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Kingston snorted, prompting me to hit him again. “Stop it. I’m serious,” I warned.
His lips twitched with amusement at that. “I have no doubt you will.”
“Which one saved him? Vyper?”
“Vyper flew him to the ground again,” he answered, and a breath of sweet relief coursed through my lungs.
The way he looked at me, however, made me think there was more he wasn’t saying.
“Tell me,” I ordered.
“Not yet…” The humor left him as he considered another fact. “Did something happen between the two of you in the Mirror World?”
My gut tightened with his unexpected question. “No, of course not!” I lied, terribly I might add, and his nostrils flared in anger—almost shooting fire.
“Evanna… tell me the truth.”
“His world is very different from ours, Kingston, and I found out I was different there too…Carefreein a way.”
My guardian’s cowl intensified, and I placed a hand on his chest, right over his heart.
“Brax treated me with nothing but respect. He was sweet and considerate when he didn’t know who I was. Not because he owed any loyalty to ‘the princess’ but because that is who he is. He gave me the benefit of the doubt after I behaved like a crazy person, thinking he was his father. Most of the time, he couldn’t understand my behavior, but that didn’t make him see me as anything other than a person deserving of his help… that is all you need to know.”
My guardian regarded me for several moments, trying to grasp what I was saying and finally sighed. Leaning in, he placed a heartfelt kiss on my forehead. “Get some rest, Princess. Hopefully, tomorrow you’ll be back to normal.”
I watched him walk out of my room with a new weight over his shoulders, but I ran after him at the last moment. “I know you’ll do the right thing, Kingston,” I assured without an ounce of doubt. “You always do.”
A small smile curved his lips but it didn’t reach his troubled eyes. Without another word, he made his way down the stairs to his quarters.
* * *
After a warm bath, I slipped the linen nightdress over my body, and headed for bed. The city outside my window was engulfed in darkness, aside from the sliver of moonlight that filtered through the roof.
Seeing Braxton at dinner, so far away from me, added to the ache growing in my heart. I couldn’t understand why I even felt this way. I had never depended on anyone, never allowed any attachments to cloud my judgement, except when it came to my best friend, Willow, and my guardian because they were the only family I had left. Yet, after meeting Braxton, after what he and I had shared, I couldn’t help the growing urge to have him close.
Except, he wasn’t.
Kingston was purposely keeping him away, and I sensed he knew what Braxton was beginning to mean to me.
What exactly did he mean to me?
The love between a man and a woman had never been something that interested me. Being paired with a man didn’t cross my mind while I was raised to fight for what my family believed in, for what our people deserved. Giving myself to someone was never an option, because the fate of my world depended on me. But when I found out that Brax’s mother had passed… when I entered his room and saw the fierce agony searing his soul to such an extent that he was unable to let it fall from his eyes, it was like something else took over me.
I couldn’t breathe. All I wanted to do was kiss him, caress him, comfort him until the darkness drowning him dissipated, and light once again illuminated his beautiful green irises. In part, because I knew how it felt to lose your parents, but more importantly, because there was a force inside me that knew only being with him that way would ease both of our hurt.
I had wanted to love him. To hold him so close that our bodies could never be apart again.
My hand rose to my cheek, the feeling of his phantom touch returning. Had that really been a dream, or had he been here, in my room? I knew the latter wasn’t a realistic possibility, but I still hoped. When I glanced towards the bedside table, I debated whether or not to take the medicine. It helped me heal, yes, but it also made me severely drowsy, and if there was a possibility Braxton could somehow get to me, I wanted to be able to see him.
Lifting the sheets and blanket, I got into my bed, laying my head on the pillow. Moon-hours passed slowly as I fought to stay awake, my eyes fixed on the entrance to my room, but fatigue eventually won. I was swiftly swept away by the darkness…
A noise woke me at some point during the night, except it came from the window. My head lifted, and the instant my attention shifted, I noticed Vyper hovering just outside. Adrenaline rushed through me, taking away any remnants of sleep, and I lunged out of bed, stopping a few feet across from the wall.
Braxton climbed through the window the next second, landing inside the space. “Hey, Baby. Thank God you are awa—”
Before he could finish, I rushed to him. A tinge of pain came from my ribs when we collided, but I didn’t care. His arms wrapped around me softly, but he held me closely to him and pressed his nose to my hair, smelling me like he needed it most of all.
I couldn’t explain the feeling of relief I experienced having him near, but something told me I didn’t have to, he felt the same way. Lifting his head from my neck, his mouth soon found mine, and he kissed me deeply, making me relax in his embrace. His soft yet sensual kiss spoke of a million things I couldn’t really voice, but was experiencing too, and I cradled his face, slightly pulling away.
