Page 156 of A Legacy of the Light

“No.”

“Then what is it, Elsie?” He takes a step closer to me. “Is it because . . .” he pauses and my stomach drops. “Is it because you’re Seelie?”

Relief and shock and fear war for dominance. “How do you know?” I ask, taking a step back from him, preparing to fight him again if I need to.

“I worked it out, and you just confirmed what I thought, since there was no way for me to prove it without you telling me,” Tavish says.

I open and close my mouth, gawping like a fish out of water as I try and fail to find the right words.

“I started to think you weren’t only human the day we went for the ride to the meadow. No human could bear the Craobh. No human could gain the strength and speed you have in such a short time. No human could have taken Reyne out like you did, no matter how strong they are. In the end, you being Seelie was the only answer to all of that.”

“Your father . . . ” Fuck. If he knows, I’m dead. I need to find my way out of Elfayne and fast. Maybe Finneus can help.

“He worked it out, too.” His hesitation at breakfast makes sense now. He knows I’m not human. But, if Raghnall has let me be here for this long, he can’t know the full truth.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” I demand.

“I was waiting to see if you would tell me. Since you told Reyne, I figured you might open up to me given everything else we’ve shared.”

“How do you know I told Reyne?”

Please don’t let her have betrayed me. I don’t think I could take another friend failing me.

“Training. She stopped holding back suddenly and pushed you harder in your lessons.”

I unleash an internal sigh of relief at that.

“So I assumed you trusted her enough to tell her.” Hurt flashes across his face. He’s hurt I didn’t trust him with this. But my reasons were justified.

“I don’t know who your parents are but I’ve waited and waited to see what you would do,” he says.

He knows. He’s known for a while. And I held myself back because I didn’t want to go further in our relationship and have to keep this secret from him. I have never been good at lying, and keeping him at arm’s length has stopped me from needing to lie about this.

He chances another step closer to me. “Let me in, Elsie.” His eyes search mine and I know he doesn’t mean my body. He means my heart.

Another step. “Please?” His quiet, pained whisper crumbles the last of the wall I have erected around myself.

I step into him, tilting my face up to look at him. “Okay,” I reply.

He closes his eyes and drops his forehead to mine, a beautiful smile of victory caressing his lips. He wraps an arm around my waist and cups my face in his other hand.

“I need you,” he whispers. When he opens his eyes, a fire burns behind them. A fire for me. For my heart, and for everything I have to give him.

I stretch up onto my tiptoes and press my lips against his. Tavish holds still and lets me lead the kiss for a moment. Our lips meet each other in soft, delicate movements. He lifts me off the ground and deepens the kiss, sparking that need again low in my stomach.

He slides the hand that was cupping my cheek down my back. He rests it on the curve of my ass and presses the tips of his fingers into me.

I snake my arms around his neck and push my body closer to his. He starts to walk across the living room and grips the back of my thighs to wrap my legs around him. I don’t know where he’s leading me until he lowers me onto the ivory sheets of my bed. His lips move to my neck and he teases my skin with his tongue and teeth until I’m panting underneath him. Tavish slides his arms from under my back and down my thighs, where he grips them as he slowly drops to his knees on the stone floor.

He works his way down my body over my clothes with kisses and nips of his teeth, stopping at the top of my leggings. Tavish looks up at me with a primal hunger as he takes off my boots and socks. He smooths his hands up my calves, over my thighs and back to my waistline, where he slides his fingers underneath the band and pauses.

Should I stop? his eyes ask.

I lift my ass off the bed in response. Tavish groans as he pulls the soaked fabric down my legs, leaving me in my T-shirt and black lacy thong. His gaze goes straight to the place between my legs, to where I need him the most.

He flicks his eyes to mine. “T-shirt. Off. Now,” he commands. I sit up and pull the hem over my head. The peaks of my nipples are visible through the thin lace of my black bra.

He kisses me once, hard, and pushes me back to the bed with his palm. He runs it down my chest, pausing to roll a nipple between his fingers, making me writhe under his searing touch.