I’d thought that perhaps she didn’t like gifts. But then when I’d given her a crystalline blue vase filled with starwood blooms from my own gardens—my mother’s favorite flower—she’d nearly split her face in two with a grin so wide. She’d placed the vase in the center of the table at the cottage, fussing over it endlessly. I’d often caught her rearranging the blooms or making sure the vase was well filled or shielding it from streaks of sunlight should they creep too close.
Just thinking about her simple joy made all the frustration loosen from my chest. My shoulders relaxed, determined to enjoy the afternoon with her before I needed to return to the keep.
“The stream isn’t far,” I told her, shaking off the tracker scout and thoughts of Zyre and of Millie debating leaving Erzos. “Do I get a hint about this surprise?”
Millie blew out a long breath, but when she turned her face up to me, her smile was bright and open, no lingerings or traces of her previous melancholy. She seemed to have made the same decision.
“Let’s just say it’s out of this world,” came her cryptic reply.
I grumbled. “That tells me nothing.”
Grabbing her waist, I tugged her into my side, my wings flaring out behind her like a shield.
“You’ll enjoy it,” she said, chuckling. She turned her head to regard me as we walked. “I promise.”
Unable to resist, I lowered my head and caught her lips. Millie stilled, her hand winding around my wrist when I cupped the back of her head to deepen it. And perhaps I poured my need and frustration and desire for her into that kiss, trying to tell her all the things that went unspoken between us. Because by the end, both of us were gasping and Millie was clinging to me, the only thing keeping her standing being the support of my wings at her back.
“Looking forward to it,sasiral,” I rasped against her lips.
CHAPTER33
MILLIE
Three nights later, nervous excitement made it hard to sit still as I waited for Kythel to arrive. He’d had plans to meet with Vadyn tonight, the head keeper, as they did on a monthly basis. But he’d promised to come to the cottage straight after, and I hoped he arrived soon, since the first course was ready and waiting.
I’d been preparing the food all day—and truthfully had started yesterday evening to allow the yeast in the dough to ferment properly. Some of the meal I’d had to prepare at Erzos’s kitchen, Telaana allowing me free reign as long as she got to observe my process.
I’d planned five courses in all, sourcing ingredients from Erzos when I could but ordering the others I couldn’t get from the off-planet merchant at the market. I had been hesitant to spend the credits on the expensive ingredients—that gut-wrenching anxiety as I’d watched the subtraction from my Halo orb was a feeling I wished I’d never need to feel again.
Yet…it was for Kythel. I wanted to give him something only I could give him, especially when he was a son of the Kaalium, who had nearly the entire universe at his disposal.
I smoothed my new dress down my sides—another purchase I’d been loath to make, though I thought the lilac color complimented my skin nicely and it made me feelpretty. Kythel hated my clothes, evidenced when he’d nearly forced me to the seamstresses to acquire new ones at his expense. I’d refused, though the insecurity that the way I dressed might embarrass him had stayed.
When I’d seen this dress at the market, tucked underneath other mismatched patterns and fabrics and colors at the vendor stall, I’d known it would be an upgrade. I wanted to look nice for him tonight. Even if I hadn’t worn something so impractical in what felt like years.
I’d brushed my hair until it was silky, noticing that it was getting long. I’d decided to forgo perfume oil since I knew Kythel went wild for my natural scent. I’d never be a great beauty, but I smiled at myself in the gilded mirror regardless before I’d gone downstairs to the kitchen.
The cottage was beginning to feel like a home, and it had never felt more complete than this night. Just a few nights, I knew, before the moon winds, which only added to my nerves.
A familiar thump came from outside, and I grinned, going to the front door, hand already outstretched for the handle. I hadn’t seen him all day and—
He was there in the doorway before I could reach it. Kythel’s eyes darkened when he took me in for the first time. The thin-strapped dress was like a waterfall of silk, hugging to my small curves and leaving very little to the imagination considering I was entirely naked beneath it.
Kythel seemed to freeze on the threshold, for the first time seemingly at a loss for words as he took in the sight of me.
Then, ever so slowly, he closed the door behind him before prowling to me with a measured gait. Eyes pinned to me, bright in the warm firelight. I’d made it romantic tonight. Floating Halo orbs, dim lighting, a meal I’d lovingly labored over for a full day, and this damn dress.
And he liked it.
A lot.
I’d wanted to give him something special, and it looked like I’d made the right call.
I grinned when he tugged me into him, his hands already skimming my sides to grip my hips hard. Breathless, I met his deep, deep kiss, my hands going to his broad shoulders, digging into the muscles there to keep him against me.
He groaned, his palms running from my hips to my ass, where he squeezed. The possessive touch made my knees shake.
“So beautiful,sasiral,” he purred. “I love my surprise. Where did you find it?”
