A muscle feathers on his cheek as he drops his gaze to his food. If I didn’t know better, I would think Feylin’s sad, and if I’m being perfectly honest with myself, the thought of walking away from him opens a hole in my own heart.
Strange how quickly bonds can form.
Since I’m on the subject of sad things, I add, “And I miss my grandmother.”
“I’m sorry that you lost her.”
“Me too.” I push the spaghetti around on my plate, deciding how much to say. “I knew it’d be soon, but I didn’t think it’d happen when it did.”
“Tell me about it.”
He’s sincerely asking, so I tell him how within hours of her death we were told that we had to marry.
“There hasn’t been time to properly mourn her.” I trace the rim of my wineglass. “She was always there when we needed her, and my tears weren’t even dry before Ovie said, ‘Pull yourself together, Addie; time marches on.’ She didn’t really say that, but pretty close.” My chest aches just thinking about it. “I just wish…I wish that I’d gotten a few more days with her. But that’s what we always want with loved ones, isn’t it? More time.”
The way Feylin’s looking at me, as if I hold the moon, makes me want to dive for cover. It’s exhilarating but also disconcerting to have the full attention of a king on me.
“But,” I add, wanting to change the subject, “I’m glad that I’m not at the house right now.”
He sips his wine. “Why not?”
“My aunt’s husband is back. Uncle Charlie. You may’ve seen him after the funeral.”
“Tall man, his good looks only second to mine?”
I half laugh, half scoff. “Maybe.”
He winks devilishly. “I saw him. You don’t like him?”
“No.” I absently twist my wineglass in circles. “Charlie’s a tornado that casually sweeps into my aunt’s life when he needs something—money, usually—and then he leaves, shredding her heart every time. But she always takes him back.”
He frowns as he smooths a hand over his thigh. “Why?”
“That’s the question we all ask. But I wonder if I’m any better. If Edward had dumped me and then asked for me back, would I have been as weak as Ovie? I’ve watched her do the same thing over and over, for years. Charlie comes, she giveshim what he wants, then he starts a fight, tells her he needs space and leaves, abandoning my aunt to her own tears.”
He reaches over and squeezes my hand. “You don’t deserve to ever be with a man who doesn’t appreciate you.”
I should mention the no-touching rule, but everything about this touch is right. He sweeps his thumb back and forth across my knuckles and squeezes before releasing me. My skin chills as soon as his hand’s gone, and I immediately mourn the loss of his touch.
“Sometimes love can make a person do foolish things,” he murmurs.
“Oh?” I cock a brow in mock surprise. “Are you speaking from experience?”
He scowls and quickly turns the look into a smile. “There are plenty of things I wanted to do when Tess died.”
A surprising stab of jealousy pierces my heart. I shove it to the back of my mind. “Did you and she join?”
“No. Our marriage was arranged.”
For some reason that reassures me. “And youdidn’tjoin?”
He levels that sapphire gaze on me, and little pulsing jolts of energy skitter down my spine. “Oursis the first joining by a king or queen in a hundred years.”
A wide-mouthed pit opens in my gut. That can’t be right. Fae must have joined before us. “You’re kidding.”
“I wouldn’t joke about it.” He takes another sip of wine. “We were friends, Tess and I. Very different, and she loved me in her own way, and I loved her in my own, but it was never an all-consuming passion.”
His gaze flits to mine, and my throat shrinks to the size of a pea. I hear what he’s left unsaid,but it was never an all-consuming passion like we have.
