“And that I couldn’t ask you to promise me anything, because even with visions from a magic spring, we have no way of knowing the future. There’s no guarantee this works out or breaks my heart and leaves me terrified that, while I’m desperate for a place and a person to call home, I’m never going to be good enough for anyone to find their home in me.”
“Kessian, you’re—”
“Let me finish, let me finish. Before I forget. The thing is, I’m never going to find happily ever after if I’m not willing to take a chance on happy for now. And you make me happyright now.”
I suppressed my hope, but it burned up my throat. “I do?”
His eyes crinkled with a mix of joy and terror. “Yeah. You do. So … fuck the future. You’re a story I’d want to see through to the end, even if I knew the ending was tragic.”
“O-oh …” My hands shook as I reached up to brush a thumb across the stars on his cheeks. “Are you done talking? Wait, that came out wrong. Can I kiss you now?”
He nodded and tipped forward. Our noses bumped, and his lashes fell over his eyes as, my heart like a hummingbird’s, I pressed my lips softly to his.
It was a gentle, feathery thing at first. Then his hand, which had been on my chest keeping me at arm’s length, fisted in my shirt to pull me close instead. He whimpered and molded himself against me—lips, chest, hips—opening his mouth for more. I tilted my head so we’d fit together better, and he wasn’t the only one whimpering anymore.
I spoke, which broke the kiss, and he made a heartbreaking noise like he was afraid I’d stopped altogether.
“What made you change your mind?” I said.
“You. Saving my life and running off to get tithes when paracetamol didn’t cut it.” He kissed me harder. “Being so damnreliableandlevel-headedwhile I’m acting madder than a shotgun stag do.”
He raked his fingers through my hair, nails sending tingles down my spine and straight to my dick. This was getting away from me very quickly. He was all around me. An arm around my shoulders, a tongue licking into my mouth, his hand grabbing a jealous fistful of my arse as his cane thudded to the grass.
I crowded him against the tree and pressed close, wondering if it was possible to climb into his clothes and under his skin the way he’d gotten under mine.
“I want to fuck you again so damn bad,” I said into his neck before pulling the collar down to renew the mark I’d left behind.
“Tal! First at a funeral, now a wedding? What will people say?”
“They won’t miss us if we’re only gone for half an hour.”
“You think you can finish me off that quick?”
“I haven’t given you head yet.”
“Holy—” His nails dug into the nape of my neck as he said, teeth scraping against my cheek, “I love how you’re not a big talker until you’re horny, then you say things likethat.”
“Lunaris isn’t far away.”
Breathing hard, Kessian said, “Okay. Okay, I’m going to excuse myself from the party for a second. Stay and mingle for ten minutes so as not to advertise we’re off for a quickie. Then come meet me.”
I couldn’t wait that long. “Five minutes.”
He looked incandescent with glee. I knew I was giving him ample fodder with which to take the piss out of me later, and I didn’t care.
“At least seven,” he said.
I groaned. “Fine.” I set him down, picked up his cane, and put it in his hand. He reached up to arrange my hair back into place, then pressed a lingering kiss to my lips before ambling back toward the party.
I stayed there, hidden behind the tree for a moment. I slumped with my back to the bark, the roughness of it grounding me. Though not quite, as I thought about how Kessian might have felt sandwiched between me and the tree trunk. I could still feel the impression of his ribs against mine, like I was soft clay and he’d left his fingerprints in me.
I checked the time on my phone. Two minutes had passed. It felt like an age. I looked toward the tent, but Kessian was nowhere to be seen there. He’d headed straight for Lunaris. I should go mingle and pretend all was the usual. Fetch Kessian’s shoes before our rendezvous.
Fae grabbed me first. They’d had a few glasses to drink and the chatter flowed freely. “Thank you sooooo much for staying.”
“Of course.”
“It’s so nice to have my brother back. You know, I wouldn’t have to be the only queer one in the family if you stayed forever.”
