I traced idle patterns on his chest, feeling his heartbeat beneath my fingers. This.I’ve missed this. Intimacy. Connection.Love.Goddess, I was thankful he never let go. Outside, the rain continued to fall, a gentle rhythm against the windows.
“Graham?”
“Mm?”
“I have to tell you everything. About the curse, about what I saw in the vision, about?—”
“Tomorrow.” He pulled me closer, tucking my head under his chin. “Tell me tomorrow. Tonight, I just want this. Just us.”
“But—”
“Tomorrow, Agnes.”
He had a point. And I was so tired. And cozy. Also, I was just ridiculously happy.
“Okay,” I murmured. “Tomorrow.”
Although, it was hard to reconcile the positively wondrous thing that happened today. We saw a unicorn.A unicorn.And it bestowed on me something even more incredible than merely its presence.Answers.
But then I fell asleep in his arms, listening to the rain, and put my worries aside for one brief, stolen moment.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
AGNES
Iwoke to the unfamiliar warmth of another body pressed against mine.
For a moment, I just lay there, disoriented, blinking at the ceiling above me. There was an arm draped across my waist, heavy and possessive, attached to a man who was snoring softly against my shoulder.
Graham.
Memories of last night flooded back—the standing stones, the unicorn, the rain, his flat, his bed, his hands and mouth and body—and heat rushed to my face.
Goddess… it had been everything.
I shifted slightly, trying to see Graham’s face without waking him. In sleep, he looked younger. The permanent furrow between his brows had smoothed out, and his lips were slightly parted, his breath warm against my skin.
I could get used to waking up next to him and feeling the solid weight of his body beside me. The joy of knowing that I didn’t have to push him away anymore.
Except I did, didn’t I? The curse was still there. The danger wasstillreal. Last night had been incredible, but it hadn’t actually changed anything, had it? If anything, it had made things worse. The unicorn had confirmed what I’d always feared—that Graham and I were meant to be together—which meant the curse would come for him.
Like it had for everyone in my family before me.
My throat tightened with familiar panic.How long did I have?My mum and gran had had years before they’d lost their husbands. Would I get years? Or were the Kelpies more determined than ever to actualize the curse? How long would I have to determine how to break the curse? Months? Years?How long did I get to keep Graham as mine to love?
“You’re thinking too loudly.”
I startled. Graham’s eyes were still closed, but his arm tightened around my waist.
“I can hear you spiraling from here,” he mumbled. “Stop it.”
“I’m not spiraling.” I was one hundred percent spiraling.
“You are. You’ve gone all tense.” He cracked one eye open. “Whatever you’re worrying about, it can wait until after coffee.”
“Graham—”
“Coffee first. Freaking out later.” He pressed a kiss to my shoulder and rolled out of bed, completely unselfconscious about his nakedness. I watched him stretch, all thosemuscles shifting under his skin, and temporarily forgot what I’d been worrying about.
