“Ugh,” I groaned. “You're just as crappy at answering questions in your fae form as you are in your vampire form.”
“And here I thought you were looking for consistency,” he rumbled with a chuckle.
My attention centered on the leather satchel that he had grabbed before we'd left the Life Tree. “What's in the bag?”
In true Vin fashion, he gave me some vague answer, no more helpful than if he had just said “Stuff.”
A few minutes later, we landed. I heard it before I saw it. After he set me on my feet, I turned around, a gasp tumbling from me.
“It's a waterfall!” I'd only seen them on TV before and read about them in books. Even on TV, nothing could have prepared me for how beautiful it was. It was total sensory overload with the deafening sound of the waterfall close enough for the water to dust my skin.
I stepped off the bank and into the water. It was cooler than I expected with the hot jungle atmosphere. Vin pulled the satchel’s strap off his shoulder and tossed the bag to the ground. He entered the water with me, his hands finding my hips. With his eyes locked with mine, he gently walked us backward until we were both standing in the waterfall.
There was a dip in the stone that allowed us to stand outside of the main flow while still getting sprayed by the water. We were soaked.
“What are you doing?”
“Washing my sins of the morning from my bride-to-be.”
Sterling and Corry had bathed me in a lavish bathtub in our dream. Now Vincent was washing me beneath this waterfall in the fae jungle. What was next? Eros with a garden hose in the library?
The fae traced my lips with a taloned finger. “What are you smiling about?”
“Eros, Cor, and Sterling.”
“You may not believe this, but it’s my hope that I can make you smile like that one day.”
“Don’t get mushy on me now, Feral.”
At that, he smiled. “It’s our wedding day. I figured the occasion called for it.”
I tilted my face upright, feeling a sudden sense of peace wash over me with the waterfall. “Keep it up, and I might just start to like you.”
“That is the workings of the fae jungle. There’s magic infused in the air, making miracles happen.”
“It’s not the fae jungle. It’s you making an effort for me.”
His dark eyes burned hot. He didn’t say anything else, but he didn’t have to. His actions were enough. We stood like that for a while longer, with nothing but the soothing sound of the waterfall filling the space.
“Are you afraid?” he asked.
“Am I ever?
“Sometimes,” he said simply, his hand curving around the back of my neck, holding me in a caress that was more loving than possessive. That was new.
“You hide it,” he continued. “Maybe your other mates don’t notice, but I do.”
I looked him dead in the eyes, feeling incredibly naked—going beyond the fact that I wasn't wearing clothes. “I’m afraid you’ll hurt me again.”
“I might,” he admitted.
That familiar anger zapped through my veins. I stepped back, the cool stone of the cliff face pressing into my flesh. “You can’t. If you hurt me one more time… If you hurt me in the way I think you might, I’ll kill you. I’ll force you to take me back home, and you won’t survive it.”
The fae’s features became etched with pain. He took a step toward me, closing the distance between us. His palms came to rest against the stone on either side of my head, caging me in. “I’m fucking trying. For you. If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t give a shit. But sometimes I feel like two people. And I hate both of them.”
Water ran down my cheeks, and I wasn’t sure if they were tears or from the waterfall. “I’m coming to love them both.”
His brows bent with a scowl. “How can you love me likethis?I’m a monster.”
