Page 61 of Hidden Kingdoms

Who I was now cuddled up against in bed.

As I brought his busted hand to my lips, kissing it softly, I didn’t care about any of that right now. I smiled as a hiss escaped his mouth, his fingers tightening on my hip and I let our hands fall to the mattress.

“Whatisyour favourite colour then?” His breath blew across my cheek and goosebumps rose over my skin.

“Gold. And pink. Yours?”

“It changes.”

I huffed out a laugh. “What is it today?”

“Today…” he replied, thinking for a moment, “today it’s brown.”

“No one's favourite colour is brown.”

“Mmm,” he murmured sleepily. “Like rich, dark honey, or coffee with just the right amount of milk.”

Sleep pulled at me as a small spark of something that felt like happiness shot through me as I thought that maybe,just maybe, I knew why today his favourite colour was brown.

25

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

ELODIE

Isnuggled down deeper into the warmth of my bed, reaching a hand out to push into Titan’s fur, seeking out the familiar comfort of his large form. Except my searching fingers found nothing but an empty bed. The haunting realisation dawned on me then that this was not my bed. That one moment where everything was back to the way it was had passed in a heartbeat, and bleary-eyed, I glanced around from my cocoon of blankets.

It was as though my very bones ached from the sadness of being away from him, the thought of Titan alone back home was borderline agonising.

Did he think I had abandoned him?

I knew Nanna would be looking after him, but his dog brain wouldn’t understand what had happened. He had always slept in my bed since he was a puppy. Was he snuggling up with Nanna?

I hoped so.

I hadn’t slept alone last night either, though the emptiness in the bed told me Kaius was gone. I ran my fingers over the pendant he had given me, magik humming at the trace of his that still lingered.

Stretching my arms across the empty space, I brushed over something hidden under the covers and pulled them back with uncertainty.

A rose in full bloom lay nestled against the sheets, every inch of it shimmering gold. I picked it up marvelling at its perfection, running my fingertips carefully along its velvet smooth petals, magik dancing over them.

I had no idea how long ago Kaius had left. My only way of judging time was through the darkening of the sky and the delivery of food.

I should ask for a clock—that wasn’t such a hard ask, was it?

There was nothing to do except wait for breakfast, and there wasn’t even much point getting up and showering until after I’d eaten. I stared at the blank TV in front of me; maybe I should ask for the remote?

Reaching over to pull one of the curtains open, I settled back into the pillows, watching the thick clouds that, from my limited knowledge, looked heavy with snow drift across the moody sky. Rolling the rose between my fingers I enjoyed the way the remnants of Kaius’ magik and the prick of the thorns played over my skin.

As the sky slowly brightened, people began milling around in the garden, which my window overlooked. I’d moved into the chair I dragged over yesterday in order to better people watch. It wasn’t exactly thrilling viewing, but it was more interesting than what was going on in here.

As I watched, my mind went back to my conversation in the gardens with Kaius. According to him, all those people down there were Fae, and he believedIwas, too. How was there a palace full of Fae tucked away somewhere in the world?

Akingdomof Fae.

My initial reaction of disbelief was chafing at me becauseof coursethat wasn’t possible. But then neither should have beenthe fact that I had magik, and even before I ended up in this place, I had magik.

So had Nanna, so had Briar.

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