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“No, don’t fall asleep,” Rue ordered. She patted my cheeks. “Stay with me.” The note of panic in her voice finally reached me. “I need you to open your eyes for me. Please, Kent!”
I summoned up the strength and opened my eyes to focus on her lovely features. The tousled riot of her hair, half-escaped from its pins, tumbled over her shoulders in touchable curls. Her mossy-green eyes clouded as her delightfully soft mouth tightened in concern.
“What happened?”
The land magic called to me, teasing the edges of my senses. The household defensive spells lifted abruptly, and land magic retreated so that my familiar natural magic reclaimed precedence. But still the wood’s magic lingered and whispered alluringly. If I just focused, I could lean back into—
“Kent?” Rue’s worried tone pulled me back from the edge again. “Resist it,” she pleaded. “At least until you can speak to Lord Greyson about this. Something is wrong. The land is speaking to you and not to the king.” Her delicate brows lowered. “It is as though it wants…”
Then shaking her head, Rue backed up, breaking contact between us. I felt that break acutely. Instinctively, I reached out and caught her arm, maintaining contact—connection.
Rue froze, her hand suspended between us, with my fingers closed around her wrist. Her attention wasn’t on our hands, though. It was on my face. The soft caress of her magic passed over me as she studied my features. She tilted her head slightly, a sign that she was using more than just her sight.
“When did the land’s magic merge with yours?”
“I don’t know.” I was both surprised and not at the news that it had.
She closed her eyes for a moment before taking a deep breath. “We need to speak with Greyson. Your magic and the realm’s are so intertwined that I suspect they can’t be separated anymore.”
“A good thing if I am to be the Unseelie king,” I muttered, fighting my own nerves at the apparent inevitability, all things considered. Distracting myself, I shifted my grip on her hand, intertwining our fingers.
“And if you aren’t?” she asked.
“I don’t know.” I attempted to tug her closer, but she resisted.
“Which is why we need to tell Lord Greyson.” She pulled free from me and started toward the door. The magic of the land sighed, which made me pause in confusion.
“The realm likes you.”
Rue stopped and turned around to stare at me. “What?”
“It is acts like a living, sentient thing.” I crossed the room to reach her once more and brushed the back of my fingers against her cheek. The land magic trilled in my head like a cat. “And it has definite opinions about you.”
“Are you certain they aren’t just your opinions?” she asked as I wound my fingers into her hair and stepped into her personal space. She tilted her chin up so that she could meet my eyes. Dark curls that had escaped her swept-up hair fell across her forehead.
Gazing down into her green eyes, the urge to kiss her teased at my thoughts, and the realm magic chittered its excited approval. “I am going to kiss you now,” I whispered.
Her eyes widened and an adorable blush spread across her cheeks, but she didn’t object otherwise. I seized the moment.
Rue tasted warm like sunlight. Slipping my fingers deeper into the cool delight of her curls, I gently supported her head as I deepened the kiss.
“What is going on here?” Greyson demanded.
With a gasp of shock, Rue tore herself free and retreated a step before I could gather my own senses and respond.
“Lord Greyson.” Rue dropped into a slight curtsey. “Pardon.”
“For what exactly?” Greyson dominated the doorway, blocking any escape as he glared at the pair of us. “The kerfuffle with the king or this semipublic display of affection? I thought we were trying to keep your relationship status secret for her safety.”
“We were,” I confirmed.
“The king already knew, somehow,” Rue said.
“So, neither of you informed him?”
We both shook our heads.
“Well, someone did, and the news is rapidly making its way through the gossip mill of the court.”
