“You have my gratitude for it.” Bailoc’s situation was a problem I couldn’t truly solve, but it didn’t make me feel any less responsible for it.
“Now that the threat of war and the rebellion have ceased and the gate to Nythrel is open, maybe the realms can finally know peace.” The sharp lines around his eyes softened as he looked at me.
We had exactly one thing in common—the weight of political decisions on our shoulders. It wouldn’t be enough to make me love him, but I could respect him.
“We would all be better for it,” I said.
“I am relieved to find that you understand the necessity, Ashlyn. My role has me heavily embedded in politics and the relationships between our kingdoms. I require a bride who will stand beside me.”
“I understand.”
Soren settled his hand on mine. “I wish to know you fully.”
I didn’t know what that meant. “Whatever you want to know, you may ask.”
“I’d like to kiss you.”
In Bailoc, my people believed a kiss was a sacred claim. Women didn’t kiss men unless they were marrying them. My time with the fae saw a different world, where a kiss was much more freely given.
There was beauty in the way the fae lived. It was as if they knew how easily those moments could be taken from them.
I wasn’t ready to kiss him.
“Do you fear me?” His hand lingered near my waist.
“I don’t.” I could hear my heart race as if it were fighting the starlight sensation before it even emerged. It would be soeasy to lie—to tell him anything that covered up the truth that was festering inside of me.
One I didn’t wish to face at all.
“What is it then?” he asked.
“We need time to get to know each other.” I wasn’t ready for him to touch me. “Don’t you want me to take my time and decide not in haste?” I asked.
“Of course.”
The starlight burned.
“I need to know that you respect me despite the fact that I don’t know yet.” I had been in the palace for less than two days.
“I do.”
There was nothing in his voice or in how he held himself that signaled he was lying, but still the starlight flared within me.
If I were to give myself a life here, I would have to play the part he expected of me.
“So much could be decided with a kiss,” he said. “Will you allow it?”
He wasn’t going to accept me saying no. I would need to keep him close so that I could decide on my terms—so that he could develop patience for the time I needed.
It was only a kiss. If I did it, it wouldn’t seal my future to his.
Maybe kissing him would make me feel something for him—it would make it easier to pick this life. “You may kiss me.”
Footsteps echoed from down the path as Soren leaned in.
His hand trailed my cheek and settled beneath my chin, drawing it toward him. I closed my eyes as his lips slid over mine. Gently he pressed a kiss upon them.
Nothing flared within me. No spark. No starlight.
