Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 81261 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81261 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
I look up into the branches above and marvel that I can smell the apples. “Thank you,” I whisper without looking at him because I’m afraid he might see my vulnerability born of his actions.
I want to cry. No one has ever thought to do something so thoughtful for me before, and I’m not sure I can convey any more gratitude without breaking down.
CHAPTER 21
Amell
I’m not sure what I’ll do if Nyssa starts crying. It’s not something she does, and I know because I’ve seen her life. The last time tears were in her eyes was when she learned her brother had been adopted, but she didn’t even let the tears fall. She wiped them away.
Every terrible thing that happened to Nyssa throughout her life never produced a single tear, with the exception of the day she learned her brother was being adopted. All her memories that I saw came directly from her, and I could feel her emotions as things happened.
Tears are foreign to me. Fae don’t cry, and often our own emotions can be muted. Usually the softer ones stay hidden, although my anger does get out of control at times.
It’s because of my lack of experience with emotions that I’m uneasy right now watching Nyssa battle hers. I don’t know if her feeling so deeply is good or bad. I don’t know how to offer comfort.
So, I do the next best thing. I distract her by reaching over to pull the basket nearer to me. “That chicken good?” I ask.
She smiles, nods, and takes another bite. Her eyes look distinctly dry.
I grab a piece and also pour some wine. We eat in silence for a bit. I admit I like the food from the First Dimension much better than what we produce here, and now that Zora allows free but monitored travel through the veil by trusted Dark Fae, it’s not hard to have it on my table every day.
With Nyssa going to be what I’m hoping is a permanent fixture here, I’d like to provide that for her.
“The sun is nice,” Nyssa says as she looks around. “But I like the night sky more.”
I blink at her in surprise. “Really? I assumed you’d like the sunlight better.”
“It’s very pretty, but your velvet sky and huge stars are a piece of art to me.”
My heart thumps a few times, because I’ve always felt that too. I wave my hand and the sun disappears, reverting to the inky sky with the threat of a sunrise on the horizon.
“Your midnight realm.” She sighs, tips her head back, and smiles. She reaches a hand, squints, and pretends to pluck a star. “They hang so low, it feels like I can touch them.”
Her gaze comes to me, and I mimic her actions. I reach up, pinch at a star that’s too far away to actually grab, but when I lower my hand, a sparkling diamond sits in my palm.
Nyssa gasps in delight and takes it, holding it up to examine. “It’s so beautiful.”
“So are you.”
She lifts her eyes to me, mouth parted slightly. “I’m not.”
“The most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” I say, and she blushes over the truth in my words.
“Another first,” she whispers as her gaze lowers in shyness.
I know what she’s saying. No one has ever said that to her. She’s had a lot of firsts with me.
With a wave of my hand, the food and wine disappear. I pull Nyssa to me, rolling her onto her back so I’m hovering over her. “I want you to be happy here.”
“I am,” she says, a simple, genuine statement.
“Because you can’t ever leave, you know that, right?”
She nods. “Only two ways out… the Crimson River or reincarnation.”
I don’t confirm that, because it’s not exactly true. I’d never throw her in the river, and Zora could potentially reincarnate her. I know Nyssa doesn’t have remorse for her offense, but knowing what I know now, and since Zora is aware of it too, she’d give her another shot at life.
I just don’t tell Nyssa that, and I don’t have a single fucking ounce of guilt either.
“I don’t want you to leave,” I tell her. “I want to keep you.”
“You mean… like a pet?” Her impish grin has me itching to spank her.
“As my lover,” I clarify. “For eternity.”
Because I want her for that long and more. I’ve never wanted anything to be solely mine, and the thought of not having her is unbearable.
Bending down, I kiss her. It was meant to be nothing more than an affirmation that she has me, but the minute our lips touch, our connection is a live wire snapping with electricity. It’s like that every fucking time I kiss her, and my body wants more.
She wants it, too, arching up into me, hands going straight to my hips to try to meld our bodies together.