“Don’t miss dinner,” he says instead. He walks out and slams the door hard enough to jump the lamp on the dresser.
I sigh into the empty room.
I’m sorry,Aaron says.I’m causing you trouble.
“Can you do the thing?” I glance at the door and the thin walls, my whole nosy pride on the other side of them. “The spell. So they can’t hear me.”
He does it. Blue-gold sparks crackle up the walls and seal the two of us in, and for the first time all day, I can breathe out loud. I lie back on the quilt and close my eyes.
Eat dinner,he says.No skipping meals, baby.
“Oh, please.”
He chuckles, warm.Your father has a point.
“Talking me out of this will only piss me off.” I rest a hand on the baby. “If you’re going to reject me, Aaron, then just do it andget it over with. Don’t dangle it in front of me. I’m holding onto hope.”
Okay. Okay.The tease drops right out of him.I’m sorry.
“Stupid fucking six months. Should’ve given you a week, tops.”
He laughs again, warmer this time.You did the right thing, Mara, and I mean it. The more I watch this realm heal, the surer I am about bringing you into it.
“Shut up and read me my story.” I drag the blanket up over my legs. “Matter of fact, let’s finish Dorian Gray. I like where it’s going.”
Alright, baby.I can hear the smile sitting in it. He starts in on the next chapter, his voice settling into the even rhythm I fall asleep to. Then he stops.You’re going to eat dinner. Right?
I groan and sit up. “Eating cuts into my time with you.”
I can always leave and come back.
I’m up off the bed and at the door, his laugh trailing after me. Then it gentles, and the fight goes out of me.
I wish I could feel him move,Aaron says.I hate that I’m missing his first kicks while I’m a whole realm away from both of you.
I stop with my hand almost to the door. “You’re not missing it. You’re right here with me, Aaron. Just... in a different way than either of us planned.”
He’s quiet. Then, right as my fingers find the knob, his voice comes back thick.Thank you for loving me, Mara. Even when I don’t deserve it. I’m going to spend the rest of my life making sure you know how grateful I am—for your patience, for your strength with me every time I keep testing it.
“Well, it’s thinning.” I smile. “Shut me out like you did before, Aaron Blackwood, and I’ll hunt you down and kill you the way Layla does Josiah.”
He bursts out laughing, ringing through the whole of my head.
“I don’t know what’s funny.” I pull the door open. “I mean it.”
He chokes on the laugh so fast I almost feel sorry for him.
I step out into the hall and hurry toward the noise of the table and the dinner I don’t want. The faster I eat, the faster I get back to him.
Only three months left, and I’m counting down every hour until the day there’s no more glass between us and he’s finally, finally mine to hold again.
49
Aaron
Six Months Later—The Witching Glen
Tiana stands at the tall window of my study, looking out at the green where there used to be nothing but ash. Six months of this realm healing, and my family still hasn’t gotten used to walking through a door that once opened onto rot. The study’s full of them today—my mother and all three of my sisters, the fire going, the shelves loaded back up with every book Eric ever pretended to read.
