11. Baron #2
Her cheeks turn pink. “Do you like it?” she asks, and I nod. “What is it you like, exactly?”
“I like how it calms the madness in me. As if my problems aren’t big enough to fill the distance between me and the horizon, so there has to be a way of solving them.”
“That’s a good reason to like it,” she rasps, and I’m desperate to hear more about how her mind works and how she sees things. Especially since Alaric is actually keeping his mouth shut and not interrupting for a change.
“What did you envision when you dreamed about coming here?” I ask, and she presses her lips into a thin line for a moment before she clears her throat.
“Hope, endless possibilities, freedom, dreams. Everything whimsical and made for fairytales,” she says, her dreams stealing a piece of me as her eyebrows knit with masked pain.
“It’s not just for fairytales,” I mutter, and she offers me a tight smile.
“It’s not for me either way,” she reiterates.
I part my lips, desperate to prove her wrong, when she lifts her hand, pausing me.
“I only realized today that I haven’t left campus since I arrived, and I messaged Ember about it.
I’ve spent my entire life being so confined; I haven’t even considered if I can explore beyond these borders.
” Her voice is raspy in a way I really don’t fucking like.
“You can,” I breathe, my throat clogged with emotion. “You have to sign out, but you can leave. You can go wherever you like.”
I’d take her to the moon and back if I could.
Damn, I’d take her to the depths of Hell if that’s what she wanted.
My muscles clench at the idea, the desperation to keep her safe overwhelming, but I have to focus on her wants and needs too, even if they conflict with mine.
“Where do you want to go?” I ask, torn between encouraging her and fulfilling her needs, and she scoffs.
“I don’t even know where there is to go,” she admits, shattering another piece of me.
“I can think of a few places you might like,” I offer, and her eyes widen in surprise.
“That would be nice.” Her words are almost lost in the gentle breeze, but I capture them.
“My mom would probably love to invite you to family dinner too,” I add, envisioning my mother’s excitement as my mate grins from ear to ear.
“I think I’d like that too. Unless I was stepping on any toes or—”
“Not at all,” I reassure her, and she exhales, tension seeping from her shoulders as her gaze finds its way back to the horizon.
She bends her legs, locking her arms around them as she braces her chin on her knee. “Who has had the most impact on you?” she asks, reversing the questioning, and I gulp.
“My mother.”
“That’s undeniable. Anyone else?” she asks, and I shrug.
“Everyone says I have my mother’s eyes and my father’s temperament, but my family… it’s hard.”
“What’s hard about it?”
“It sounds silly.”
“Does it?”
I shrug again, embarrassment creeping under my skin. “I love my sisters. I care about them more than words can explain, but that’s precisely the point. I can’t show it. That level of…”
My words trail off and her eyes find mine.
“Vulnerability.”
I nod, gulping as I let the truth take root. “I don’t know how to handle it.”
“Neither do I,” she admits. “What about Garside?”
“What about him?” I mumble, my back stiffening at the question, and she cocks a brow at me.
“I don’t really know. I just felt an energy between you two back in the medical center. I was probably high on delirium or something, I just—”
“You’re not wrong,” I admit. “I don’t know how to be vulnerable with a man who isn’t my father but is my mother’s mate.”
“Is that strange to you?”
I exhale. “I don’t know what it is, but it’s all me.”
“How so?”
“This feels like a therapy session, and I’m not sure I’m equipped to answer correctly,” I blurt, and her eyes soften.
“I’m sorry. That’s not my intention at all. I was curious, but regardless, there is no right or wrong answer, Baron; there’s just what you feel.”
I shake my head. “I don’t want my feelings to scare you away.”
“Your rejection did that already. I don’t think it’s going to be any worse than that, do you?” Her lips curl into a barely there smile, easing the tension despite the wound her words leave in their wake.
I hate that I already made a mess of this once, but for the first time, it doesn’t feel like she’s holding it against me. Not that I would blame her if she did. Yet the fact that she isn’t leaves me in awe. Tingles zip across my skin as I gape at her, unable to form words.
“Are you okay?” she asks, her eyebrows pinching as she gnaws on her bottom lip.
“I don’t think so.”
“Do you need me to get help?” She shifts, ready to climb to her feet, but I reach for her arm, halting her in place as Alaric moves for the first time, peering over his shoulder at us with half-mast eyelids.
“There is no helping me when it comes to you, Firefly.”
“Baron.”
“Every time I look at you, I’m in awe. Every time you offer me a glimpse of your grace, a sliver of your kindness, or a taste of your pure heart, it floors me.
How am I supposed to sit beside you, knowing the pain I’ve played a part in, when all you’ve ever been is the most phenomenal person to ever walk this earth? ”
Her pupils are wider than ever as she stares at me, her cheeks rosy as she shakes her head. “That’s… I’m not… I—”
“All of this started with madness, Ivy, before we ever got the pleasure of meeting one another. That can’t be our present anymore; I refuse, and it most certainly can’t be our future.
You deserve everything, from the best of your mates to the blessing of The Fates,” I ramble, my emotions churning inside of me so fast I can’t stop the words from spilling from my lips.
“I want to promise you a life worth living, a future filled with hope, love, freedom, dreams, and endless opportunities. Because you deserve it; more than anyone else in all of the kingdoms combined.”
“Baron,” she rasps as I cup her cheek with my free hand, my heart racing wildly in my chest.
“I’m going to prove to you that you can count on us, on me, because I will do everything within my power to give you the world. It might not be today, and it likely won’t be tomorrow, but just know that every step I take is in that direction. For me. For you. For us. All of us.”
I don’t know what the hell is burning through my veins, but the passion I feel is undeniable as Alaric stands, a groan rumbling from his throat as the ground trembles beneath us.
“She deserves something special,” he adds, and I grin as Ivy rolls her eyes.
“You guys need to stop before I get lightheaded,” she rambles, splitting my face in a wide smile as Alaric stretches out his left wing toward us.
“She deserves to see the world from the sky.”