“I don’t want to replace this or use it to bridge loss and hope, but I want to create something new with it if that’s alright with you.”
Merrick again, asking permission, as if he worried he’d hurt me by doing something nice.
“Go ahead,” I said, easing around on his lap to face him.
He laid the flower on his palm and closed his eyes, humming a monotone tune that whispered through the room like fallen leaves on the wind and the taps of new rainfall on leaves.
The flower lifted up and started spinning above his palm. As if he’d summoned lightning, it arced through the window and connected with the flower. Light burst through the room, so bright I closed my eyes to shut it out.
When I opened them, a clear round crystal lay on his palm with the flower, now in full blooming color and no longer faded, preserved inside forever.
He held it out to me, watching me, his face guarded. Didn’t he know that there wasn’t anything he could do with all his heart that would hurt me?
I took it from him and held it against my throat.
As I pressed my face into his chest, I let one final tear fall.
29
Merrick
“Queen Reyla?” Lord Briscalar called out from the sitting room. “Are you awake? It’s past seven, and while I know you occasionally enjoy sleeping late, I wondered if you were awake and had a moment to talk.”
Reyla looked up at me, her cheeks pink and her eyes no longer full of sorrow. I would do nothing to replace her lost love. Her memories of him were to be treasured as much as the flower I’d preserved in crystal. I hoped she’d think of me in the same way one day.
Would she cry whenIwas gone?
I hated feeling like it was already over. We had four weeks. That was enough time to end this, wasn’t it? She was the one. I knew thisin my heart.
And that was only one of the many reasons why I loved her.
I just… If only she could…
“I’m awake,” Reyla said with a raised voice. “We’ll be out in a moment.” She slid off my lap and hurried into her bathing area, closing the door but not before glancing my way. “Don’t leave me, Merrick. Please.”
Never.
Farris hopped off the bed and stretched out his front paws before padding toward the door to the sitting area. I got up and let him out, closing the door again. I climbed back onto the bed and waited. Until this woman kicked me out, there was no place I’d rather be than sitting on her bed, eager for her to join me.
Reyla returned to the room with cleansed teeth and brushed hair. It spilled around her shoulders and tumbled down her back in a sunset shot through with moonlight. She stunned me all over again by her beauty. The heart sees what the heart needs, and for me, it was this precious woman.
My wildfire climbed on top of me, spreading her legs around my thighs. This hitched her nightgown up enough I couldn’t look away, though she wasn’t revealing everything. Such soft skin. Creamy with a scattering of freckles. I wanted to touch every one of them, map them out in my mind. Connect them with kisses.
My heart thundered and my cock jerked upward, seeking her likeIalways would. I stroked her thighs, my mind blurring until I could only see her.
“None of that,” she said with the sweetest smile as my hands eased across my chest. “We don’t have time, I’m afraid.” She shook her finger in my face. “No more climbing from your window to mine, either, if you please. What if you fell?”
“That could be bad.”
Her face pinched. “You could get hurt.”
I held her face, making her meet my eyes. “I will not allow thatto happen.” And because I hated seeing her worried, I pushed for a lopsided smile. “If I started to fall, I’d flit, which means you’d save me once more.”
“I’m glad you can flit easier than me.”
And I adored her pout.
“I don’t like you risking yourself,” she said.
