Valteri shook his head. “Nay. ’Tis never so sweet as it was this night.”
Warmth spread through her and she swept his hair up over his shoulder. His arms braced on either side of her, he stared down at her with an intense look that stole her breath and left her even weaker. She traced thestubble on his jaw and offered him a smile. “I’m glad that I’ve given you what no other has.”
She just hated that the price for it might be his very life.
Valteri lay in the still quietness, listening to the winds howl and the fire crackle. Ariel’s hair spread out over his chest, its silken ends soothing his skin. He’d give anything to stay like this for all eternity.
But what of the morrow?
Was there any way to spare her from the curse?
“Valteri?”
He started at her gentle voice intruding on his thoughts. “I thought you were asleep.”
“I had a wonderful dream.” She turned in his arms until she stared up into his eyes. The brightness of her gaze warmed him. “You and I were drifting in a glorious ray of light so bright that we couldn’t see each other, but I could feel you. Your breath was my breath. Your lungs, my lungs.”
“My heart, your heart?”
She smiled up at him. “Aye.”
“But what happens when the night comes and ends the sunlight?”
She frowned and playfully hit him on the shoulder. “Ever the doubter, aren’t you?”
Valteri brushed her hair back from her face. “My life has taught me to be wary.”
Sadness replaced her happy gleam.
A twinge of guilt tweaked his conscience that he’d stolen her happiness, but he couldn’t force himself to be so optimistic.
Especially not in this.
His life had ever been a study of kicks to the crotch and slaps in the face.
Just when he thought life would be good, something always came around to jerk him off his feet. Never once had he been spared any ridicule or shame.
Why would that change now?
After all, he was cursed.
She’d said it herself.
And by the weight of her sigh, he’d say that she’d come to the same conclusion. “So how did you find me in the storm, anyway?”
Valteri wondered what had made her ask that question. “Belial told me that you were gone and I set out after you.”
“Belial?” She tensed in his arms.
“Aye.”
“’Tis his fault that I fell from my horse. He tripped her during the storm.” A scowl knitted her brows. “What mischief is he planning now?”
A chill of foreboding raced over him. The hairs on the back of his neck stood upright. How much power did the demon truly possess?
“Is he among us?”
Ariel shook her head and settled back in his arms. “Nay, I can tell when he approaches. ’Tis a stirring in the air, and the stench of brimstone chokes me.”
