“You promised to look at every starry sky with me, Cerian. To be brave, even when terror fills you, if it will make me smile. To never leave my side when I ask you to stay. To take me with you when you need to run and to share all your hiding places with me. To build doors instead of walls and to let nothing come between us. To set me on fire with your blazing passion and to let me share in the beauty of your plant magic. To find me when I’m lost and to be strong when I’m not. To face every day and every night together until the beating of our hearts fades.”
His eyes grow wide as she speaks, and when she finishes, they gaze silently at each other.
“Those are the promises I remember,” she eventually whispers. “The ones I hold in my heart.”
“Arisanna—”
“And what have I promised you?” she asks softly.
He takes a moment to respond, but when he speaks, his voice is full of what she can only describe as intense devotion. “You promised to help me see the stars and everything else in a different light. To experience new things with me, even when fear fills me. To help me be strong. To help me face the world rather than hide from it. And when it becomes too much, to run away with me to a place only for us, where I can be myself as I am with no one but you. To be my safe place and to let me be yours. To share the burdens with me that you let no one else see.To let me protect you when the cracks in your own shield become too overwhelming. To let me be the arms that wrap around you when you’re scared. To just be mine forever, until our end of days.”
If she were given to crying, she’d definitely be tearing up now. Stars above. That was perfect.
“And this is the kiss I should have given you,” he whispers as he frames her face with his hands and locks his emerald eyes on hers.
Then he draws her into a feathery kiss, tentative at first, but full of tenderness and longing. She grips his frock coat, willing this perfect moment to last forever.
Rather than pulling away, he deepens the kiss, passion replacing the feathery touch as he buries his fingers in the loose curls that hang like a waterfall over her shoulders. His warm hand slides to her back, and as he pulls her against him, she wraps her arms around his neck and gets lost in his kiss. In this moment. In his heat and the shared desire that sparks between them.
Eventually, he groans and pulls away, resting his forehead against hers as both their hearts pound, and she struggles to catch her breath once more.
“Cerian.”
There are no other words. None that come to mind as he fills her thoughts. That familiar smoky taste lingers on her lips and tongue, and she breathes in deeply of the fruity sweetness of his plant magic as a vine slinks up her exposed leg.
“It’s probably a good thing I didn’t kiss you like that at our wedding,” he whispers. “Whistling wind, I want you.”
“I’m right here.”
“It will have to wait.” He abruptly pulls away and offers her a hand again, a playful yet adoring smile lighting up his face. As his vine recedes, she doesn’t hesitate.
“The other half of your love story?” she whispers.
“The best half.” His fingers close around hers, and she lifts her skirt with her free hand as she returns his smile.
“When you run, take me with you. Always.”
His smile grows, and as he jogs toward the door, glancing back at her, her heart races along with his. She hurries to keep up with this elven prince she never expected, but who feels so right.
The other half of her own love story.
The Way It Should Have Gone
Episode 125
WhenCerianleadsArisannato the table near the front of the empty reception hall, he holds out a chair. She sits as he pushes it in for her and takes a seat beside her.
“Now what?” she whispers.
“Now you imagine a wedding feast with all your favorite foods.”
“My favorite foods? What about—”
But he cuts off her words with a kiss.
“Yours,” he whispers when he pulls away, leaving his forehead pressed to hers. “I want to know what you love.”
“But—”
