I finish up and turn off the water. I had been in such a hurry to get in here, I didn’t grab something to change into, so I wrap the wet towel around my waist before opening the door.
She’s propped up on her side with a book open in front of her. I do my best to keep my eyes focused on her top half, but there’s a moment of weakness where my eyes fall. I notice the curve of her ass peeking out from under the shirt that isn’t quite as long as the one from the other night, and find myself clenching my fists as an attempt to check my power that growsmore and more unstable the longer I look at her. Eventually, I give up altogether and refocus my attention on the dresser.
“What book did you pick?”
She flips the book closed to look at the cover. “Finding Evangeline.”
“Interesting choice,” I tell her as I slip on a pair of bottoms with the towel still wrapped around my waist.
“Tell me about it,” she insists before slipping under the covers.
“There’s a boy who meets a girl named Evangeline when he’s six years old,” I begin as I turn off the lights and climb into the bed next to her. “It was only for a day but that one day changed his whole life. He spends the rest of his life looking for her. He sees her in shops and street corners but only for a moment. Never long enough to catch up to her. It isn’t until the end that he finds out she was never real. She was simply a figment of his imagination he had created the day his mother died. She was what he needed in that time of grief and real or not, she kept him moving forward through life by simply existing—even if it was only in his mind.”
“That’s tragic,” she says, hugging the pillow beneath her head a little tighter.
“I think it’s beautiful.” She looks at me like she’s surprised I would say such a thing. “What?”
“Nothing,” she mumbles. “Sometimes I feel like maybe I don’t know you as well as I think I do.”
“Isn’t that what I’ve been telling you this whole time?”
“I mean the softer parts of you. The parts that you’ve kept hidden, even from me.”
“Like what?”
She begins tracing invisible patterns on the covers with her index finger. “Like your mother. What was she like? What was your relationship with her like?”
I’m silent for a moment. Not because I don’t want to tell her, but because no one has ever asked. Everything has always been about my father. The only mention of my mother seems to be of her death.
“She was soft and quiet. She had a silent strength about her. To the rest of the world, she was in the background, hidden behind my father. But to me, she was the center.”
I grab Reign with my shadows and pull her close to me. She settles her leg in between mine, and I instinctively rest my hand on her perfect ass. The gesture makes her heat flare, and she inches just a little closer so that there is no space remaining between us.
“Tell me more,” she pleads.
“My mother was kind and gentle in a way that opposed her ruthless husband,” I continue. “Growing up, she would read me stories and make up games for us to play. As I got older, our time together became more scarce. But in that, it also became more precious. It was a gift that I treasured.”
“But she let your father do horrible things to you?” Reign questions with a look of hurt that makes me feel sick to my stomach.
“She didn’t always know what was going on,” I tell her, running my free hand along the arm she’s draped over my chest. “For whatever reason she loved my father, and he loved her back. It only made sense to the two of them, but I didn’t want to ruin that. I never spoke of the things he had done or made me do. Of course, she knew who he was. What kind of king he was. But she was the light in all the dark and I was scared that if she knew it all, that light would dim, and I wouldbe left in only darkness. And I was right to think that because that’s exactly what happened when she died.”
“I’m sorry,” she says in quiet sincerity.
I lift her chin up to look at me.
“Don’t be. It was you who brought back the light.”
Chapter 53
Reign
When I wake, Ryder is already gone. Left on the nightstand is a plate of delicious smelling food and a note. I’m not sure how late we were up last night talking, but judging by how tired I feel, I’m guessing we only got a few hours of sleep. I stretch across the bed and reach for the note.
Morning, Princess,
I’m sorry I won’t be here when you wake, but some of the Dread Woods creatures have arrived early. Enjoy your breakfast and I’ll see you later.
P.S.You snore.
