“You’re a wind fae, aren’t you?Halfwind fae, I should say.”
Her face flickers with surprise. “Yes. How did you know?”
“The tattoo gave me a clue. But…I’ve known for a while. You use a Wind Court term when you swear sometimes.”
She slaps an embarrassed hand to her face, but there’s only mirth in her energy. Then she returns her attention to the pattern over my heart, tracing the triangles yet again. One is connected to a secondary triangle, this one pointing down to represent the element of water, Lunar Court’s elemental affinity. Finally, she traces both halves of the curved arching line that ends in a spiral, the mirrored image forming a shape that looks very much like a heart.
“You’re sure this is new?” she asks.
I nod. “New patterns show up out of nowhere sometimes. This one started forming probably the day we met. I only noticed it after the opera. It’s us. Me and you.”
She stares back at me, her emotions swelling with awe. Then, sliding her hands from my chest to behind my neck, she pulls me to her. Our mouths meet in a soft kiss, one of honeyed sweetness and emotions too vast to give name to. It’s a kiss I wish would stretch on forever, this gentle exchange of wordless promises. It isn’t long before heat sparks, starting between our lips. Ember opens her mouth, arching slightly against me. My tongue brushes hers igniting desire to radiate through every inch of me. Like last night, I feel both our energies at the same time. Fueling one another. Combining. Encircling. Heightening. She wraps her legs around my waist and rolls her hips against mine. I shudder as I feel her open for me. Inviting. Begging. Pleading.
I bring myself unbearably close, hovering just above her. She weaves her hands through my hair as I drag my lips down her throat, her collarbone, my tongue flicking over her peaked breast. Her breaths come hot and fast as she brings her mouth to my ear. “Franco,” she whispers.
Restraint burns inside me, so intense I fear our passions could be over too soon. Then, little by little, I sheathe myself. She gasps, throwing her head back. The sight is almost too much, but I refuse to let it wreck me. Not yet. Not until we’ve fully explored the pleasure of this new pattern, this new dance, this new energy we’re creating. As we move together, a vibrant glow pulsing around us, waxing as bright as the moon. As bright as her smile. As bright as my love for her.
* * *
We lay spenton our back, entangled in sheets and sweat and limbs. As I look her over, she grins. I roll onto my side and face her. “So, I know we were only formally introduced yesterday—”
“Franco!” She swats me playfully on the arm, but the movement is slow and sloppy, expressing her fatigue in the wake of our passion.
“—and I swear I don’t normally do this.”
She snorts a laugh. “Do what?”
“Ask someone whose name I only learned the night before if they will be my mate.”
“Is that a question?”
Trepidation makes my pulse race. She may have confessed she loves me back, but she never said she’d stay. And…I’ve never had a mate before. “Yes, Ember. Will you be my mate?”
She turns toward me. “Yes.” Her smile stretches from ear to ear, only faltering when a flicker of cloudy energy dampens her emotions.
“What is it?”
“Well…before we can beanything, there are issues we should talk about. There remain things about me I haven’t told you yet.”
“Oh, yes. These dreadfulthingsyou think might change how I feel. You don’t still think that, do you?”
“No, I don’t,” she says, and I know she means it. But her murky energy remains. “Still, you need to know them because they will impact how we…come out to people. You might have to help me with something.”
“I’ll do anything. Besides, I’m looking forward to hearing this grand tale of yours. How you came to bargain with a princess.” I claim her lips with a light kiss. “How you stole my heart.”
“I’ll get to the part about Princess Maisie, but more pressingly I should tell you about the bargain that preceded it. The one with my stepmother.” She nibbles her lip, then opens and closes her mouth a few times without uttering a single word. Then, gesturing for me to give her a moment, she climbs out of bed and crosses the room to the wardrobe. From within, she extracts a silk robe. Even though it fully covers her, I can still see every curve of her body beneath it, and it takes a bit of focus not to study her tantalizing peaks and valleys. She returns to the bed and perches on a corner of it. “Remember how I told you I’ve been trapped beneath a bargain I made with my stepmother? Well, the night of the New Moon Masquerade, she used our bargain to force me into an unwanted situation. You see, the terms of our arrangement required that I remain living under her roof and that I obey her. One of her last demands before I ran away was that I become engaged to a man I did not care for. As my guardian, she agreed to our engagement in my name.”
A cold dread fills my stomach with iron. No. Please say it isn’t so…
“What’s your name?” I ask, trying to keep my voice level. “Your surname, that is.”
“Montgomery. That’s my father’s last name.”
The blood leaves my face. “You’re Brother Marus’ fiancée. You’re his Miss Montgomery.”
“Yes, but I will not marry him,” she says in a rush. “I never intended to in the first place, which is why I ran away and took refuge behind a glamour all this time. Now that our bargain is fulfilled, my stepmother cannot make me continue with our engagement.”
Her words are a comfort to me, but it does nothing to soothe the agony that begins to writhe in my gut. A sharp pain strikes my heart, and I gasp for breath.
