“If I apologize to Renel, will you kiss me?”
“No. First, I want you to do it from your heart, and second, like I said, I won’t kiss you.”
“But you want to.”
He rolls his eyes. “That’s not even the point.”
“Would you like to see me naked?”
He glares at me. “Mirella, do not tempt me.”
Iwantto tempt him, so I unlace and start to lower my dress, but he places a hand over mine and stops it.
“What if we made a deal?”
“What deal?” I ask.
“One year from now, after you’ve lived your life, learned more about the world, seen more fae. One year. If you still want to kiss me, I’ll kiss you.”
I point upwards. “Kiss me like they’re kissing?”
He coughs. “Uh. If you want, sure. But not now. Remember I need to help Astra defeat the Witch King. I’ll need my focus.”
“Astra and Azur are kissing their soulmates.”
“Yes, but she’s Tiurian and he’s fae. I’m human. I need to keep my focus, so any… talk about kissing… is not a good idea. I can’t kiss you in one year if I die, right?”
The thought causes a stir in my chest. “I don’t want you to die. I love you.”
His eyes soften. “You don’t know what love is. You’ll forget me as soon as your life goes back to normal. I’m sure of that.”
I feel foolish for the words I said. “You mean thatyou’ll forget me.”
“I won’t forget you. We’re friends, and we can be friends forever.”
His words poke my heart and hurt so much. I don’t want to be only his friend, but I don’t want to show how sad I am, so I try to change the subject. “You really think things are going back to normal? That the Witch King is going to be defeated?”
He winks. “We have to hope, right?”
“Yes.”
I hope they succeed, and then, I hope for more.
One year. I can work with it. I can make him fall in love with me in one year.
ASTRA
I’m running in a garden, sword in hand, chasing a shadow. When I reach it, it turns to me—and has my face.
My eyes snap open, and I see Marlak looking at me.
“How long did I sleep?” I ask.
“Just a few minutes.”
I sit up. “We can’t wait.”
“I know.”
