Page 136 of Alien God

“You didn’t know that?” Wylf asked, deadpan. “Would have guessed you’d have figured it out that first day I brought this all home for you.

“OK... you kind of have a point,” I said. “Alright, fine. You know these other stone sky gods and the dress code better than I ever could. I trust you.”

Wylf stiffened, his hands going still.

“Good.”

I smiled, leaning sideways until my head bumped his shoulder.

“I remember that you once told me you didn’t care if I trusted you,” I murmured.

“Things change,” he said gruffly, his hands resuming their search. “Ah. Here it is.”

I recognized the fabric immediately as Wylfrael pulled it out of the armoire. How could I forget the devastatingly perfect black silk, the first thing he’d draped over my shoulders while I’d sat glaring at him in this very room?

It was no longer a slippery, shapeless bolt, but had been sewn into a long, flowing sheath dress with thin straps and a plunging V-neck.

“This one?” I gasped, flushing at the beauty of the garment.

“Yes. Gave Aiko instructions on the design the same day I held it up against you.”

I took it from his hands, marvelling at the perfect texture.

“There’s something else,” Wylfrael said, rummaging in the armoire again. “Here.”

He placed something else on top of the dress in my hands. Something made of stunning gold and white lace I hadn’t noticed in the chests of fabric last time.

“What is it?” I asked. But even as I asked, I instantly knew what it was. A mask, the kind you’d wear to a masquerade ball. I raised the dress and the mask closer to my face, astonished by the delicate beauty of the glimmering gold lace.

“Aiko made this too?”

“No,” Wylf answered. “I did.”

“You?!” I gawked. “I didn’t know you could sew!”

“Anyone who can write in Sionnachan can sew,” Wylf said simply.

“OK, but being able to sew and being able to make something like this are two completely different things and you know it! I don’t remember seeing this lace before.”

I’d been inundated with fabrics and clothing, but I would have remembered golden lace like this.

“I purchased it at a different time. Before the rest of it.”

“Before?” I frowned. He’d gone out to get all this stuff pretty soon after we got fake engaged. “I don’t understand.”

Wylfrael’s mouth puckered into an irritated frown.

“I bought it right after you arrived,” he muttered. “There. Are you satisfied? Even before I knew I loved you, I was a fool for you. Buying expensive lace in shops because it reminded me of your eyes. Ridiculous.”

I wanted to whisper that it wasn’t ridiculous, but I could see what bothered him. Back then, we’d been enemies. I was his prisoner. We’d hated each other. And yet...

And yet, he’d bought beautiful lace because it reminded him of me.

Wylf spoke again, all the bitterness gone from his voice.

“That was the first thing I noticed when I saw your face, you know. Your eyes. You may have been human, and I may have considered you a foreign invader, but your eyes were all Sionnach. Honey on snow. The sweetness of my homeland in the gaze of a woman from across the cosmos. I should have realized, even then, that it meant something.”

“Meant what?”

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