“Me either.” Tears burned her eyes, her happiness overwhelming her, to feel him within her, a part of her. Forever. “Are you going to tell me what that means now?”
A smile. He shifted his weight, his hips bracing her against the wall. “Roughly translated, it means the air I breathe, the stars in the sky, my heaven. And you are,caeli mea. It’s what I feel and see when I’m with you.”
Tears she fought to hold back slipped free.
He kissed each wet trail on her face then finally, her mouth.
The sound of footsteps echoed, and she stiffened. Quickly, she pushed at him. “Put me down.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “Why? Everyone knows how I feel about you.”
She sighed. “Aerén, I must go and change before I meet with your sire or your brother. I’m wet—”
“Don’t despair, my mouth will take care of that.” His eyes burned a molten silver.
Her jaw dropped. “I meant my clothes—”
The study door opened. The elyon, Anedaén, walked in, wiping the rain from his face. He swept back his wet hair and halted at the sight of them plastered to each other, her legs wrapped around Aerén like they were glued to him. She wanted to sink into the ground.
Anedaén’s eyebrow rose, and only then did her maddening man let her down.
God, she pressed her burning face to his chest.I hate you!
No. You adore me, and now you’re waiting for my tongue to give you—
Ugh, she pushed away.
Aerén turned to his brother, cool as all heck, as if her face wasn’t on fire from his wicked mouth. “Everything’s okay on the island?”
She cast Aerén a dark glower, one wasted on him with his attention on his brother, but she felt his amused laughter through their bond. Not risking standing so close to him—he could drag her back to him, and she’d forget they weren’t alone and climb—
Gah!She dropped onto the armchair near the window.
His amusement flooded her.You have quite the imagination, my love.
And you’re too dangerous to be near, she grumbled.
She was too aware of those piercing ice-blue eyes on her. Anedaén gave her a half bow, stunning her speechless, and she jumped up.
She shouldn’t be sitting when royalty was around, right?
Aerén laughed, picking up on her thoughts. “Not in a formal gathering,caeli, mea.”
“I’m not even going to ask what that was about,” the elyon muttered. Then to her, he said, “I am glad you’re up from your healing sleep and well, Lady Leyathi. Thanking you isn’t enough for what you alone have done for us in so short a time, and with great cost to yourself.”
There was remorse in those striking eyes.
Leya shifted uneasily on her feet. “Please, it’s just Leya.”
He inclined his head. “Leya, my undying gratitude for the dangerous rescue of our sire, and for revealing the truth about the islands. I wish we could have found ourmaterias well—”
“Actually, I think she was the one who led me to your father.”
Both stilled.
“At first, I wasn’t sure. The voice was ghostly, reedy thin,” she explained. “But later, I knew. More a gut feeling. I tried to feel for a tug to her like I did with your father when I was alone in the volcano, but there wasn’t any connection. Nothing.”
Anedaén scrubbed his unshaven jaw wearily and glanced out the window at the dangerous ice rain. “It seems our magic has given up on us—”
