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I took the bite, and we were both quiet for a few minutes. “Starting over isn’t easy,” I finally said. “There are a lot of bad memories.”
“Then perhaps you should learn how to lightthemon fire, too.”
And I ate the rest of the pasta in silence, until exhaustion had me lowering myself back to the floor and closing my eyes.
Sleep took me quickly, and I didn’t put up any kind of fight.
Chapter4
I was stillon the floor, on fire when I woke up. It scared the shit out of me for a minute, but the stone beneath me grew and stretched up over my stomach, and the gentle pressure of it reminded me that I was alright.
That I’d just… changed.
When I lifted my bleary eyes, I found Quake also sprawled out on the floor. He’d left about six feet between us, making it clear that he wasn’t trying to make me uncomfortable.
I didn’t think he was even capable of making me uncomfortable, though, unless he started talking about love and emotions and whatnot.
“What are you doing?” I asked him, since his eyes were open. Neither of us got up when he replied.
“Repairing cracks in the land. The elements eat at each other—like you saw in King’s Valley.”
I winced at the reminder of the city Flame and Storm had destroyed. “Why?”
“Outside of protection, the only reason my people have a king is to repair the land and interact with the other elemental kingdoms. There are representatives who make the important decisions as they apply to the people. My sister Sevva is the leader of those representatives, and she’s far more liked than I am.”
I grimaced for him. “Damn.”
“Yup.” His lips curved upward slightly. “I hoped finding a compatible mate would liven things up and give me more purpose. Seems I was right.”
I snorted. “Pretty sure that’s an insult.”
He chuckled. “It’s not. The fact that you’re a fire fae ensures that my people will continuously have problems with me.”
“Well, that one wasdefinitelyan insult.”
He laughed. “It’s not, Margo. You have no idea how boring life gets, when you’ve got as much power as me and nothing to use it on but sealing cracks. I need stimulation—and all I’ve got is more damn cracks. I’m not noble, like Storm, involved in every part of my people’s lives. I’m not constantly battling my people, like Flame. And I’m not in charge of rounding up sea monsters and storing them in the aboa, like Flood. I just keep the world from literally crumbling. It gets very old.”
“That sounds kind of shitty,” I admitted.
“It could be worse. But it could be better, too. The other kings have always thought I’m a romantic, because I hoped for a mate to break the monotony—they don’t understand that I’m just ready formore.”
“Sealing cracks sounds pretty boring, even with a real mate.”
“It would be less boring with a velvety ass sitting on my lap while I worked,” he remarked.
A snort escaped me. “There’s the joke I’ve been missing.”
His smile faded.
I guess I’d reminded him what Harper told him about my past.
I wished it hadn’t changed how he treated me so much. But it was my fault, for fighting him so damn hard.
The silence between us was heavy for a minute.
Really, really heavy.
“You should’ve told me,” he finally said, his voice quiet. “If I had known what memories I was bringing back, that I was making you think I’d ever…” he shut his mouth, and clenched his jaw.
