I’m here now.Her words caress my mind like the loveliest melody.
Gripping the back of her neck, I pull her against me. Her lips part as I slip my tongue between her teeth. She makes a soft sound of surrender. I turn us until she falls beneath me, hair spread out over the red fabric like a crown. “I missed you,” I say.
The words hang heavy in the air.I missed you.Why did I tell her that? Why did I say that out loud? Of course, she won’t say it back. She’ll have missed Kel and Farron and even that grumpy Spring bastard, but not—
“I missed you too,” she says, hand smearing gold across my cheek.
Something melts in my chest. It’s all worth it. Dealing with Farron, sending Kel to his likely doom, this fire in my chest … it’s all worth it if it’s for her.
I kiss her again.
Her touch is soft and delicate, yet filled with an intensity that leaves me breathless. I savor the taste of her, a mixture of roses and honey. Her fingers weave through my hair, her body arching to mine, and I can feel every inch of her painted curves.
“Caspian,” she says against my ear.
I can barely get her name out, driving my hips down into hers. “Rose.”
“Stop.” She pushes against my chest, face hurt andangry.“You’re glowing.”
Through the gauzy curtains shines a line of gold light, slamming straight into my chest.
A moment later, a busty woman with a red face—obviously drunk out of her mind—bursts inside. She holds a will-o’-wispto her chest. “My mate is in here!” she giggles and then hiccups. “He’s gorgeous.”
Rosalina jumps up and stands in front of me. “He’snotyour mate,” she hisses, so full of venom that the woman takes a step back.
“Fucking Farron,” I murmur and adjust the letter in my breast pocket. As soon as I do, the glow disappears. I look up at the woman. “What light?”
She blinks, looking down at the will-o’-wisp on her chest, then over at me. “You should go,” I say. Thankfully, she obliges. Rosalina turns to me, and I hand her the envelope. “From your mate.”
Carefully, she peeks inside. “A letter and … a flower. A Friar’s Lantern. Why would he send me this?”
I shrug. “I’d keep the envelope closed unless you want more suitors to interrupt us.”
Carefully, she places it on the side table. “You two have been getting along?”
“As much as necessary.”
“You smell like him a little. Along your neck mostly.”
I rub the spot subconsciously. “Is that why you were all over me? If I’d known that, I would have snuggled up with the little pup a long time ago.”
She laughs. It’s a beautiful sound.
And I’m an idiot.
“Tell me, Flower, why were you so sure I wasn’t her mate?”
Rosalina tucks her hair behind her webbed ear. “I was just trying to save her the agony of being mated to you.”
“Agony. Are you so sure that’s what it would be like?”
She turns to me, eyes wide and lips parted. The disguise of the siren fades away, and now she’s just a gold-painted Rose. “Yes. I’m sure.”
Before she can say more, I cross the room and lift her in my arms, gripping tight to her hair. Brown waves shimmer where the gold dust has fallen off. Her legs wrap around my hips, and I drop her to the chaise.
“I want to take this off,” I say, touching her shell top.
She nods, and I untie it, letting it clatter to the floor. Soft paint slides beneath my fingers as I begin to rub her, circling her nipples, tugging on them until they’re taut. My fingerprints mark her. Her hands glide over my body in such a desperate way, Iwonder if she’s been thinking about that night we spent together as much as I have.
