Page 55 of Enchanted Crown
Her eyes found mine, full of wonder and exhaustion both.
“Jorah will help you get the hang of this one,” I reminded her. “You can go back to sleep now.” I closed my eyes and felt for that tether that tied her to me, a spot in my head which seemed to be no longer my own, but instead belonged to us. Ours. A place for ustucked safely away from everyone and everything else. A sanctuary just for the two of us.I love you.
Too tired to respond, she fell asleep with her head on my chest, my back propped up by the headboard.
“Grin any harder, and you’ll break your face,” Malachi commented when she was good and back asleep.
“I’m happy, leave me alone.”
“Because she has two Enchantments? Or because you are confirmed soul bound?”
“Yes,” I answered quietly, as to not wake her. “She has always been an unstoppable force. Having this extra, this other power to help protect herself—even if I can give her nothing more than a notice of when she is about to be attacked through my powers, it has been worth it. Now she is not only unstoppable, she is unbreakable. Andthatmakes me insanely happy.”
Malachi gave me a nod of understanding.
“I cannot think of a single person more adept to have not one buttwotypes of Enchantments.”
I chatted with Malachi for a while. He kept a close eye on me, barely leaving me at all. I suspected he thought I would start blowing smoke out of my nostrils or turn into a tiny dragon at any moment.
As we ate lunch, the table in my room the farthest I was willing to go from Esta, I was starting to become annoyed with his constant eyes on me. “You better hope I don’t somehow shift into a winged horse.”
Malachi leaned back in his chair. “Oh?”
“I’d be prettier than you are. Likely smaller. But prettier.”
Malachi’s lips twitched. “You can be prettier, small pony. I am stronger.”
“I don’t know about that,” I laughed.
“Would you like to arm wrestle me in this form? Or would a loss only result in your bonding as an excuse?”
“Right here? Right now?”
I was strong. And still exhausted. In combat, I wouldn’t blink an eye. I would win. But I knew my strengths. In an arm wrestle one-on-one, I was going to lose against Malachi who had done nothing but gain muscle mass since we healed him. He was beginning to somehow resemble his shifted form even in his human one.
“Yes. Unless the fearless prince finally shies away from a challenge?”
“Never. Unless I know I’m going to lose them.”
Malachi laughed. “I?—"
What was sure to be a taunt to me was never finished as my door was wrenched open after a quick double knock.
And there, standing in the doorway, was the queen of Wylan, tears streaming down her face.
CHAPTER 20
Istood immediately. Not because she was the queen of Wylan, but with worry instead.
“I’m sorry,” she sniffed. “I had to come right away.”
“What’s wrong?”
She held up a hand. “No. Nothing iswrong.”
So these were good tears instead of bad? “Jorah,” I pleaded.
She pointed at the window. “There. Are. Birds.”
