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No, that wasn’t quite right. I feared the possibility that I wouldn’t be allowed to be myself. As I watched Arven step outside and claim a spot beside me, I knew that wasn’t something he would ask of me. Perhaps it was the elves that I feared the most. Arven wasn’t the problem, it was the fact that he would eventually have to return to the elven courts and assume his rule again.
If I fell in love with him, I wouldn’t want to be apart from him. That meant returning to the elven realms that I desperately wanted to avoid.
Looking around, I took in the charm of Lakesedge. The old buildings and the sense of community here pulled me in. This place had gone through enough upheaval in the past year or two that it was safe now. With Cerri and her friends leading the supernatural community here, I trusted that this would remain a sanctuary.
“Need a lifeline?” Arven asked.
I couldn’t help but snort a little. And yet, my heart warmed, too. He held out his hand for me to take, and the thoughts consuming my mind melted away. I had this moment, right here and now, and I would savor it for the time.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
He gave a nod and said nothing more.
I noticed he, too, had another to-go cup in hand. A keyring dangled from a finger wrapped around the cup. It seemed that someone had given him a key to Cerri’s apartment. We didn’t need directions to get there…I unfortunately knew exactly where it was.
Inside the warehouse apartment, I breathed deep and took in all the smells from potions and meals Cerri had made over the years. I set my plush cat on the couch and dropped beside it.
“I’m surprised that you clung to that toy,” Arven said, drifting towards the kitchen like it might hold a human delicacy.
I cocked my head curiously. “Why? It’s the only thing I have left of my father. It makes sense to hold onto it, at least to me.”
Arven went completely still. I knew he had something he wasn’t telling me, so I launched myself off the couch and stormed across the room so I could step in front of him and look him in the eye. He stepped back ever so slightly and averted his gaze. He looked to the empty fridge in order to avoid looking at me.
I rolled my eyes at his maneuvers to get away from me. “If you’re going to tell me that my father was an awful man, keep it to yourself.”
Arven straightened and closed the fridge. “That’s not it at all. Your father was a sweet, if weak, man.”
I knew Arven was telling the truth because he didn’t bother sugar coating it. Had he wanted to lie to me, he would have gone the extra mile to make it too good to be true as if that might sway me to swallow his lie. He meant what he said, which had me questioning what else he could be hiding.
Arven wasn’t out to hurt me. I knew that now. The only other option was that he thought he was protecting me. I glanced back at the stuffed cat and questioned what he thought he could possibly be protecting me from.
This was me we were talking about. I could keep myself safe from almost anything—the poisoned bolt Locke shot at me was a fluke, and I wholeheartedly refused to acknowledge it as anything else.
I stalked back over to the couch and gingerly picked up my stuffed cat. I smoothed back it’s raggedy fur and tried to massage the stuffing back into a semblance of fluffiness.
“My father didn’t give this to me? At least…not directly.”
I knew that my father had handed it to me. He hadn’t really explained where it’d come from. I hadn’t given him time. I’d been nineteen and thought myself above things such as stuffed animals. I mean, Dad had already promised my hand in marriage to a far-off king. It wasn’t like I was a girl anymore. At that point, I was already a woman…
I clenched the stuffed cat in my grasp. “Youbought it for me.”
Arven was suspiciously quiet behind me. I half-expected to turn and find that he’d slipped out without telling me. I wouldn’t have put it past him. He’d accidentally redefined my entire world again, without warning.
This time, the ground beneath me didn’t tilt. Time didn’t stop. I simply stared at the stuffed cat in my hands until Arven’s warmth grazed my back. He put a tentative hand on my back as if to ask if he could pull me into him.
“I’ve never been without you. This whole time, you were there in my life.” The words were soft on my breath, like even I couldn’t believe them.
Dad never did tell me where the stuffed cat had come from.
Arven chuckled softly. “It was like a self-fulfilling prophecy. I didn’t know you would become a stray cat yourself.”
He ran his hand up my back, making me shudder with anticipation. Immediately, my core turned warm and wet. I remembered the feeling of his tongue between my legs and the way his eyes burned as he looked up at me. My breath left me in a sudden rush as I craved more.
I wasn’t about to fuck on Cerri’s bed, though.
Grumbling, I spun and threw myself down onto the couch. An immediate prick in the ass had me shooting right back up. I reached back and plucked a shard of glass from my leather pants. Had it not been for them, that shard would have surely found its way into my butt.
Lip curling, I glanced up to the floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out over the lake. I’d taken a number of shots through that very window. Even from here, I could see the places I’d hunkered down with my crossbow.
