Page 21 of The Princes of Stone and Steel

“Lie down with me, Millie. Let’s lie in the flowers you loved so much.” Every time I tried to clear my head; he found a way to muddle it again. Still, with the gentle breeze rippling across the grass, grass which looked softer than a pillow, and the sun pinking warmth on my cheeks—and let’s face it a long, tall, strong and incredibly handsome prince doing the asking, I couldn’t refuse.

Steele helped me down amidst another bed of delicate, platinum poppies. I lay on my back, one hand tucked under my head, while he lay with his chin resting on my stomach as he explained my part.

I stroked his silky hair while he told me about the flesh. “From what I know, fleshes have been finding themselves washed up on our shores for as long as our peoples have existed,” he said. His explanation seemed to fit with the dreams I’d been having all my life. “Time works differently here compared to your world; as a result of that, a new flesh comes to us when the old flesh passes on, which equates to about every few thousand years. Your sole purpose here, Millie, is to tip the power balance for one of the clans.”

Before I realized what I was doing, I cupped his cheeks to tip his head to look at me. “How?” I asked, eager to know everything he could tell me.

He watched me for several moments with eyes that became so soft they almost looked unfocused.

“Steele?” I prompted.

“Right.” He cleared his throat. “The flesh have powers in our world, just as we have powers in yours—we really had no idea your people didn’t hold magic until the Papyrus discovered the Skoulikotrypa.”—Skoulikotrypa? That word sound so familiar. — “Anyway…” Steele cleared his throat a second time shaking what was most likely a memory from his mind. “His powers sync with a clan right away, usually the clan which helped bring him here.”

“You keep sayinghim. Why?”

He said nothing, choosing instead to fondle the end of my braid as if mesmerized by all of it.

“Steele?”

“What?” He startled. A slight blush spread over his cheeks. “You are so very distracting.”

“Steele.” I ran my fingers through his bangs only to trail them down his face to grasp his chin to get his attention. “I feel like this is important. Why do you keep saying him?” I asked again.

“Up until the last flesh, they’d always been men.”

“Two female fleshes in a row? Is that why they want me, because I’m female?”

“It’s why I want you.” The Forfex prince crawled up my body and flipped us so he lay on the ground with my head resting on his chest. I hugged my arm around his waist, as he hugged one around my shoulders, hooking under my arm.

“How can that be right, though?” I asked, in hopes of at least beginning to puzzle out what he’d told me, why I was here, and what exactly the king wanted me so desperately to remember.

He looked at me with a curious expression fixed on his beautiful face.

“You said a new flesh only comes along every few thousand years. When…”

“What about it, Mils?”

“It’s just that… I’ve been dreaming about her—the last flesh—for as long as I can remember. And if they’re accurate, she didn’t come to this land a thousand years ago.”

“You’ve been dreaming of her as long as you can remember?” He asked, though he sounded hopeful instead of the confused or startled that I expected.

“You probably think I’m crazy.” I pushed embarrassingly at his shoulder to get his ever-evaluating eyes off of me. Still, at the same time, my heart told me to open up to him. Maybe he didn’t think I was crazy. He knew about the different worlds, so maybe he’d believe me with what I planned to say. Steele waited patiently for me to come to a decision, not speaking, and he smiled a brilliant smile when he picked up my resignation. I sighed and shared. “I used to think it was just a dream… but being here, it all seems too real to have only been a dream.”

Pushing up on his elbows, the breeze picked up and he grabbed my chin to force me to look at him. “What are you seeing?” he asked.

“Well, that’s the thing, this girl, we have the same name in my dream and the same face, which I’m sure is my subconscious trying to help me remember being here. But she found her way here from England. Back in the nineteenth century. I do sound crazy, don’t I?”

“Keep trying. They’re coming, Mils. You don’t know how happy this makes me. Come here.” Next thing I knew, he lifted me up until our mouths aligned, so he could hug me in such a strong embrace it stopped just this side of painful.

I never wanted to leave this spot. And to prove it, because I could, I pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth. In this moment I understood what he meant about sharing so many kisses, yet not nearly enough. The way my heart pounded with anticipation just from him reaching for me, that feeling deep in my chest, I just knew kisses like these didn’t happen every day.

“Is this all you two have done since the club in Detroit?” We both snapped our heads guiltily in the direction of Korrigan’s voice. Well I snapped my head guiltily. Steele wore a knowing smile, chuffing out a laugh.

“Sister, this is how I want to spend the rest of my life. Once you find your true mate, you’ll understand.”

“So, you remember then, Mils?” She sounded so hopeful—almost as much hope as she had beauty and standing before us, her hair and skin tone shimmering under the bright, warm sunshine, she radiated beauty.

“No.” I sighed. “Unfortunately, not. I just know how I feel when I’m with him.” And that was the god’s honest truth.

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