Well. Now he’s flirting with her.
Sort of.
“What’s wrong with my singing? You haven’t even heard me sing. Maybe I have a beautiful voice.”
“Do you?”
She opens her mouth and closes it before hiding her face against his arm again. “No. It’s awful. Rominy got all the musical talent. I can barely carry a tune.”
Cerian laughs. “You really do mean to torture me.”
“Stop! It’s not that bad. But I’ll save you the distress of pretending your ears aren’t bleeding and keep my singing to myself.” Without thinking, she flicks his ear, and his laughter cuts off as his eyes grow wide.
Stars above. She touched his ear.
Hopefully, he doesn’t light the cake on fire again.
Or anything else.
“I’m sorry.” She looks hesitantly up at him.
He shakes his head but says nothing.
What is that supposed to mean?
When he continues to say nothing, she turns back to the cake and tries not to think about his ears.
She didn’t get a cake for her birthday this year. She was too busy meeting Cerian and preparing for their wedding.
Not that anyone would have put twenty candles on her cake. It’s more of a tradition for children than adults. They joked about putting candles on Father’s cake on his last birthday, but it was all said in jest. Sixty-five candles seemed like so many at the time.
But it’s nothing compared to two hundred.
“Cerian?” she says softly.
He clears his throat. “What is it?”
“Will you die when I do? A human lifespan? Have I stolen most of your years from you?”
The thought makes her sick. Why didn’t she think to ask before she bound her heart to his? Elves live five hundred years, give or take a few decades. She knows that. She’s known that for as long as she can remember.
“No,” he says.
She turns to look at him. “No?”
“Our healers believe I will sustain your life beyond a normal human lifespan. My parents would never have made the offer of the heartbinding otherwise.”
“They believe? But they don’t know?”
He shakes his head and glances away.
“I’m sorry,” she says. “I didn’t know. I wasn’t thinking. I—”
He presses a finger to her lips, which is both shocking and amazing. “I am not sorry. You aren’t allowed to be sorry, either.”
“But—”
“It’s my birthday. Stop arguing.”
