Her breath came short. “Which is what you’re doing here.”
“Which is what I’m doing here,” I echoed. “Much later, when I found out he’d been sent away despite my best efforts—senthere, your holiness—it shattered me. I’ve been ashadowof myself since that day.”
“You’re still in love with her,” she said slowly, her disbelief so pure and raw that it sent me leaning forward in my chair, my palms pressed flat on the table.
“I willalwayslove her,” I hissed. “I’m sorry to disrupt your day like this, Lady Elodie. I’m sure you’ve already guessed, but it’s no coincidence that I came here asking for you, specifically."
I expected questions and confusion. Instead, her features went inscrutable as she got to her feet. With fluid, graceful movements, she eliminated the distance between us. Grabbing my arms, she hauled me out of my chair, walking me backward in the small room.
My back hit the wall before I knew what was happening. Her body caging me in against the tapestry, her lips crushed feverishly, hungrily, against mine. She kissed me as if she’d been thinking of nothing else for a century. Her arms wrapped around me, she drank me in like I was medicine brewed to heal the broken pieces of her.
Unleashed passion ignited our bond. The sudden heat of her tongue skimming mine, the press of her soft curves, the amber and cedar rushing into my lungs and blending with old incense… It was simultaneously all too much and not nearly enough.
“Does this mean you’ve somehow remembered me?” I finally panted, breathless and clinging to her. “Don’t tell me you do this with all the women who venture up here with sob stories.”
Shoring me up with her arms, Elodie adjusted her stance and touched her forehead to mine. “I couldn’t forget you if I wanted to, Tiss. And believe me, those first few years? I really,reallywanted to,” she sighed. “But they couldn’t erase you no matter how hard they tried. They couldn’t do anything to change the fact that I still love you, too.” Her mouth sought mine again, a ball of giddy joy flaring to life behind my ribs.
Love for her swelled so sharp and full within me, I was afraid I’d burst. This whole conversation was beyondsurreal. Beyond my wildest hopes and my darkest fears while I sequestered myself on the train, then trudged up the mountain.
My hands on either side of her face, I finally pulled back and said, “Iknewthe goddess doesn’t grant ‘glimpses of the past.’”
“Yeah, well, she doesn’t grant me glimpses of the future, either. For what it’s worth.”
“How much do you remember?”
“All of it. Everything.”
“Everything? How is that possible?”
“Wish I could say for sure.” Her eyes darted around as if seeking answers in the room’s dark corners. “Perhaps it was a fluke, but I’ve got a gut feeling it might’ve been because I was El. At the time. It’s the only thing I can think of.”
“That makes sense. If the ritual is magically calibrated to women—to changelings—then of course it wouldn’t work when, mentally… emotionally… youweren’tone.”
“Like the night our soul-tie was forged,” she flashed a crooked grin. “When you were almost the death of me.”
More tears lancing behind my eyes, I gave a choked laugh, “That was a very educational night for both of us, all right?”
An indulgent purr rumbling from her, she went in for another kiss only to halt at the last second. “You know, you might’vetoldme they planned to kill me, Tiss. Would it have been so awful to clue me in? After nearly three years together?”
“And what would you have done if I had?”
“Listened to you. Obviously.” She nuzzled into the sensitive hollow between my jaw and earlobe. “Left you well enough alone. Never seen you or sought you out again.”
“So much for your lofty promises.”
She pressed a lingering peck there, inhaling me, before kissing her way to my mouth. “I would’ve never touched you again.Neverthought about you in an intimate manner as long as I lived.”
That at least pulled a laugh from me. “Oh, go off. You’re full of it.”
“I’d neverdreamof not continuing to contact you, Itissa. Never stop hounding you to run away with me until you acquiesced, just to shut me up.”
“I think you got that last bit backward,” I whispered.
“Did I?” She fixed me with the steely sort of glare she knew would melt me to the bone before touching her soft lips to mine. “You sure about that?”
Snorting, I pulled her closer. “Shut up and kiss me properly.”
Her mouth seized mine again, one hand threading through the hair at my nape, the other caressing my back. My tears were hot on both of our faces before I realized I was crying.
