“Bash…” Alora blinked and wet coated her cheeks. “You couldn’t have known.”
“I read the contract, Alora.”
“And did he also list out all the plans he had for you and the men you’d eventually lead?”
He swallowed. The pause stretched. “No. But it was all there, between the lines.”
“His trickery is not your fault. An enchanted contract where you aren’t to question his authority? That is not yourfault.You did all right at hiding your good heart from me in the beginning, but it didn’t take long for me to sense something was amiss in the details. I knew you didn’t fit in the roles you’d been assigned—and I wasn’t wrong. I’m sorry to have made you feel like your past doesn’t deserve forgiveness. It does, and I trust you wholeheartedly. That you will do your best to right every wrong. That you won’t hurt me. I really do feel that.”
His eyes snapped to hers, intense and dark. “I sincerely don’t think I deserve you.”
“Why not? Because you’re imperfect and I’m not?” Alora snorted at the ridiculousness. “Let me be imperfect with you. It’s better than being it all alone.”
He watched her steadily. If he thought it would intimidate her, he was very wrong. But he said, “Does this mean you’ll try with the skull?”
Alora gulped, pulling strands of hair from where they whipped against her face. In her clenched palm, her membership bent, and in her chest, her heart hammered against her ribs. “If you really want to.” Bash smiled at her response—though it didn’t look quite real to her; his dimple hardly showed. When he made to turn the skull around, though, she threw a hand over eyes. “Wait! You’re not going to tell me the details?”
“No.”
Alora made a low sound, almost a growl, and widened her fingers. Did he not believe her when she said she trusted him? Apparently not.
She dropped her hand in a sudden rush. Like with the mermaid, she would prove herself true to her word. Alora stared into the ruby eyes of the cursed crystal skull and was immediately pulled down.
***
“Alora. Look at me.”
Alora’s gaze snapped upward.
“Good. It’s worked.”
“Maybe I only wanted to look at you.”
“Did you?”
She couldn’t refuse an answer. Or lie. “Yes. But it’s also worked.” Bash didn’t seem all that pleased, however, considering she’d done as he’d asked. An anticipatory flutter rushed about her insides. “What next? Will you demand I kiss you?”
He frowned down at her. “Isn’t that immoral?”
“Very.” Though she’d be more than willing. If it mattered. Bash shifted again, rolling his shoulders. “You look nervous,” she said.
“Do I? I suppose I am.” He cleared his throat. “All right. Here goes. Alora Pennigrim…”
Alora’s eyes widened at his use of her full name, and not all of it due to entrancement. Her heart rose until it lodged somewhere in the narrowing of her throat.
“You are my greatest desire. Your frightening amount of bravery. Your ability to realize the beautiful in all things. Your mesmerizing, imperfectly real smile. I desireyou, wholly beholden only to yourself. Give me that.”
Alora’s breath caught.
Bash’s wish—
His desire—
Good gracious.
Alora imagined the cursed skull vanished from the world.
Then she flung her arms up and kissed him.
