“There are people who don’t want to see you mated, aren’t there?” Sylvie rested a hand on my chest, pulsing more chilly magic into my bones.
My mate was so damn intuitive.
“There will always be those, no matter how much power you have, who wish to see you fall just because it makes them feel better. They know I’m powerful and with a mate?” I wrapped a hand around her hip. “Tenfold. Asyouwould be.”
Sylvie let her bottom lip roll between her teeth. “Arcane Cove has been the first place I’ve truly felt at home, Jack. I feel settled, and now you’re asking me to uproot my life again. I’m happy here.”
This was making me far more nervous than I could have predicted. I have always been confident, steadfast, and sure of my actions. The actual fear that someone might not choose me, that my fate lay solely in their hands, knocked my world off its axis.
Norway. She’d mentioned living in Norway all her life before here. My kingdom appeared as if plucked from modern Scandinavia.
“Understandable, but you must miss something about Norway. It’s a beautiful country.”
Sylvie’s amethyst eyes lit up. “It is. I do miss the mountains, the half-frozen waterfalls in the winter, and don’t get me started on the northern lights.”
There went that hope springing in my stomach again.
“My kingdom has all of those things, and it’s perpetually winter. Constant half-frozen waterfalls and the colors of the aurora borealis never abandon the skies.” Tracing my thumbs down her neck, I searched her unreadable expression, and it damn near drove me mad.
“That sounds amazing,” she whispered, her hands squeezing my biceps.
“You were meant for more in this celestial life, faerie. You said it yourself, your own people cast you out because you were different from them. Did you ever stop to thinkwhythat was?”
For every moment I thought I gained more of her favor, there were another three moments I could see her drifting away. A constant battle raged in her mind, and I was running out of ammunition.
“I have, but then the Cove found me. The bakery found me. And these people, Jack?” Sylvie lifted her gaze to mine, her grip tightening on my arms. “They have done everything but cast me out. They’ve welcomed me with open arms.”
From her words and the strain in her voice, it was almost as if she was trying to decipher if, when the time came, she’d be able to say goodbye to them. Was that what this was all about?
“Sylv, from the way you’re talking, it’s as if you’d never see this place or your friends again.” I brushed my fingertips across her cheek.
Sylvie blinked, the skin beneath her eyes crinkling. “I figured I’d have to move to your kingdom. Wouldn’t I?”
Winter’s fucking blessing, thatwaswhat this was all about. If this had been all it took, I would’ve reassured her of this days ago.
Chuckling, I gave her lips a quick peck. “Yes, you’d be queen and my mate, but you’d always have access to come back here. Fuck, I wouldn’t care if you wanted to pull double duty and still work at the bakery from time to time.”
My heart sank when her reaction wasn’t as elated as I’d expected.
“I really thought—” She started, but trailed off. Intrigue played majestically in her eyes for a brief moment before sadness and uncertainty won, her gaze falling. “Give me until sundown tomorrow. Is that alright?”
The creature stirred at the mention of a delay, punching at my skull.
“Of course. I’d say to take as much time as you needed, but?—”
Sylvie pressed a hand to my cheek. “I know, Frosty.”
I swear they could have written hymns about her smile.
We’d crawled from the pool, conjuring clothes for ourselves and sharing last-minute, fleeting kisses before she rode away on Fintan. Nanok emerged from the thick of the forest. I didn’t hesitate to lean on him, putting all of my weight on him because I was tired of carrying it all myself. Sylvie was free to choose as she pleased, and I’d respect it, but I’d be lying through my frozen heart if I said I didn’t yearn for her to chooseus.
The swirling patternsof a tray of cinnamon rolls had me in a trance. The longer I stared at them, the more it pulled me in despite the conversation and high-pitched shrills of delight from the half a dozen women parading through my bakery. Chelsea’s coven sister, Brigid, was having a bachelorette party of sorts to celebrate her official upcoming mating ceremony to a male demon named Lyzur.
“What’s that smell?” One of the women asked, snapping me from my thoughts.
Black smoke puffed from the kitchen, and I shrieked, “Oh, no, not the apple fritters.” Sprinting to the back, I coughed from the smoke hitting me in the face and waved my arms. Chelsea had followed behind me, gagging, no sooner had she walked through the door.
Sobbing, I whipped open the oven and grabbed the tray with a nearby towel, then tossed it onto the stove top. I startedflicking the switches for the overhead vents, but the smoke had already begun to clear.
