“Of course. Now, where should we escape to?” I press a kiss on her temple and follow the directions she gives leading to the roof of the castle. This place is huge, and it takes me fifteen minutes of climbing stairs and navigating hallways to find the rooftop she chose to take us to. The space is barren, just a flat surface with a stone wall along the outer edge to prevent someone from toppling over the side. I gaze over our surroundings and take in the view. As far as I can see is untouched wilderness. Treetops surround us and a mountain range is in the far-off distance. The only object taller than where I stand is the four turrets on each corner of the castle.
As I take us over to the edge and set Cecily on her feet. She leaves her arms around my neck and lays her head on my chest, not ready to leave my embrace. My hands go to her waist and we just hold each other. It’s so good to have her in my arms like this, knowing I won’t have to pass her off to someone else in a moment. We haven’t had alone time since we completed our bond. The magic behind it is a powerful thing, and gave each of us a sense of having to urge her onwards to fill her next bond once one was completed. This means, since our connection was forged, I haven’t had as much time with her as I wanted. Thank fuck she’s finished them all off now.
“Are you doing better?” I ask her. For a mere moment, she gets stiff, before releasing her tension and snuggling her head into my chest even more.
I run a hand through her hair in a soothing motion until she’s ready to open up with me. “I’ve been doing so good with moving past all my hurt caused by my time in soul form and what led up to it. Knowing William was forced into his actions made a huge difference. But when my mom said the words ’some pain’ it felt like she was making what I went through smaller than it was.” She takes a deep breath before continuing. “I spent five hundred years completely alone. That’s not a short amount of time, it was a significant amount. It was a cruel torment each and every day I had to be alone, frightened I would have to spend eternity like that. There was no one who could hear me, no sensation I could experience, it was barely an existence. Why would the Fates think I needed to go through such an ordeal to become who I am today?”
I pick up a chunk of her hair and play with it while I contemplate how to respond. “I hate you had to go through it at all, and I’m not all-knowing like the Fates, so I can’t begin to theorize why they found it necessary. What I can tell you though, is that you were never alone.” She stiffens in my arms again, a retort on the tip of her tongue, but I speed on before she can interrupt. “I know it felt like you were, and I’m not trying to make light of it at all, but remember William said while he slept, his soul would join yours. He was with you every chance he could get.
“Not only was he with you, but without knowing it at the time, I know my soul was experiencing what you felt. So we had a connection as well. You know how much my soul insists on soothing you when you need it. I just know it reached out during that time.” The more I speak, the more her posture relaxes and a smile grows. “My existence without you in it was mediocre at best, I knew every day something was missing. Without the sun, there is no life… you breathed life back into me, Sunshine, just by gracing me with your rays.”
She stands on her toes and pulls my head down to give her an impassioned kiss. “See, you know just how to give me the perspective I need. Good thing you’re already my mate, otherwise I’d have to figure out how to bottle you up and wear you around my neck,” she teases with a smile. The upward turn of her lips brings me immense relief. Thankfully, I did something right. Just to be certain, I check the bond and sense a calmness radiating down.
I return her grin and ask, “I love seeing your beaming smile, Sunshine. So tell me, now that I have you alone, what would you like to do on this rooftop?”
Chapter 12
Cecily
Klaus shines his dazzling smile at me, and he described mine as brilliant... I’m sure my grin has nothing on his. Something about it makes me giddy, and I can’t wait to have some fun with him. “I have just the thing!” I say while turning around in his hold. I press my back to his front, and wrap his arms closely around me.
“Well, don’t keep me in suspense. I’m happy to do anything with you as long as it’s just the two of us,” he murmurs in my ear, sending a shiver down my spine.
Leaning my head back, I fill him in on what we could do up here. “When I designed our living quarters, I planned out a space for all of you. While I have a good idea what each of you would like, I wasn’t able to think of something you would like. At least not something we would be able to fit in a room there.”
As soon as I pause, he takes advantage of it and reassures me. “Don’t worry about it, Cecily. I don’t need anything special, just you. We have plenty of time to get to know each other better.”
I roll my eyes even though he can’t see it and lovingly pat his arm. “I said I didn’t have something that would fit in our living quarters, not that I didn’t know exactly what the perfect space would be for you.”
“Are you being coy and drawing this out on purpose?” Klaus growls out. I give him a noncommittal shrug and before I can even suspect him of anything, he attacks my sides. Within seconds, I’m on the ground squirming with laughter.
“Mercy! Please! Stop, no more!” It’s a struggle to get each and every word out between my uncontrollable giggles. Klaus is laughing almost as much as I am, but thankfully, he lets up his attack and we both lay on the stone rooftop catching our breath.
My heart clenches as his hand finds mine and holds it as we lay here. It’s such a simple action, but it fills my soul with a warmth only Klaus can provide. Finally, my breath begins to even out, and I roll over to lay my chin on his chest. As I gaze up at his handsome features, he cracks one eye open to peek at me. “You ready to tell me what you have in mind yet? Or should I give you more consequences for playing coy with me?”
The corners of his mouth twitch as he fights off a full-blown smile. I lay on top of him, and brace myself on either side of his face. As his arms wrap around my waist, a sense of being complete fills me. “I want us to build an arboretum together. We can either connect it inside your room in our chambers, or build a patio and connect it on the outside. We can magically create a space for the tree roots to live so it doesn’t damage the roof to the castle, and you can fill it with your favorite plants. I figure this way you’ll always have some nature to escape to and ensure privacy.”
His lips are on mine as soon as I stop talking, tongue seeking entrance, and a hand holding my head in place. I moan into his kiss as it deepens.Nailed it! Can’t say I don’t know my men.When he pulls away, he says, “I love that idea, but the idea of building it together means more to me. I’m glad you didn’t just surprise me with it. Let’s get to it!” He smacks my ass, then helps me stand up.
We link hands once more, and get to work building the framing for his arboretum. As my magic stirs to follow instructions, a distinct sensation is present. One I’ve never experienced before. Without ever being instructed on the mechanism of it, our magic has mingled together. We share a glance, and as one, we direct the magic into building the walls and roof to make up the structure. They’re all made up of glass to allow the sun’s rays in, and the roof is able to be retracted to open up to the elements if he wants.
Once the structure is complete, we map out where he wants to place just a couple of walking paths, choosing to keep most of the space full of nature’s cushion to walk upon. As he tells me each and every idea he has, it seems to me this is something he’s dreamed of building and not something he’s planning on the spot.
Instead of marring the beauty of the gardens with a cement path, we form them out of pine wood chips. The air is instantly filled with the same scent I pick up from Klaus and it makes this place feel like a second home. I know we’re building this space for him, but something tells me I’ll be spending a lot of time here too. I can’t help but grin as I lean my head against his shoulder, wanting more contact than just holding hands.
Klaus gives me a quick glance before he moves to wrap his arms around me from behind again, and I lean my head against his firm chest. Working magic with him seems like the most natural thing in the world, like we’ve been doing it our whole lives. We create the void for all the roots, then place soil and grass over the expanse. Well, everywhere aside from where his desert plants are going, we put coarse sand there instead.
I kick off my shoes and sink my feet into the softness of the fresh grass. My toes clutch into the ground and the ends of the blades tickle my feet, sending tingles up my legs. The arboretum we built is huge, which allows him to set up many regions within the space. As we work in each section, Klaus describes every plant he wants to place with great detail, points out where he wants to put it, and piece by piece, we fill the openness to create his dream oasis.
When we move to a new area, Klaus doesn’t release me. Instead, he picks me up and presses kisses along my neck as we walk. “What’s this, Sunshine?” he asks after placing his first trail of kisses.
My cheeks heat, remembering Alex placing his mark on several areas of my body, and preventing my magic from healing the bruise away. At any point, I can remove his magic impeding my healing at those locations, but something about his possessiveness makes me want to wear them proudly. “You know how Alex is. He wants to remind you all that he had me last.”
Klaus licks the mark before placing a lingering kiss in the same spot, sending heat right between my legs. “Maybe I should return his message with a mark of my own,” he replies, switching to the other side of my neck which is mark-free. His teeth teasingly graze my skin, holding me in anticipation. I get one small nip before he says, “Let’s get back to work. I’m sure your other mates won’t give us an unlimited amount of uninterrupted time.” Of course, he’d get me all amped up, then leave me wanting.
After all of the plants are in place, we begin working on a large water feature in the northwest corner. Along the wall, fixed in the corner, we build a huge grouping of rocks reaching just shy of the ceiling. Coming out of the base of the rock face, we build a circle of rocks to make up the border of the pool. Using the same method for creating the pocket voids for the tree roots, we do the same thing here, to hold water deep enough for it to reach shoulder height. We add some seating around the edges, along with jets. Depending on the mood, the water can be set to different temperatures. The size of the pool will make a huge oversized hot tub, or a quaint place to cool off on a hot day.
With the construction of the pool finished, we fill it with crystal clear spring water, and direct a constant recirculating flow of liquid from the pool to the top of the rocks, creating a waterfall. Klaus then adds some tropical plants around the edges and a few on the rock face to add some texture and color to the scene.
