His firm grip braces at my wrist—stable. “Pixies, of light or dark disposition, have quite impressively limited attention spans. She doesn’t mean anything by it. Their bodies are just too small to hold more than one memory, idea, or emotion at a time—especially when they are so young and do not yet have the ability to even change their form. She probably forgot everything else she’s ever known when she saw something shiny.”
There were an awful lot of shiny things in the halls of this palace, so that makes sense. Even if it hurts a bit to know I have been thoroughly forgotten.
The longer I stand, feeling Castor’s hand like a shackle around my wrist, the calmer my heart. Peace saturates my limbs, freeing them of tension.
I let my hand slip to his chest, and I sag, forehead to heart.
The frantic pounds should ring like a warning in my skull, but they don’t. They don’t, because I’ve felt them in my own body ever since I started focusing on his magic, the ripples, the waves. It’s beautiful, his magic. So beautiful that if I’m delusional enough—and I think I am—I can convince myself he’s made this dress for me out of pure love.
“I’m scared,” I whisper.
Hesitant, his arms close around me, tucking me safely in against his body. Soft, he murmurs, “I know. And I’m…desperate.”
Tilting my head back, I look up at his face, at the ragged cloth protecting me from his deadly eyes. “Desperate?”
His fingers tangle in my hair. “To be loved.”
Well.
Isn’t that…
Familiar.
No one else can make this choice for me. I’m not being forced. I have options.
Willow was right, I guess.
I have already grown to want him. I don’t want to imagine a world without him. I don’t want to live apart from him. I don’t want tostayif it means hurting him.
Standing on my toes, I let my lips skim his.
His breath catches, holds.
“Take care of me?” I whisper.
Rigid, he utters, “Yes.”
“Promise me with your tongue that can’t lie.”
“I promise. I promise, Mine. I will take care of you until the stars fall from the heavens and the world rots into nothingness. Then, I will take care of you an eternity more. Until I am what I was born from, and my atoms dissolve.”
His damp breath fans across my cheek—spearmint and cool. I fill my lungs with it as our hearts pound together, sharing the cavern of each other’s chest. Unbidden, a tiny smile softens my lips and settles my anxiety. Right or wrong, good or bad, healthy or toxic…he will take care of me. And that’s miles more consideration than I’ve ever had before. I whisper, “You’re a little dramatic, aren’t you?”
“I…have been told.”
“Castor…”
At any moment, he might crumble in my arms. “Yes, Mine?”
“I accept you as my soulmate,” I say, then I meld our lips together.
Castor’s body seizes, and his fingers twitch in my hair before he swallows me up in his embrace, fusing us into one creature. Firm muscles press into my curves as he unravels my matter.
His hands don’t rove.
But one does twist in my hair andpull.
And, heaven help me, a pitiful sound escapes when I gasp.
