He snorted in response. As I continued working on finishing up with his foot, we fell into a silence that allowed my mind to wander. It was the day Clause believed would change my world. He intended to show me something that he thought proved his way of life superior to my own.
But no matter how much I considered the possibilities, the outcomes always were the same. I loved those who I trusted, those who were closest to me. I would never turn my back on them. The Sidhe King was wrong.
I knew it in my bones that he was wrong. Yet, a dark cloud hovered over me, trailing me. It rumbled with thunder, on the edge of a downpour that had not yet come. Being suspended in that moment of waiting for some unknown horrors to unfold was torturous. It twisted my stomach, poisoned my mind, and stole my sleep.
And then there was the moment I shared with the Sidhe King. What happened between us made no sense. How I could have responded that way, why my mind was so slow to register everything, to react. To push him away. Something within felt a belonging being in his arms, but that feeling was foreign. It was wrong. And it was enough to frighten me.
What little control I thought I had begun slipping through my fingers without my notice. Leaving me with nothing but air to grasp at.
I wanted to go home.
I wanted the safety of arms that I chose to find comfort in. Not ones that circled me when reality strangely merged with something indescribable. Something was happening and I couldn’t understand what it was.
What I would give for a single day back home, in my room, surrounded by friends. What I would give to see Erik, to remember how good life could be even in the darkest moments.
Paws scraped across the floor as Shay ran into the room, coming around to stand beside Gorm where she seemed to dance excitedly.
“Hey girl.” I smiled at her, my one piece of home. “You never came back last night. I was getting worried.” Typically, she always returned in the night, sleeping in my room. It felt uncomfortable spending the night without her.
She whined as though apologizing.
“What’s a girl like you doing in a place like this?” A voice sliced through the room, stealing my breath. A memory moved through me, flooding my mind with the image of Erik and the sound of those same words spoken to me the first time I met him.
Had my thoughts of him brought forward a cruel illusion?
Gorm glanced from Shay to something behind me, before angling his head as if encouraging me to look.
Fear settled under my skin then. A fear to hope. A fear of being fooled by a trick of a distraught mind.
I rose to my feet and slowly turned, wishing to remain suspended in that moment of uncertainty longer. For at least there was still hope nestled in it.
Warm blue eyes met with mine.
Erik.
Breath left me.
He stood before me.
His clothes were simple, nothing to mark him as the King he was. But there was no disguising him. No hiding the presence that bled from his skin, thick and undeniable. Power rolled off him in waves, filling the space, pressing into me. It wrapped around me like unseen hands, his strength an intoxicating force, the heat in his stare a slow-burning fire.
A single heartbeat stretched between us.
And I was caught in it.
Those predatory eyes pinned me, held me captive in their depths.Is this real?
Then, my heart beat again, and I was released.
My body moved before my mind could catch up—drawn to him like the tide to the moon, pulled without hesitation, without resistance.
Powerful arms closed around me. One wound tight at my waist, anchoring me to him. The other skimmed up my back, fingers pressing into the delicate skin just above my nape.
The scent of him surrounded me, and I breathed him in—desperate, hungry, filling my lungs with him. My pulse pounded against my ribs, but in his arms, I could feel it—his heartbeat, slamming just as wildly as mine.
It is real.
The familiarity of him unraveled me. The safety of his embrace shattered the last fragile thread of strength I clung to.
