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I placed my hands back on her hips. “It doesn’t matter. I can’t imagine you being more beautiful than this.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Of course. To me, you’re perfect.”

She bent down and kissed me. “And you are to me.”

“Do you mean that?”

“Why would I not?”

“I always felt…” I swallowed. “I guess… wrong.”

“You’re not wrong. Not to me.”

I shook my head. “I’m complaining after all you’ve been through.”

“Not complaining. Being honest, and I don’t mind it. I want to know you.” She straightened and studied me. All of me. My face but my body too. “You’re so beautiful to me, Selma.”

My cheeks burned, and I pulled her down again so I could kiss her. With my hands on her back, I rolled her onto the bed. Our kisses grew deep, and the heat moved from my cheeks to between my legs. “Can I touch you?” I asked.

Her answer wasn’t much more than a breath against my cheek. “Yes.”

I ran my hand down her stomach and parted her, sliding two fingers through her hot slickness, stroking her ever so softly. I watched her too. Watched my hand moving between her pretty legs. Watched the way her chest rose and fell. The way the muscles in her neck tensed. The gap between her lips, her eyelashes dark along her cheeks. I still couldn’t believe she was mine.

Lying next to her after, both of us still breathless, I studied the symbol on her chest again. “If Alfrun took you, why do you still have the mark of your father?”

She turned on her side. “I didn’t tell you that part of the story. After I was taken by Alfrun, the war between her and my father continued. She killed him and I became hers. The bond transfers to the victor.”

“And she still kept you a prisoner?”

“I’m a dark elf.”

“That’s a brutal world.”

“It is.”

The sorrow on her face made me bend in and kiss her cheek. “We should sleep now. Tomorrow will be another hard day.”

From the suitcase, I got my pajamas and her nightgown. The oven would burn out eventually, and then the room would grow cold. Blowing out the candle, I lay down next to her in the dark. As she did every night, she put her head on my shoulder. I wrapped my arm around her.

“Selma,” she whispered. “When did you know you loved me?”

I thought back, trying to find the moment it had dawned on me. “I knew I liked you from the day you stepped inside the store.”

“Why?”

I considered that too. “Because you looked so frightened, but you were also very determined. Even if I didn’t know your story yet, I admired that. Falling in love with you… I don’t know when I knew. It’s… it’s almost like I’ve always loved you.”

She pressed herself a little closer. “I feel the same way.”

“Really?”

“Yes. That day when I was waiting in the store, and you stepped inside, I felt as if I knew you already. Then I wondered if it was because you’re the one who united the doll and the amber. You’re the one who lifted the curse of the doll. Maybe there was some sort of… of bond between us?”

Her words hit me like winter rain, sending a chill up my spine. My eyes filled with tears at the thought that there was something unnatural about our relationship. That she didn’t love me for me. That it was something other than her heart that compelled her emotions.

“You think that could be the case?” I asked, and my voice cracked.