Chapter 22 #2
“And I haven’t taken off this ring since we left the castle. It hasn’t been safe.” He lifted the ring off his finger by a hair’s breadth.
I flinched at the momentary onslaught of burgeoning warmth inside me—which abruptly stopped when he slid the ring back on.
“Wait.” I caught his arm.
He jerked back to resist.
My soft gaze met his. “I’m curious.”
He stopped short, almost as if my words had unlocked something in him. After a moment’s thought, his hand slackened, in resignation, in permission.
A shiver of anticipation shot through me. Carefully watching his face, I gingerly slid the ring off his finger again and was instantly awash with feeling.
Bright. Warm. Lovely.
A wonderful sensation broke through me all at once, like a thousand carefully sealed floodgates had finally given way, unleashing a torrent of buried tender affection in one unstoppable surge.
It crashed through me like a devastating flood.
It swept past every defense he had ever built, pouring from him like a breached dam, fierce and overwhelming.
Those blue eyes glittered in the dim light.
This was what he was afraid to show me. What he was afraid to show everyone.
He still loves me.
He still loves me.
Part of me wanted to recoil from the terrifying intensity of it, while another part—a deeper, quieter part I had been trying desperately to ignore—answered it with a surge of joy so fierce it hurt, because it echoed feelings I had never stopped carrying myself.
I slid my hand up to tug on his neck, to bring him closer.
He gave a sharp intake of breath.
I paused, the fog of desire breaking enough to let a semblance of reason through.
We’d just said it. We couldn’t really be together.
He was the King of Wünder. I had to go home to my world.
Whatever was between us could only ever be as fleeting as the moment.
It would be worse to taste of the forbidden only to have it taken away later.
But his mouth was inches away, his breath sweet against mine. He was so solid, broad, and warm. My chest rose and fell with ragged breaths. I nearly trembled with sheer hunger. Heat flushed right through me when I noticed he was trembling too. We both wanted this. We both needed this.
I tilted my chin up to press my lips against his—
Fire surged inside me as every single nerve in my body sparked in an instant. My eyes fluttered closed as searing hot lightning crackled through my veins at the feel of him, an exhilarating, overwhelming pleasure I’d been so badly starved for.
And I wasn’t the only one.
With a desperate groan, his hand cupped the back of my head, fingers digging into my hair, as he took my mouth—owned it. His tongue pushed between my lips to deepen our kiss right away, and ecstasy exploded inside me.
This.
This was what I had been missing.
This was what I hadn’t been able to feel for months.
Granted, the king had already touched me in significantly more brazen ways in the last few days. But it felt nowhere near anything like this.
I was bursting with completion, with belonging.
It felt like coming home.
Dizzy with his scent, his commanding presence, and his overflowing desire, I could barely keep myself upright.
His hand slid around my back to pull me tighter against him, making me arch against his firm body. I wound my fingers in his silky hair. When I couldn’t resist tugging on it, a needy groan rumbled in his chest.
He gripped my hip with one hand, my jaw in the other, kissing me even deeper. Rough, insistent. As if to make up for the days we couldn’t do this, couldn’t be with each other.
In that moment, every manner of feeling washed over me. The feelings the king had been so careful to hide.
From that first day, in the throne room, his apprehension upon seeing me again after the ball, conflicting with the joy in his heart—he had to tamp it all down.
That overwhelming desire he had felt that night in his study when we played chess. How he couldn’t shake it even afterward. Not that he really wanted to. The mere sight of my face was a balm that soothed his soul.
That night in my chambers, when he’d helped me fall asleep. He knew he shouldn’t touch me, but he couldn’t help but give in to his need. His agony to control himself while having me that close, having me in his arms. How badly he’d wanted me every night before that and every day since.
I felt his utter and complete desperation when he thought I was going to disappear, when he couldn’t save me from drowning in the iron ascents.
I also sensed the exhausting battles in his mind.
His desolation, his loneliness, living all by himself in the castle all this time.
The heavy responsibility he felt for the citizens of Wünder.
He wasn’t good enough. He would never be good enough.
His torturous guilt for what he felt he had to do to avenge his family.
And even the guilt he felt for not being able to do more.
Above all things, he wanted to keep me safe. I felt his passion, his determination, his iron will. He would do anything for me. He was prepared to burn down the whole world if it would keep me safe. He wanted to take care of me. But he also knew he was the last man on Wünder I should be with.
He had discovered the nature of the anomalies earlier on.
Because he wore my heart, he could sense the threat they posed—to the land, yes, but more specifically, to me.
He had known instinctively that it was part of my past. He couldn’t shake his deep-seated fear that the anomalies would take me away.
He wanted to keep me far, far away from it.
I also felt his struggles in knowing that I didn’t truly belong in this world. The knowledge that I would want to go home someday. He didn’t want to hold me back, but at the same time, he didn’t want to let me go.
The air around us seemed to glow.
It was exactly midnight.
Fresh tides.
A reverent hush came over the land as the wondrous, magical, luminous wave—the source of all magic on Wünder—unfurled slowly across the gardens.
It curled along the glassy surface of the lagoon, threading through the arched pathways, coaxing blossoms to unfurl wider and leaves to tremble, as the entire countryside was steeped in its ethereal glow.
The mystical tide found us as though it had been searching all along. It rose in a soft swell that curled around my feet, wrapping us in a glow that was less like power and more like a quiet blessing. It brushed over my skin and traced along his shoulders in a halo of pale light.
Our lips molded together, each brush and press sending a spark of warmth through me as our kiss deepened further. I could barely breathe, but I didn’t care. I wanted to stay in his arms, feel his strength wrapped around me, like a protective shield to shut out the harshness of the world.
It could have been hours or days. I would have been content to live out the rest of my life in this perfect moment.
He drew back slowly, with a brush of his tongue over my bottom lip, his kiss tapering off like the tail-end of a storm, instead of an abrupt stop.
Both our hearts were pounding hard. I could hear them. I could feel them. Everything was so intense, so overwhelming. It was exactly what I had been craving and yearning for the longest time.
I turned slowly, awe blooming through me as the willow branches shimmered. The mystical tide left delicate embers of sparkles all around us, as though it was itself not quite ready to let go of the moment.
When I looked up at him again, his gaze was still on me—no cold distance, no guarded mask, his gentle fingers stroking my cheek… Unshielded, almost reverent—but only for a moment.
His forehead creased, as though the full weight of what happened had just sunk in. Blinking quickly, he averted his gaze. Clearing his throat, he took the ring back, retreating a couple of steps.
The flow of warmth cut off as soon as he slid the jade ring back onto his forefinger, and his expression took on a cool arrogance I was intimately familiar with.
Self-conscious, I looked away, covering my mouth with my hand. The powerful onslaught of raw emotions had been quite bewildering. I was struggling to calm my racing heart.
It was one kiss.