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Isit there in silence as Nathan pours out his story to me.The grief is written all over his face as he opens his soul to me. It’s strange and marvelous. When did I become this person?
Very few beings in my life have ever stuck around long enough to learn anything about me, let alone to share with me anything about their lives. Helena is the exception that proves the rule. I’m hard to care for.
And yet, he pined for me.
That thought alone pushes me to press a light kiss on his cheek as he speaks. His gaze flutters to mine, the smallest of smiles gracing his lips, before he continues.
“When I was a youngling, before Andrius left us, he would say that he would take me flying. I begged him to take me, but he always put in small conditions that I didn’t really understand at the time. Little things, like he would only take me if he was home exactly at a certain time. One minute too early or late and…well, you get it.”
He’s speaking softly, his shoulder is resting on mine as we sit side-by-side. The warmth of our bodies is causing the snow to slowly melt before I refreeze it.
“Eventually, I told myself he refused to take me because I was too young.”
He pauses, his face distant, before he rubs his hands on his temples. “As I got older, I realized he didn’t want to take me flying because he didn’t want to be aroundme.He refused to use his shifting powers. Having an osprey and being in the Summer Court was like a brand saying that we weren’t pure Summer Fae.”
Nathan shifts, a muscle in his jaw twitches. His brow furrows and I get angry. This is one of the longest conversations I’ve ever had with him, but seeing him struggle to speak about his childhood…
It is like looking in a mirror that shows me the past.
My head cocks to the side.
For some reason, Fortuna has brought us together. For happiness or sorrow, I don’t know. But it is in that moment, when Nathaniel looks at me with those piercing eyes, that I realize he’s the person I’ve been waiting for.
“Nathan,” I whisper, running my thumb across his cheek, “you don’t have to tell me.”
He gathers me in his arms, so I’m facing him. There is no room between us. “I want to,” he says huskily.
“After a while... he twisted his marriage vows with my mother. He broke their bond and her heart. It’s still shattered to this day. Before he left, he told me that all of this wasmyfault. That before my sister and I came along, they were doing just fine. I was a reminder of the freedom having children had taken away from him, and the fact that he had ‘impure blood.’”
“Oh Nathan, I am so sorry.” Without thinking, I shift in his arms and press my lips to his. I want to bring him comfort in the same way the thought of him comforted me all those long months.
Our first kiss was tentative, but this one is filled with deep emotion. The moment our lips touch, he groans, sliding his hand behind my neck to pull me closer. Despite our location in the North, he smells like summer and somehow tastes like sunshine personified. His tongue flicks out, and he tastes me like it’s all he’s been thinking about since the first time we met.
Grief and anger pour out of us, twisting together, as the weight of what his father did is released into the open air.
He shifts, pulling me onto his lap, as the flame he controls behind me grows in increasing intensity. There is a faint dripping noise coming from somewhere behind us. His lips move from mine, his gentle kisses exploring the planes of my face before he kisses a trail down my neck.
“Nathan,” I gasp as a large droplet of water lands on my forehead. “You’re going to melt the entire igloo.”
I see a look of shock cross his face as he pulls his eyes from mine up to the walls that are currently dripping with melted snow. The ice is so thin, we can see the moon above us now, shining through the translucent ice.
He flushes, his ears tinged with an adorable pinkness, before he waves his hand and extinguishes his flame. “Can you fix this?” He asks, blushing.
My eyes drift over the igloo, assessing the damage, before nodding. “Give me a minute.”
I shift off his lap, moving to crouch on my knees in the center of the igloo. Water is beginning to pool on the ground and it dampens my knees.
He sits back, his legs tucked under his arms, as he watches me intently.
I wave a hand, summoning ice to solidify on the inside of the igloo, before I call forth a blizzard, packing snow on the top of the structure all around us. I send a gust of wind up the middle of the igloo, making sure that air can still come in and out of the structure.
Satisfied with the renewed strength of the building, I shift backwards and look at him. “You lost control of your flame,” I say, smirking.
“It’s hard to concentrate on it when I have a beautiful Fae in front of me.”
He thinks I’m beautiful.
* * *
