“How was your day?” I asked.
She glanced up at me, and I saw a flash of worry in her eyes.
“What?” I asked.
“I’m not used to having someone ask me how my day was.” She shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal, but it was new to me too. “I missed this.” She was blinking rapidly, like tears were about to fall.
“Me too.” I paused for a moment. “Do you remember our last morning together?”
Tears fell down her face. “Yes. You knew you were going to die.” She frowned. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
I smiled softly at her as I reached across the table and held her hand in mine.
“I wanted to have one more perfect day with you. It needed to happen so that I could come back as yours. I didn’t want to ruin our time together.”
Della stood up and came over to me, sliding onto my lap and wrapping herself around me. I hugged her tightly, breathing in her scent that had been ingrained in my heart since I first met her.
“I’m glad you didn’t tell me. But wouldn’t you want to know if our time was limited?”
I pulled her back and wiped her tears from her face before tucking her hair back behind her ear. “Yes,” I whispered. “So that I could change fate again because I am not as strong as you, Storm. I would die without you. I could not survive 300 years without you. I couldn’t survive three years or days without you.”
“You are much stronger than you are giving yourself credit for.” She brushed my hair off my forehead. “If anything ever happens to me, promise you will not do anything stupid. You will be strong until I return to you.”
My eyes bounced between hers. “Is something wrong?”
She looked like she was scared of something.
“No, but I don’t like thinking that you would do something, and I would come back to find you gone.”
“I promise, I will always wait for you.” I pulled her to me, knowing that something was wrong with her. She was keeping something from me. Mateo’s words came back, but I tried to dismiss them. What if she was lying to me? “Don't you think it is odd that I have magic and none of my siblings do?”
Her whole body tensed ever so slightly. Fuck, she was keeping things from me.
“No.” She lied. “Maybe the heavens know that you are not like your siblings. You are far kinder than they are.”
I nodded but it was only to throw her off. How did she know I was kinder than my siblings unless she had met or seen them? I knew I couldn’t be angry with her because I had been keeping my own secrets too, but something about this seemed worse.
“You never came to Hell, did you?” I asked. Della pulled back and gave me a look that was meant to throw me off, but it didn’t work. “I won’t be angry if you have secrets from me, but Mateo said that you had to come to Hell and give me magic. Is that true?”
“Mateo is a snake who is trying to make you doubt this, and you’re falling for it.” She glanced between my eyes. Her words had their intended impact for only a moment.
“If you are hiding something, you can tell me. I will not be upset.”
Della’s eyes flashed with worry, and it took my breath away. She was really worried about me pushing this.
“I can see that you are terrified about this, so I will drop it. But I hope you will tell me soon.” I grabbed her face in my hands and stared her in the eyes. “I love you; you know that, right? It scares me that you do not trust me to tell me something.”
“I do trust you,” she whispered. “I will tell you, but I just want to relax with you for a few days first—away from reality. We have been apart for years, and I just miss being close to you.”
Leaning forward, I gave her a chaste kiss before pulling her to me. I buried my face in her neck and inhaled the scent that told me I was home. Della sighed contently, and after a few minutes her entire body relaxed. Her soft breathing told me she was sleeping. It wasn’t that late, but she looked exhausted, like something was weighing down on her.
I lifted her up and carried her up the stairs and to the bedroom that now had a large bed in it. Slowly, I laid her down and helped her out of her dress. I tugged my tunic off and slipped it on her. She rolled over and continued to sleep. I started a small fire before crawling into bed next to her so I was facing her.
“What are you hiding from me, Storm?”
She snuggled into me and clung to me like I would be ripped away from her again. I would figure it out. Nothing was going to take me from her again.
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