I couldn’t feel it, but I knew it was there, aching for her. The dream hadn’t been enough, though I knew it never could be.
But having her beside me felt like a rush.
“I’m sorry I took your gloves off,” she whispered, resting her hand over my chest. “And I touched your face.”
I couldn’t stop the chuckle that fell from my lips. “You never have to apologise,” I said, coughing. “You have no idea how good it feels to be touching you, Ivy. How it feels to know Icantouch you again.”
Ivy sat up, hovering over me, eyes searching mine. “A dream is one thing, Ry,” she murmured, “but if you need to take things slow?—”
“No,” I growled, shaking my head. “I am done wasting time with you. I was so afraid before, but I’m not anymore. I know exactly what I need—and it’s you. Nothing else.”
Her eyes watered as she tried to smile. “I love you. So much.”
“I love you, too.”
“Nice to see you…alive,”Archer said, pushing off the wall he leaned against as Ivy helped me out of the bedroom. “Weren’t sure you’d actually wake up.”
I nodded once, somehow managing to not roll my eyes. “Thanks.”
The mage shrugged. “Need some help?”
“I’m taking him to the bath,” Ivy murmured, looking up at me questioningly.
Clearing my throat, I said, “We could use some, thank you.”
He snorted, but he moved to my other side and helped me into the main bedroom. The sheets on the large bed were rumbled, clothes heaped at the end.
“Sorry,” Ivy said. “It’s been a bit of a mess the last couple of days.”
“Do you like it, though?” I asked as we entered the closet. There were clothes hung up, mismatched and belonging to several sources from what I could tell. “Because we can always change?—”
“I love it,” she said, smiling up at me. “No need to worry about that.”
From my other side, Archer cleared his throat. “Don’t worry. She likes the kitchen and greenhouse, too.”
“You found it, then?” I questioned as we entered the bathroom. The large windows overlooking the fields were dark from the storm raging outside, but as soon as we passed the doorway, water started filling the deep, built in tub. “There are actual gardens out there, and an orchid.”
“I didn’t know,” Ivy said as she moved me to a chair someone had put at the sinks. I winced as I sat, though the burn and ache in my body wasn’t nearly as bad as when I woke. “The weather has been so horrible, I haven’t really gone outside. Not like they’d let me.”
“Not without a full bodyguard detail,” Archer teased, though the smile on his lips didn’t reach his eyes, and there was a tension between them that felt…odd. Especially after what I’d seen from them in the Old World. Hell, there’d been no tension between them at all back there.
What changed? Because it wasn’t Ivy; she gave him a small, sad smile as she crossed her arms.
“I’ve got it from here,” she said without looking at him. “But it would mean a lot if you or one of the others could bring up a tray of food?”
Archer nodded once, the tense smile falling from his face. “Of course. I’ll leave it in the room.”
For a moment, he hesitated like he wanted to pull her in fora kiss. But instead, he shook his head and left the bathroom without another word.
It was only when the bedroom door closed did she sigh. “Okay, let’s get you in the tub.”
I frowned as she helped me out of my shirt. “What happened?”
She looked at me before shaking her head. “I don’t know.” She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth as she helped me to my feet.
“Liar,” I murmured, shivering when her hands went to the waistband of my pants. I hated being so weak in front of her, but this also felt reminiscent of the first few days with her in the hunting cabin; although when I changed out of my bloody clothing, she’d turned around for that.
This time, though, her eyes remained locked on mine as she undid the ties holding up my sweatpants. “I honestly don’t know,” she said, this time desperate. “I came back, and he and Adrian were…”
