Chapter 26
I ’m lying in a field. Green grass sways in a gentle breeze around my head.
The sky is blue and clear, the bright sun beaming down and showering me with its warmth.
Bright scents of new growth and the perfume of flowers fill the air.
Laughter and bird calls tease my ears. I dig my fingers into the loose soil.
A smile blooms on my face as I feel the life there, a beautiful song that calls to me and that I answer without words.
If a soul could speak, this would be it.
My other hand is clasped with someone else’s, and I turn my head their way.
Lying next to me in the grass is another figure, a male, with long white hair and two cat-like ears atop his head.
He grins at me, a sight more blinding than the light overhead.
His fingers flex against mine in a comforting embrace.
I’ve got you. I’m here.
A soft but insistent thump resonates through me. Its beat is steady and comforting.
I’ve got you.
Awareness comes to me slowly as the vestiges of the dream melt away. There’s a solid form at my back and banded over my middle. Warm breath tickles the back of my neck.
Elias.
It should be strange waking up next to him, but in our short time together, his presence has become familiar, comforting even. It’s easy to sigh and snuggle back against him, especially since the even rise and fall of his chest and soft breathing say that he’s still asleep.
A soft thud lands against my calf. I lift my head just enough to stare down the length of our bodies.
Elias has half-rolled out from under the coverings, his legs visible where they stretch out next to mine, which are still under the covers.
Elias’s tail flicks over to thump against my legs once more before falling back behind him.
So that’s what I felt. A silly grin stretches across my lips before I can help it. His tail having a mind of its own is strangely adorable.
I let my head fall back on the pillow, content to rest in his arms a little longer.
Elias mutters something in his sleep, and his arm tightens, pulling my back against his chest. All my memories of the night before come rushing back: his naked body, the way he gripped my thigh, the press of him against my back, much like now.
The soft ache in my core returns with a vengeance.
I want him.
He’s the Unseelie King, most wanted and hated male to the Seelie and humans alike, a man I was sent to lead to his doom, but that truth does nothing to diminish the yearning I have for him right now.
When I considered what I might have to do to get the potion I need for Matt, seducing the Unseelie King or at least offering myself to him was a possibility.
After all, the best way to increase a fae's magic is for them to mate with a human.
But wanting him just for him, Unseelie traits and all?
That is something I never expected or planned on.
But I do. I can’t deny that. And I think he wants me too, even if mostly for the magic.
I turn in his arms until I’m facing him, our breaths mingling.
Fuck, he’s handsome. Even with the ears and tail, it’s undeniable how attracted I am to him.
Actually, those things are strangely hot in and of themselves.
Or at least adorable, and that’s hot in its own way.
His chest rises and falls. This close, I can see the thin traces of old scars, and there are many, so many it hurts my heart.
What has this man suffered, all in the name of his people, some of whom don’t even support him?
His hair has dried, some of it falling over his neck to drape down his front. I run my fingers across the silken length then onto the warm planes of his chest.
“Elias,” I whisper, snuggling in closer. I move my hand to cup his cheek. “Elias.”
His eyes flash open. Something caught between a snarl and roar bellows from his chest. I can hardly process what’s happening before I’m shoved to my back and he hovers over me, bearing his fangs, one arm planted beside my head and the other flashing wicked claws, curled and ready to strike at my neck.
“Elias!” I cry in a panic.
He blinks. His vicious snarl fades into a look of dawning horror. One moment he’s atop me. The next he’s leaning against the far wall, staring wide-eyed between his hands and me.
“Aimee. I—” His chest rises and falls with great heaving breaths. “What did I do?”
“Nothing.” I sit up, still shaken but trying my best to fake it. “I’m fine. You did nothing.”
“But I almost…” He looks down at his elongated claws, extended far past their normal length and curling in toward his palms. “For a moment, I didn’t realize where I was or who you were.” Horror gleams in his eyes. “I reacted on instinct to protect myself, and I nearly—”
He hunches forward, covering his mouth with the back of his hand like he might be sick.
“I’m okay,” I say again.
I move to slide out of the bed, and my hand catches on something. Glancing down, I spy a rip in the sheets. More than a rip, a series of gouges that go deep into the mattress. My throat constricts.
He didn’t mean to. I shimmy the rest of the way out of bed and hurry over to him. Elias steps back as I near, hitting the wall.
“I’m so sorry.” That panicked gleam fills his eyes. “I’m not used to sharing a bed.”
My brows furrow at that. “You slept next to me while we were outdoors.”
“When I was just Elias to you. When you did not know who I was.”
“And that matters?”
He nods slowly. “For that time, I was able to pretend to be someone else. I could let my guard down and just be…myself, not the Unseelie King.” He rakes a hand through his hair.
“The draining of my power did not help. I have not slept so deeply in…” He trails off, shaking his head. “I cannot remember.”
I inch forward, one small step at a time, waiting for him to retreat. But he doesn’t. So, I don’t stop until I can lay my hand on his muscular forearm.
“I’m okay,” I say. “And now we know. I will not try to wake you after such a deep sleep.”
Breath leaves him in a rush. “You should not be so calm about this.”
Maybe not. There’s definitely a little voice still screaming in the back of my head.
But Matt did far worse once when he took a fall.
His head slammed into my nose and broke it so badly that it’s never gone quite straight again.
It hurt like hell, and the recovery was even worse.
But he didn’t mean to do it. He couldn’t help it.
And it never stopped me from being near him.
“I know you didn’t want to hurt me,” I say.
Deep sorrow fills his gaze before it slides away. “What someone wants rarely matters when their actions are to the contrary.” He steps away from me, not bothering to look back before uttering, “I need to check on the wounded we brought back last night.”
“Elias—” I reach for him, but he’s already moving for the door in haste.
He doesn’t stop, doesn’t wait. Just leaves me standing there barefoot on the stone floor, wearing his tunic that nearly reaches my knees and feeling like a sack of laundry that’s just been put through the spin cycle.
*****
After his sudden departure, I take the time to wash and change. It feels like an age has passed since the last time I sat down with the notebook I was keeping for Matt, when in reality, it hasn’t been that long at all.
Still, I stare at the blank page and wonder what to write. One line keeps taunting me over and over, though I haven’t been brave enough to write it.
I think I’m falling for the Unseelie King.
Other thoughts follow, though there is so much to say and no clear point to start, but I jot a few things down anyway.
We were wrong about them. The Seelie are wrong. So much of what we thought we knew was incomplete, only one side of the story. They just want peace. To live. For their land to not be dead and dying.
Once I start, the words spill out on the page.
All save that first line. Maybe the fact that it’s personal makes it harder than all the rest. After a bit, my hand starts to cramp.
I set the pencil aside and flex my fingers.
As I do, my gaze travels lazily across the room, passing over the various objects with cursory interest.
I’m about to start writing again when I register a tiny spot of green. A blink, and it’s still there. Goosebumps break out across my skin.
“No way.” I fly out of the chair and hurry to my little set of pots before dropping to my knees beside them. “No freaking way!”
Narrow green shoots with slightly bulbous tips stick up through the soil in each pot. One of them even has two sprouts.
“How?” I gape at them.
Nothing grows that fast. Vada said it might be a week or two before we could even tell if the seeds would grow, yet here they are.
Tentatively, I reach out and touch one, half convinced it’s some kind of horrible prank. But it feels real to the touch.
The bedroom door swings open. My heart leaps at his return, and before he’s even in the room, I’m calling out, “Elias, look!”
But it’s Katiya who strides into the room and turns to me with a toothy grin. “Elias again, is it?”
My enthusiasm drains away. “I, uh…”
She laughs, nearly doubling over with glee as she gently closes the door. “You two have grown closer, I see,” she says once she recovers. “I could even smell you on him when I saw him earlier.”
A rush of embarrassment burns up my neck. She could what now?
But Katiya just laughs again. “No need for that look. I am glad if my brother has earned your affections.”
“It’s not like that. We haven’t…”