Page 101 of Façade

But first there was one question that had haunted me ever since learning of his betrayal. “Will you tell me how it happened?”

He sighed. “It won’t change anything. Nothing will.”

“I know, but I still need to hear your explanation. Please.”

He wrestled within himself before finally relinquishing the fight. “My desperation had grown beyond breaking point. Seeing the vanished village, my own experience with the disappearing curse, witnessing the pain of one of my guards whose family had fallen victim…I needed to dosomething. I sought to find another solution, but immediately after I discovered you were the true princess and possessed the magic I needed, the temptation began. I managed to resist for some time…but in the end the temptation overcame me.”

He seized hold of my hand, his expression earnest.

“But despite my giving in, please believe me that I had no idea taking your magic would hurt you so deeply. If I’d known, I truly believe I’d have been strong enough to resist, for my feelings for you are far stronger than even the most alluring temptation. Nothing can ever repair what I’ve done, making my remorse complete. I’m so incredibly sorry, dear Evie.”

His eyes swirled with his sincerity. This apology, combined with all I knew concerning his true character, the relationship we’d built, his atonement in returning my magic and annulling our marriage, his near critical injury from his efforts to protect me, and most of all the love that had always remained, gave me the final push I needed to return my heart to him.

My affection only escalated my desperation. I summoned my powers, but once again Ryland shook his head in protest. “You can’t do that for me, especially with your drained magic.”

“You have no right to determine how I use my powers, Ryland, and there is nothing I’ve ever wanted to use them for more than to heal you. Please allow me to do this for you.”

He searched my eyes. At seeing my sincerity, his hand resting over mine fell away.

With a wavering breath I gathered my magic in my palm and rested it over his gash, still bleeding heavily enough to seep through the bandage. Love, not skill or experience, surrounded my power, feelings which had only grown from our having overcome the obstacles vying to keep us apart in order to weather even this fiercest storm.

Every emotion from our relationship—both the good and the bad—filled my heart to lend strength to my magic. From my initial indifference upon our first meeting, to distrust and dislike, to friendship, to eventually love; even the anger that had momentarily eclipsed everything else remained part of our story, along with the eventual forgiveness that had allowed us to finally rebuild our trust.

Each feeling acted as a magical stitch to slowly seal his wound, allowing me to heal him. His breath caught as he felt along the gash that was no longer there. My shoulders relaxed. It had worked. Exhausted from the effort, my hand fell, but he seized hold to curl his fingers around mine with such a look of awe and love. Words proved unnecessary as we stared at one another.

Magic hadn’t just healed him—it’d healed all the hurt and anger he’d inflicted on my heart until none remained to taint all I felt for him. I loved him, a feeling that had emerged from the ashes of our relationship to make something far stronger and more beautiful than before.

This realization urged me to act on the desire enfolding my heart, the same need that filled his gaze, a love he’d expressed in actions more than words.

When I was inches from his lips, he suddenly pulled away. “We can’t, Evie. Despite what I feel for you, after everything I’ve done…you can’t kiss the enemy.”

My heart broke that he remained so burdened by the past that he couldn’t accept the love blooming between us, even as his resistance served as a testament that he cared more for protecting my heart than his own desires. “Luckily for you, I’m partial to enemies.”

He remained still, allowing me to guide this next step in our relationship. At first I simply wanted to touch him, to bridge our unbearable distance and grasp hold of him in order to always keep him with me. My hand curled naturally against his cheek. I half-expected him to pull away, but he only leaned against my touch, his gaze riveted to mine with an emotion that matched the ache filling me to bursting.

This draw made it impossible to hold back any longer. I leaned closer yet somehow still never close enough. By the soft look in his eyes he felt the same, making me feel I could ask for anything; in this moment the only thing I wanted washim.

I raised a hesitant finger to caress his lips before, ever so slowly, I softly kissed him. At first the kiss wasn’t the pleasant experience one might expect of a long-awaited kiss. Though his lips were soft and incredibly gentle, he remained unresponsive, as if lingering uncertainty made it difficult for our love to draw us together. Part of me feared he held himself back because he didn’t love me the way I felt for him.

I pulled away to shyly peek up at him to find him looking conflicted and almost afraid. “Evie, we shouldn’t…wecan’t.”

The mask from our early marriage had returned, as if the journey in reaching this point had never happened. But ithad, allowing me to see Ryland beyond his weaknesses to the dear man beneath. The façade had been stripped away to finally reveal our true selves, and now it was impossible to look away.

“I still need you.”

At his silence, my heart throbbed and I hastily lowered my eyes. He cupped my chin to lift my gaze to meet his own tumultuous one. “Evie…” His achingly gentle fingers caressed my skin. “How can you want me after everything?”

I leaned against his touch. “Because love heals all wounds.”

A joyous smile slowly bloomed across his uncertain expression and wonder filled his gaze, even as he continued to hesitate…before suddenly, whatever shield he’d erected crumbled in an instant, revealing such desire and tender feeling my heart swelled.

With a groan he gave up the fight and wove his fingers through my hair to pull me into another kiss, one far more passionate than our first. Now that we’d come together, it felt as if all our pent-up yearnings had overcome us to capture what we both longed for—one another’s heart.

“I love you, Evie.” Only this whispered declaration was strong enough to break our kiss.

In that moment, my entire world shifted and the feelings I’d attempted to keep locked away burst free to enfold my heart like an embrace, made warm by the joy brought by his words. “You…love me?”

“It was only this love that gave me the strength to let you go.”

---