“I suppose there might be something in it for me too,” he says, and nudges our noses together.
I lift up on my toes and kiss him.
He almost died. He almost didn’t make it back to me. We almost didn’t have this, and I’ll never take it for granted. I’m uncursed and free and choose this. I choose him.
From now on, I won’t be able to speak and know the truth. I won’t be able to calm arguments or solve misunderstandings as conveniently. And that’s okay. Because no one else can either. In return, it means no more averted eyes or hushed whispers in my wake. I could actually make new friends. It means no more demands from the queen. No more agonizing stress over who to tell what, and when to speak, and how to word it. I’m not cursed anymore. I’m simply, wonderfully, me.
“Will.”
“Mm?”
“Thank you.”
His chuckle tickles my nose. “I told you. Anything for you, Princess.”
He needs to know I’m being serious.
My precious boy. My sunshine, my love.
“Will,” I say again, and fight the brimming tears. I’ve cried enough. “Look at me.”
He does. He holds my waist and we forget the world exists.
I know my next words.
“I love you.”
There’s a hitch in his chest.
“Fliss…”
“I love you.”
He’s speechless like he’s never been before. Willoh Vane without a sarcastic comment, swept away and stammering, eyes poring over me like I’m the moon herself, a sky away from the party and infinitely more resplendent. I hover my mouth closer.
“I love you,” I whisper once more.
I plant a quick kiss on his lips, then peck all over his cheeks, his forehead, his pierced ears, until he melts into a laughing, wriggling mess.
“Okay, okay! I surrender!” Will says, and catches my hands.
“You told me to live. This is me doing that!”
He snorts a laugh, and I smile at the sight of him. Those damned waves, his flushed skin, his glinting hazel eyes, admiring me the exact same way.
“I love you too,” he says.
My need for him is a trembling allure, a desperate desire to burn up in his atmosphere. I rally the sarcastic tone I’ve heard in so many other voices. The one I’ve never been able to use before now.
“Gods, howterribleit would be if someone were to whisk me away from this party….”
Will’s eyebrow quirks. He leans toward my ear, and in a gravelly whisper that tugs at the bottom of my stomach, he gives me my orders.
“Keep talking.”
“A classic Fliss-and-Will move?”
“As you wish, Princess.”
