Page 132 of Curse the Fae

After that speech, how can he ask that?

Oh. He isn’t talking about himself.

I remember the words I’d spoken during our first clash in The Shiver of Sharks.You haven’t changed.That couldn’t be further from the truth now.

What I feel for him had guided me through a raging flood. What I feel for him cracked a Fae witch’s spell wide open. What I feel for him defied this world and won my freedom.

If this unconditional emotion can accomplish all that, what else can it do? Where else can it take us? Instead of reasoning what’s feasible if we’re apart, I want to know what’s possible if we stay together.

I saunter his way, my answer spilling forth with the resonance of a siren. “You must know that I’ve changed,” I say while coiling a lock of his hair around my finger. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t be touching you like this.”

“But what is this expression on your face? It is strange.” Frustration tenses his jaw, despite the way he leans into my touch, his baritone gruff. “It does not match the tone of your voice. How your forehead crinkles. The inward slope of your brows. I cannot recognize the shape of these things. I’ve never…”

Seen them before. That’s what he means. He’s never physically seen them on me before, apart from tracing them while in darkness.

“My expression is made of many emotions,” I intone. “It’s yearning and desperation and faith and happiness and terror. It’s everything.”

His frown deepens. “Terror.”

“I’m not afraid of you. I’m afraid of hurting you.” I gulp. “I won’t live forever.”

Comprehension spreads across his features. If he outlives me, it will cause him anguish. I can’t do that to him.

“It’s true, isn’t it?” I ask. “That line from the Fable? About the curse preventing any other magic from affecting us?”

“It is true,” he murmurs, sadness clashing with determination. “But I do not give a shit about that. I never have. I would choose a moment with you over an eternity with anyone else.”

The surety of our fate drills its fangs into me, yet his words buoy me like a raft. “It appears we’re in accord. I still can’t let this go, not if it’s worth the risk, because what if the pleasures of this life outweigh the grief? I could be with a human, and it would be the same gamble. But I don’t want a mortal man or woman. I want the uncertainty and poignancy. I want the danger and passion. I want the darkness and lightness. I want to go deep with you. I want only you.”

Elixir swallows. “Is there…any other emotion on your face?”

“Let me show you.” I take his fingers and drape them over my mouth, then along my chin, over my nose, under my eyelids, and up to my temple. I stand on my tiptoes for better access, and my mouth braces against him as I whisper, “This is what love looks like.”

His eyes shutter, seeing my features in his mind. “I see it.”

“And do you feel it?”

Those eyes whip open and peer at me, the orbs mesmerized and ravenous. “Yes,” he hisses. “Fuck, yes.”

My arms sling around his neck, my fingers dive into the black pool of his hair, and my voice cracks like a whip. “Then tell me.”

He grabs my face, his lips sizzling against mine. “I love you.”

“Say it again.”

“I love you.”

“Again.”

“I want you,” he says desperately. “I crave you. I desire you. I do not want you to leave. If need be, I shall tie you to this fucking platform. Or I shall toss you over my shoulder.”

“Why?” I demand. “Tell me again.”

“Because I love you!” he growls.

I nod vehemently, our mouths a brushfire about to ignite. “I love you, too.”

“Then show mercy. Or tempt me, and I might poison the universe. Or disarm me, and I might brew a weapon to taint the world outside this walkway, so there is no one left but us.”

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