Page 353 of Reign

She’ll still think of something I missed.

I’m beginning to look forward to finding out what.

***

Watching Elena at the beach is like watching glitter catch the sunlight.

Bright. Beautiful. Festive.

And everywhere.

Glitter refuses to remain where it’s placed. It spreads beneath fingertips, settles into every fold, and clings to things long after the celebration ends.

Elena has done the same to me.

She has found her way into every room of my home and every hour of my day. Her clothes hang beside mine. Her sketches cover my office. Her berries occupy an unreasonable amount of space in my freezer. Even when she isn’t beside me, something she touched, moved, or left behind reminds me that she was there.

She is sprinkled through every part of my life now.

Every part of me.

She walks toward the water with her sandals dangling from one hand and her cover-up blowing behind her. The sun catches the glittering lotion she insisted on rubbing over her shoulders after I finished applying her sunscreen, making her skin sparkle each time she moves.

Then she reaches the edge of the surf.

The first wave washes over her feet, and Elena gasps as though she has never seen the ocean before.

She looks back at me immediately.

“Luciano!”

I’m less than twenty feet away.

“Yes, princesa?”

“It’s freezing.”

“It’s the ocean.”

“I thought Florida water was supposed to be warm.”

“It is warm.”

She stares at me as another wave breaks around her ankles. “You’re lying.”

“I have no reason to lie about the temperature of the Atlantic.”

“You lie about everything.”

“Name one thing.”

“...I can’t.”

I smile.

Elena points at me as though this proves nothing, then turns and walks farther into the water.

The next wave reaches her knees.