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She tilted her head, feathering a kiss across the center of my palm.
“My only hope is that youlearn,” she breathed. “Caution is necessary, anger is not.”
I tugged her closer, watching as filtered moonlight played across her features.
“Will you make sure that I learn?” I asked, the words tumbling from my lips heedlessly.
Tomorrow, I’d blame it all on the pain and delirium. But right now, all I wanted was the comfort of Olly’s words—assurances, promises, vows that she would stay by my side. Not just tonight in this goddess-forsaken forest, but back in the palace where political battles tore at my soul day and night.
If we saw tomorrow—ifwe fought hard enough to make it home—I wanted to see what life would be like with her.
A lovely little furrow appeared at the junction of her brows.
“What do you mean?” she queried. “Would you require me to keep a report card of your missteps?”
“Not quite as elaborate,” I admitted, feeling the burn of a sweat droplet cresting down my forehead. “Stay with me, Olly.”
She huffed a laugh, glancing around the hollowed-out space. “I don’t really have a choice now, do I?”
“No.” My grip on her cheek tightened, and I forced myself to lighten up. It wouldn’t do to hurt her more than I already had.
“No, Olly,” I said again, swallowing past the nervous boulder lodged in my throat. “Stay with me. By my side. It could be us, together, like old times.”
A ghost of a punch landed on my shoulder. “Stop messing around.”
“I’m not,” I said, gazing into her eyes. “This is what I want. You and I, together again.”
She pulled away, taking the softness of her cheek beyond my grasp. In one swift motion, she stood, the top of her head brushing against the dirty rock.
“Are you forgetting you wanted medeadjust yesterday?” she questioned, running a hand through her rain-and-sweat-matted locks. “Dead!”
“I know I was a fool—”
“Andnowyou want us together like it’syourright to decide how I livemylife? You can only think about what’s good for you, can’t you, Zo? You need my patience to sort out the mess that is your life.”
“That’s not true!” I insisted, trying to push to my feet. A sharp lance of pain shot up my thigh and forced me back to the soft ground.
“You make everything better, Olly. Is it selfish to want your energy in my life?”
“Yes!” she yelled, huffing an angered breath. “Because what does that mean for me? What’s in this arrangement for me?”
“Being with me?” I hedged.
A heap of damp earth landed on my face. “You arrogant pig!”
“We would rule kingdoms together, Olly,” I pressed, undeterred by her anger. Slowly, I pushed the dirt away from my face. “We would make a formidable team.”
“We?”she questioned. “Oryou?”
“We,” I reiterated. “Us.Our clans could be stronger than ever. United in—”
I trailed off, the wordmarriagehanging between us like ghost.
She crossed her arms, glaring down at me with sparking cerulean eyes.
“I have a life without you, Zoei,” she spat bitterly. “A kingdom to run, a mother to please, a mate to—”
“She’snotyour mate,” I interjected, wishing to all the Goddesses I could stand right now.
