He says, “I reached the wastelands and kept going. Until one day I heard a scream. It was little Adalie. A talon crow, the biggest I’d ever seen, had just killed her brother and it was about to rip her apart. I had so much rage… There wasn’t anything left of that bird by the time I finished with it.”
No wonder Adalie was afraid of the crows if one killed her brother. I’ve never seen a talon crow in real life. Just like I’d never seen a shadow panther before one attacked me. “So that’s how you met them.”
“I lived with Senturi for over two years. Went out each day and hunted those birds down until there were hardly any of them left. Killed a bunch of shadow panthers too. For some reason, Senturi never once asked me why I was there. It took me forever to figure out that he had Sight.”
He shakes his head with a soft laugh, but the sound fades. “Then one day, he comes to me and says I have to go. He tells me he’s had a message from the northern Outliers… that my father has died. He tells me I can’t trust anyone except you.”
“I’m sorry, Baelen.”
“I cut off my beard, came back for the funeral, stayed away from the Elven Command. And that’s when I started planning. I searched the mountains for the best places to hide in case I needed a backup plan. I concealed emergency packs throughout them, but it was when I discovered gargoyle nests where they shouldn’t be that I started to ask questions. Carefully of course.”
“Then you offered me your heartstone.”
He says, “You know the rest.”
“I can’t imagine you with a beard.” I push my chair back, cross to him, and slide my hand across his cheek. For so long, a simple touch like this was forbidden to me.
I bend to press my lips to his. Before our mouths meet, he catches my waist and pulls me to him. Responding to his touch, I slide one leg over his, straddling him. I press against him and plant a kiss on his lips, tasting the warmth of his mouth. My body heats up as his thumbs brush across each of my hips, his fingers spreading out around my waist to shift me closer.
It takes all my willpower to break contact. “I want you to know that I tried to see you at your father’s funeral. I wanted to tell you how sad I was for your loss.”
Baelen had lost his mother when he was ten years old. I was there for him at that time. After that, his father was his only remaining family and it broke my heart knowing Baelen went through his father’s death alone, that I wasn’t there for him. “They wouldn’t let me near you.”
He brushes my hair behind my ear, running his fingers across my cheek. “Iwouldn’t let you near me.” He swallows. “It was hard enough to stay away from you for seven years. Even in the beginning after the fall, when I couldn’t walk, I… uh… would try to get up and leave the house. It was like there was a thread between us and it kept getting shorter, pulling me toward you. I knew that one conversation with you at the funeral, one look in your eyes, and I’d abandon all reason. I’d tear down whatever I had to—destroy whatever I had to—to get to you.”
A shiver races down my spine. We had been connected. We just didn’t know it was the storm. “I missed you, Baelen.”
Such simple words. So much heartache to go with them.
I press my lips to his, drowning in the contact and trying to form coherent thoughts. “I don’t want to be apart from you today.”
He whispers against my lips. “I understand your intentions. Your people don’t know me. They don’t trust me like they trust you.”
That’s the second time he’s called them my people. “Our people, Baelen. You lived with gargoyles longer than I have.”
His thumb grazes my lips, trailing across my jaw. “I lived with Outliers. That sets me even further apart. But I promise you, I will do anything to be with you.”
How am I going to wait a week? I shiver as his other hand strokes the curve between my waist and hip through my shirt.
He sighs, but it’s resigned. “Our time is up. Erit has returned.”
He picks me up and slides me to the floor. I smooth my clothing in time for Erit to push through the doors. “Lady Storm, everything’s ready.”
I steel myself for what’s ahead of me. It’s time to face the Grievous Clan head on.
