Page 101 of Simon

I shook my head and closed my eyes tighter. Too afraid to speak.

“It looked like it. And you are the little prince of the forest. I think that is why the Wood here listens to you. How it bows to you and moves away so you can run. Look how fast you move through it.”

I let out a whine.

Lucy kissed my forehead, then her hand ran up and down my cheek. “You were taken, do you realize that, right? It was for a reason, though it wasn’t to punish you or your parents.”

I sniffed and dared to pull my head up, no longer hiding from her.

Her thumbs came up and wiped under my eyes. She rubbed her nose with mine and placed a gentle kiss on my nose. “I’m not an expert with the fates,” her voice cracked. “I’m not an expert in bonds, soul mates, or the like. I know little about this land; how you really became a goat, how you became friends with Calliope, but I know one thing.” She placed a kiss on my lips.

She opened her mouth, rubbing her tongue against me. Both of us had tears rolling down our faces by the time we stopped. “I know this.” She placed her forehead against mine again. “Fate brought us together. If you had gone with your parents, I wouldn’t have met you. We wouldn’t be together. I’m glad you are here with me. I would be so, so lost without you, Simon. You are the missing piece I never knew I was missing.”

I let out a whine and buried my face in her breasts.

“And I am so sorry you haven’t had your family and have been so alone. We will find them one day. I promise.” My mate laid her cheek on my horns and stroked my cheek with her thumb.

I cleared my throat. “But I am happy,” I said. “I am happy the way things turned out. I have my mate, and I would do it all again. Be taken from my family, become a goat, just so I could have you, Lucy. I wanted what my parents had even, as a young kid. And you gave that to me.”

Lucy held my head tighter to her breasts and let out a long sob. “I love you, Simon. So much.”

My ears pricked up, and I raised my head to meet her eye-to-eye. “And I love you, Lucy.” Then, I rubbed my nose with hers.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Lucy

Ifeltselfish.Tooworriedabout acceptance from my father and if I was doing the right thing to be with Simon. Simon believed in me from the very start, put his worries away to capture me, and forget the missing memories that haunted him.

I had my memories.

My earliest was when I was five, and Father had taken me to some remote island. We were on a beach, and I got to play in the sand on a day off. We built sandcastles, made moats and collected seashells all day. By the end of the day, I wasexhausted. As the stars came out, I fell fast asleep by the fire, with the waves crashing against the shoreline and the heat of the fire warming me.

Simon’s last memory was of how his parents left him with an unknown attacker who dragged him away. His parents were in a hypnotic state. He had to know that. They would never have willingly left him. The person who took them had to be a god. He was beautiful, just like the woman with the stunning horned crown at the hot spring.

She was a goddess. I just wasn’t sure of which one. The god that led those fauns away took them in the blink of an eye while I watched from a distance. I knew Simon was being dragged away, but I kept my eye on the god as he waved them toward him.

Floating red hair and beard, a sea-foam colored robe with soft linen pants. His feet were bare, and he held a trident in his hand. Poseidon was one of the major gods I learned about in high school.

But why would Poseidon be leading the fauns away? He was the god of the sea, and fauns were land dwellers.

I ran my fingers through Simon’s hair. He wasn’t dreaming; he was in a deep sleep. I knew it was deep because I couldn’t see or feel anything. He had slept little the past several days. He had tried to brush off all his memories and tended to me instead of discussing what he had seen.

I wanted him to bring up all these memories on his own. I didn’t want to pry, but when those memories got too dark, I couldn’t help it.

I should have stepped in sooner.

I nuzzled my face into his forehead, my fingers stroking his cheek. I didn’t know how many more of his memories would come back to him, or why they were coming back now, but I would be there for him just like he was there for me during my time of doubt.

I saw food being set inside our little bungalow, as I like to call it, by the door again when my stomach growled. It was in a neat little woven basket similar to the tree that had woven itself into a beautiful home for us. In fact, the tree had grown larger while we slept. The soft bedding looked smaller compared to what it was when we first filled the space.

We had two windows that let the light in. In both windows, baskets hung outside, that grew huge blossoms which brought a clean-smelling fragrance inside. The floor was no longer sunken in but now flat, easier for me to walk on.

We still didn’t stray from the bedding, too cozy to move and too dedicated to our nest.

Yes, a nest. That was the best way to call it.

I disentangled myself from Simon’s arms. He groaned, reaching for me, so I brushed his face with my palm and placed a kiss right above his forehead, in between his horns. “I’m just getting the food by the door.”

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