Chapter 54
Irelynn
Illuminated by the soft glow of warm flames is a thousand books. Floor to ceiling shelves painted dark green are artfully filled by more books than I can possibly read in the next twenty years. It’s three walls of just books.
The ceiling is so high, there is a rolling ladder attached to the bookshelves that I’ll need to reach the upper shelves. Although it’s illuminated right now, a beautiful chandelier sprayed black hangs from the center of a ceiling painted the same deep green as the shelves and trim. The floor is the same rich brown wood, but it’s been mostly covered by a thick, sink-your-feet-into-it cream-colored carpet. The fourth wall is a wall of windows that are currently covered by thick cream-colored velvet drapes.
There is a green chaise topped with chocolate brown pillows and a matching tasselled throw blanket draped at the foot, angled perfectly to sit between two floor-to-ceiling windows. I can already imagine myself reading on that chaise, taking long breaks to gaze into the forest that stretches beyond.
In the center of the room, between two plush cream loveseats is a beautiful wood table topped with a matte black vase filled with fresh white roses. And close to where we lay, on yet another plush rug—this one a deeper shade speckled of vanilla spice—is a floral-patterned chair and ottoman in shades of green. Over the ottoman is a thick knitted throw in crisp white—one I recognize Polina making while she hovered at my bedside during the days I’d spent resting after the drama with Boris.
And sitting on the knit blanket is the book I’d had on my nightstand in Ilya’s—and now my—room.
“Wh—what is this?” I marvel, breathless.
“This is my Christmas gift to you,” comes Ilya’s soft reply.
It’s work to tear my gaze from the most beautiful room I’ve ever seen in my life, but I do it to look at the most beautiful monster I’ve ever seen in my life. “This is—” I push up from my elbows to sit. Then I stand, moving closer to the closest wall of books. I run my fingertips over the spines, a happy thrill pulsing in my heart. “This is amazing, Ilya.”
“You love it?” I turn to find him directly behind me. Circling his waist, I step into his chest.
“I love you.” Emotion is thick in my throat. “So much.”
His hard face softens as he gazes down at me with those unique ice blue eyes ringed in midnight. “I want nothing more from this life than to make you happy. To fulfill your every wish, every desire. You are the heart that beats in my chest, Irelynn. You are the air that I breathe into my lungs. You are my only obsession. My greatest and only love.” He pulls me closer, the throb of his heart beating under the palm I’ve rested on his chest. “Tell me you are happy.”
“I’m happy.”
He drops his mouth to mine. His kiss is slow and tender and deep. “I’m home.”
I don’t know how it happened—how I came to live in a fairy tale. But standing in the most beautiful library, wrapped in the arms of a monster, I feel like Belle.
I’m just another beauty that’s fallen madly, hopelessly, endlessly in love with a beast.
Thank you so much for reading.