As if he heard my thoughts, he continues, slipping his fingers just underneath the lace fabric. I lean my head to the side and fall back into him, giving him more access to me. Access that he doesn’t take because his fingers are already making their way back up.
His thumb rubs circles over the star-filled pendant.
“What are you thinking?” I ask as I turn around to face him.
His eyes stay fixed on the necklace. “Besides all of the things I wish I could do right now?” His eyes meet mine. “I’m wondering how long I have until you push me away again.”
“Is that what you want? Me to push you away, so you don’t have to?”
He slips the pendant back underneath my corset and brushes one of the loose pieces of hair from my face.
“I don’t have the strength to push you away anymore.”
Chapter 50
Ryder
How wickedly evil of her to stand before me in this dress, looking at me like I deserve her. I’ve done everything I can to push her away, but she just keeps coming back. Forcing me to fall more in love with her each time.
Music begins to play around us, filling the garden with an enchanting melody.
“Amaya,” we say in unison.
“She’s committed. I’ll give her that.”
Reign shakes her head and laughs. “She certainly is.”
I step back and take a bow. “Who am I to resist the demands of Amaya Sullivan?”
“I suppose we should save ourselves from her wrath,” Reign agrees,offering me her hand.
It feels just as perfect as it had the night with the lanterns. Almost as if she were made for me. But she wasn’t. She was made for someone else. Someone more deserving. Someone who could love her wholly.
She rests her left hand on my shoulder as I pull her into me. The music plays, and we move between the sections of flowers effortlessly. Every step is smooth and natural, as if we are one body.
The last time we danced together, she looked at me with hatred in her eyes. She saw me as the enemy. The spawn of a cruel king who would kill anyone who stood in his way. Now, she looks at me like I’m everything she didn’t know she needed.
“When did you know?” she asks, squeezing my shoulder tighter like she’s scared I’m going to slip away.
“Know, what?”
“That you loved me?”
I spin her, trying to buy myself time, but the image of her twirling around in that dress distracts me. When she comes back to me, a wave of her comes crashing into me like the sea, and I want to drown in it—in her.
“I think I felt it for a long time,” I begin to admit. “But it wasn’t until that night on the beach in Zentria that I allowed myself to truly acknowledge it.” She looks lost in thought as I guide us closer to the fountain in the middle. “I tried for so long to convince myself that you were just a girl who needed my protection. That the reason I cared for you was because of the promise I had made to your father. I even clung to the guilt of what my own father had done to you, using it as an excuse for needing to be close to you. And it worked. For a while, I was able to pretend that you didn’t mean something to me. Even when I felt shattered watching you be consumed by dragon fire, I lied to myself. It’s the only way I could survive.”
“What changed?”
“I did.” I gently push her away and spin her in, so her back is to me. “Because of you.”
She tilts her head back to look up at me, and it’s like her lips are calling my name.
How can something feel so right and be so wrong?
Streams of gold sparks suddenly rain down above us, and I’m thankful for the distraction.
“You changed me, too,” she whispers, turning around to run both hands through my hair.
