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He threw up his hands. “It’s not like that at all.”
“Why isn’t it?”
“The tokens point to who we love, you ninny.” He tweaked her nose. “They are merely further proof that we are with the people we’re supposed to be with. I’m supposed to be with you for the rest of my life. You’re home for me.”
She lay back, her head on his thigh. Usually, their positions were reversed. But he rather liked this, too. He began to pull the pins from her hair, dropping them one by one to lie beside him on the blanket. “What are you doing?” she asked.
“I want to touch you all over. And I’m starting at the top,” he said with a chuckle.
“What if I wasn’t the one, Marcus?” she asked. “What if your compass pointed to someone else one day?”
“My compass will never point to anyone else, Cece. Ever.”
“But what if someday it magically does?”
“Then I will bash the blasted thing into oblivion. Because I know my heart better than any compass ever could.”
“Hmm…” she said.
“Stop thinking,” he urged. “The tokens are just further proof. They have nothing to do with how I love you or why I love you or how long I’ll love you.”
“How do you love me?” she asked with a giggle. She looked up at the clouds with a smile on her face rather than looking at him.
“Desperately and completely,” he said.
“Why do you love me?” she asked, her smile even bigger than before.
“Because you’re home for me.”
Her smile softened. “How long will you love me?” she asked.
“Forever and a day.”
She was quiet, and he could tell she was thinking. He nudged her head with his knee, brushing her hair back from her face with gentle fingers. “What are you thinking about?”
“I’m thinking about how much I missed you when we were apart.” She turned onto her side to face him. “I’m thinking about how I felt abandoned and alone.”
She might as well have stuck a knife in his gut. He could never say he was sorry enough. “When we were in the land of the fae, did you sleep with me because you were in love with me? Or because you needed to escape from your life?”
She didn’t say anything for a moment. “A little bit of both,” she finally admitted. “I used you shamelessly.” She giggled. “I would be angry at me if I were you.”
A grin tugged at his own lips. “I would be willing to pay penance such as that anytime you choose.”
“You’re so selfless,” she chided.
“You should have told me about your father,” he said softly. “I could have helped you long before I did.”
“You left me. And I didn’t want to call upon you for anything after that.” She shrugged. “Stubborn pride.”
“I would have come back for you,” he said, taking her chin in his hand so he could look into her eyes. “I would have come back for you anytime.”
“I wanted you to come back for me just because you loved me. Not because I needed someone to save me.”
“Yet you came for the mission to secure my place in human society.”
She looked everywhere but at him. “I needed a reprieve from my father.”
“You didn’t want to see me at all?” He was only jesting, but he was also curious.
