Page 94 of Lust & Lollipops

“That’s the one.” He continued twisting the strands, then untwisted them before finally going on. “I was in a dark place. Had been, for a while. More than a century.”

“How old are you?”

“A few years under three hundred. That’s about the cutoff, as far as living without a mate goes. No one makes it to three centuries alone.”

Shit.

I knew fae aged differently than humans, but still.

That was a lot of years.

A lot of dark years, if what he was saying was true.

“I was hoping my time would be up sooner rather than later. I’d started fading a little. I suppose humans would call it depression, but for fae, it’s something even more intense. We begin losing our magic, and with it, our lives.”

His gaze was on the strands of hair he was still playing with, wrapping and unwrapping them from his fingers.

“You don’t have to tell me, if it’s uncomfortable to talk about,” I said.

“You deserve to know.” His words were simple.

Soft.

Sweet.

My chest ached for him anyway.

“I didn’t particularly want a mate. Never really had. I’m sure I could’ve found one earlier, but the desire wasn’t there. I knew it would kill my parents to see me fade entirely, but I wasn’t going on Bachelorette. Someone would’ve died if I had. Possibly many someones. Myself included. Though I countered with the guard plan, I didn’t truly want it to work out.”

Staying quiet, I gave him time to work through his thoughts and feelings.

“But then I saw you,” he said, lifting his gaze to mine.

There was something in it.

Something deep, and intense.

“In the introduction video you sent with your bloodwork, you were uncomfortable. Most of the compatible mates were, but you weren’t as bad as most. And the sweater you had on—a sweater, despite it being the middle of summer—was yellow.”

My throat swelled as I realized where he was going with that.

Why he’d picked me.

His lips curved slightly.

“The words made me snort. Good morning, Sunshine? And the skull in the sun? It was fun. I thought, a woman who would wear a sweater in the summer, and hit the Society in the face with sarcasm in the process, was a woman who might be able to pull me out of the dark place I’d been in. So I picked you, I showed up at your door, and found you with that lollipop in your mouth—and you were even more annoyed to see me than I expected. It was perfect.”

I bit my lip.

He had been quieter when we first met. He’d teased me less.

The longer we’d known each other, the more playful he grew.

And the more freely I teased him back.

“The darkness around me dissipated every day. I don’t know if you dispelled it, or if I forced myself to do that because I wanted more time with you, but it did fade. It felt like I was coming back to life. You became my purpose. The center of my world. My everything.”

The man had clawed his way back to life because of me.

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