredible."

She felt the words murmured against her lips, and almost whimpered in pleasure when the tip of his tongue glided along the sensitive inner surface of her bottom Up.

"And I think I'll never be able to get enough of you, even if I live a long, long time."

"You can have all of me," she murmured, her lips clinging to his and her tongue darting out to answer his maddening little caress. "I want to give you everything."

He kissed her, his mouth fierce, and his eyes burned into hers when she finally raised her head. "If I'd known it would be like this, I would have fought like a demon to have it long ago," he told her, his voice strained with feeling. "To have you. There was an empty place in me, and I didn't even know it."

Serena could feel the heat building in both of them once again, and she decided her curiosity had been satisfied far enough for the moment. Merlin obviously decided the same thing, because he was kissing her again, shifting them until she lay on her back, pushing the blanket off them. Her arms were around him, her fingers probing the muscles of his back, and her mouth was eager under his.

"I don't want to hurt you again," he said against her lips.

"You won't."

Rain woke them hours later, after midnight, the sound almost unfamiliar because it hadn't rained the entire time they'd been in Atlantis. It was a steady rain, not light but not a downpour, and they lay close together watching it.

"Another portent of destruction?" Serena wondered in a hushed voice.

"No," Merlin replied softly, his arms tightening around her. "Just rain."

Serena listened for a while to the soothing sound, wide awake now. They had eaten hours ago, a rather sumptuous meal complete with a bottle of old wine, and then had made love again before falling asleep. She felt rested, and boneless with satisfaction, and she didn't want to move a muscle, because he felt so wonderful against her. They were lying together like spoons, both on their sides as they faced the brightly burning fire and the rain.

He moved slightly, his right hand drawing the blanket up around her shoulders, and she found herself staring at the reddish mark of the owl with which he'd been branded at the gates of Sanctuary. She wanted to try to remove it, but since they were planning to return to the city again, she knew she couldn't. Instead she caught his hand and brought it to her lips.

His ringers twined with hers "What is it?"

"Nothing. Just… I hated it when they marked you like that."

"It's all right, Serena."

"Yes. But I hated it."

"How did you feel when I marked you?"

"Strange. Somehow connected to you. I think I needed that when you went up to Varian's palace and we didn't see each other for so long. The more I learned about Sanctuary, the stranger it seemed, and I needed to feel… anchored."

"I'm glad it helped you. I can remove it now, if you like."

"No. No, not yet."

He rubbed his chin gently back and forth against her head, silent because he sensed she had another question to ask. Finally, abruptly, she did.

"Why did you mark me with a heart?"

Merlin smiled to himself. "Why are you asking me only now?"

"I don't know. Because there wasn't time before, I suppose. Or because I didn't think about it until now. Why did you, Richard?"

In a musing tone he said, "I used to watch you at parties without your awareness, watch the way people were drawn to you, the way their faces lit up when you smiled at them. And everyone brought their problems to you, because they knew you'd do something to help them. It worried me sometimes, your kind heart. I'd been taught all my life that a wizard was detached, that he couldn't let himself be… dragged down by the troubles of those around him, but I watched you, and over the years I realized your heart made you a better wizard."