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Which is okay. She doesn’t have to. Other fae get the luxury of not making the hard choices because Ialwaysdo.
The creature bursts through the door and into the pub as Bea dematerializes us outside. Below the ridge we stand on, the village begins to burn. People scream. They run, and the creature tears them apart.
Thorish appears beside us, a grim expression on his face. “You condemned them to death.”
“If it wasn’t this monster, it would have been the ancients,” I tell him. “We do not have the manpower to challenge such a creature, and I am unwilling to risk my life for someone who would not do the same for me.”
“That’s not being a hero,” Thorish replies.
Meeting his gaze, I see what I’ve been looking for since the moment I met the bastard—courage. “Neither is dying for the sake of death. You should remember that in the coming months, young fae. It might just save your life.”
* * *
Ember’s fingersknead the sore muscles of my chest as I lean back against her. Her legs are on either side of my body, the water moving gently around my waist.
Her fingers are bliss, her touch far more than anything I should deserve. Yet here she is with me.
How I managed to earn a second chance, I’ll never understand, but I do know that I will never take it for granted. “You are too good for me,” I tell her, voicing aloud what I know to be true.
“And you are frequently wrong, it seems.”
I peer up at her. Bright red hair falls to her shoulders in soft waves as the sun casts a halo around her head. Sharp eyes regard me with a passion that I know to be reflected in my own. “Oh?”
“You and I are a good match, don’t you think?” she questions. In her eyes, I see the briefest doubt, I pull away and turn to face her.
My hands go to her soft thighs, and I massage her flesh. “I do.”
“It just took you way too long to see it,” she replies with a grin.
I return the smile and lean in to press my lips to the side of her throat. As I do, I inhale, breathing in her scent and letting it fill my lungs. “I regret every moment I denied what I wanted.”
“So do I,” she replies.
Her words spark the need in me now, and the fabric separating us feels far too commanding of distance when I want to be inside of her. “Denying you was the most difficult thing I’ve ever done. I truly do not understand, though, how you make me feel.”
She swallows hard. “And how is that?”
“Like you are mine,” I growl. “As though we were born to love each other.” Had I not already been mated, I would have believed she was my one and only. Which makes no sense.
“What is so hard to believe about that?”
“I already had a mate,” I tell her, the words toxic, “And what I feel for you is so much stronger. According to our lore, to our history, the way I long for you should be impossible.”
Ember smiles softly and leans in to press her lips to mine. The contact is soft, pleasurable, and singes even as it soothes. “According to my lore,” she whispers. “To our history, this very place shouldn’t exist.” The world around us darkens as thunder booms overhead.
Fire flares to life, a ring around us, and I panic. “We need to—”
“This place will no longer stand should she fall,” Ember speaks, the words no longer in her voice.
“Ember.” I step back as flames spark to life along her skin. “Ember—” I choke out.
“She cannot fall, Rafferty. She needs you.”
* * *
Breathing ragged,I shoot up. My skin is slick with sweat, my heart hammering against my ribs with so much force I honestly wonder if it won’t be the death of me.
But that would likely be far too easy.
