My molars clench so hard they threaten to crack under the force. The internal pressure threatens to blow me apart.
“Shh,” she hushes in a soothing tone. “I’m okay, Talon. It was an accident.”
She shouldn’t be comforting me. Something snaps tight in me as I focus on my job and become what she needs me to be. “As soon as I clean up here, I’ll call a handmaiden to help tend to that,” I say, with a jerky nod toward her hands.
Aurora licks her lips, and I swear she wants to say something, but she holds back.
A long pause beats between us again as I give her the space to say it. My heart falls in that space every time. Then she shakes her head ever so slightly.
“Thank you,” she mutters before disappearing to the bathroom.
There is a finality to her words tonight. Like her frustration is boiling over into something dangerous. For the first time, I wonder if the endless cycle we have built, feeding, surviving, pretending it is enough, is hurting her as much as it’s helping.
If I could fix it, I would. I would go to hell and back for her, even if it was simply to make her smile. But I don’t know how to help her more than I am.
I stalk toward the shriveled body of the John, ripping off my leather jacket. His desiccated cheeks are sunken in his head.
He weighs next to nothing as I grab him and throw him over my shoulder and head to the balcony.
I can’t call the handmaiden until I get rid of the body because no one knows about Aurora’s condition. Her curse. Only her parents and I know, and it’s my job to keep it that way. It’s been that way for six years. It will be this way for as long as we both live.
No matter how much the tension sizzles between us more with each passing year, cranking tighter and tighter, putting us under more pressure to cross an impossible boundary.
No matter how much she wishes she didn’t have to feed, I’ll be here to make sure she does, to make sure no one hurts her, and to clean up the mess so no one finds out.
I step onto the railing and look out on the moonlit expanse of the Rosari Kingdom. The village is quiet and dark below. Tomorrow the sun will rise. The residents will wake up and open the market, converse and drink in the tavern, and never puttogether that their whispered conspiracies about the monster lurking in the castle are actually about the Princess of the Realm of Roses.
I’m not sure how much longer they can keep me in this castle.
What could she mean by that? There is nowhere else for her to go. This is her life,ourlife, and there is no changing that.
No matter how either of us wishes we could.
My foot falls off the ledge, and my body plummets as I keep hold of the body on my shoulder. I wait dangerously long before my wings snap out and I catch air, gliding upward.
We’ll love each other till the day we die and never once be able to touch.
I tell myself that’s enough.
Because the only thing worse than wanting her…is the thought of losing her.
Chapter 2
Ms. Pouty Runaway Princess
AURORA
Idid it. Oh my fae lords, Iactually did it.
I left home. I’m going to be a new person. I’m starting a new life.
Facing the prospect of actual independence and a fresh slate feels like being dunked in a crisp, chilled river and coming out to stand in the sunshine. Goosebumps rush along my arms and legs, and my chest hitches with excitement.
I’m not sure what’s more impressive. Sneaking out of my parents’ castle, getting through the border that leads to the Common World without raising so much as an eyebrow, or slipping by Talon.
The smells of hot foods, diesel fumes, and the frosty night air of Boston assault my senses. Vapor hisses from underground grates, rolling over my boots and curling around my legs, as if the city itself is exhaling in the cold. My vision blurs as I struggle to take in the lights of the city and the constant supply of cars and people streaming by.
I walked away from the cage I’d been lovingly locked away in. Once a month I would be fed, like clockwork. A system my parents and Talon agreed to, and we never veered from the schedule in all these years.
