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Thirty-One
Rosalie
Cool water caressed my limbs. I opened my eyes to see the clear sky.
“You’re finally awake.” Baine smiled above me.
“Where? What?” Looking around, we were at the Moonlake or rather in the lake. Baine held me in his arms in the water, which reached up to his chest. Everything from my chest down submerged in the refreshing water.
“After the ritual I took you here to cool down.”
“Calvin?”
“He’s safe. Marco took him inside and the servants are tending to him.”
My head pounded, a dull ache that pinched the bridge of my nose and my forehead. “I feel horrible.”
“I thought you were dying in front of me.”
Shifting my body slightly, I stared into Baine’s light eyes and lifted a hand to brush his cheek. He turned in to my touch, closing his eyes.
“Kelia’s powerful, more powerful than any magi I know of. I couldn’t do anything to stop what was happening. I thought the magic you and your brother cast would kill you both.”
“Did it work?”
He shook his head, looking lost and broken. “I don’t know. There’s no way to know until it’s too late and the darkthings arrive. You can’t do that again though. How can you?”
Wrapping an arm around his shoulders, I placed my feet onto the sand, my toes squishing into the bottom of the lake. “What if I have to?”
“No, I don’t care.”
With both my arms around his neck, I forced him to look at me. “We can’t ignore our duties, no matter how difficult.”
Baine slid his hands to my waist, gripping my hips. “You don’t understand what it felt like. What it feels like for a fae to lose his mate.”
“Your what?”
My heart fluttered. Baine and I hadn’t had time to talk about us, not with everything that had happened. I knew he cared about me, even wanted me, but mate? I didn’t even think it was possible for a fae to be mated to a human.
His eyes widened, the realization of what he just admitted dawning on his blushing face. “Uh . . . well . . . I . . .”
Biting my lip, I smiled. “You called me your mate. Do you really mean that?”
“We should go eat. I’m sure you’re hungry.” Moving away from me, he walked out of the lake and over to an area by the shore where a blanket and a basket had been set out.
“Baine!” Grabbing my wet robe, I trampled out of the water and over to the grass.
“Enola made cheese rolls and brought you a clean outfit to change into. I’ll give you some privacy.” He turned his back to me, water sliding down his bare back, accentuating the corded muscles. He’d gone into the lake wearing only a pair of black pants.
He could ignore the question for a few minutes, but only because I really was hungry and soaked. Slipping out of the robes, I quickly threw on the blue cotton dress. “Finished.”
Not wanting to look at how amazing he looked without a shirt on, I dug into the basket to eat. Taking one of the large strawberry-cinnamon rolls out, I sat on the blanket and chomped into the soft pastry.
Baine stood across from me, arms folded, staring off into the distance.
He was going to make this difficult.
Wiping the sugary glaze off my lips, I opened the water skin and guzzled the fresh liquid, swirling it around my mouth to remove any bits of strawberries from my teeth. When I was sated, and sure I was ready to discuss this whole mate business, I walked over to Baine.
