Page 101 of Shadows and Flames
The stick snapped within Meline’s grip, breaking cleanly in two pieces and falling to the forest floor. She stared up at me with wide eyes, and I did not look away. “Y—I thought you were from Zonoras?”
I liked the sound of my homeland on her lips. “I am. I was born there, and because of our gift, my father agreed to primarily raising Leandro and me in Zonoras. He and Mamá were lovers but not companions. They loved one another but also had their own lives. His primary home away from the Well was in Ralthas.”
What piece of information she hung onto, though, I did not expect. “And, do you want that, then? To be like your parents?”
It took me some time to catch up to what she asked, my mind still reeling by yet another unexpected connection we shared. I seldom prayed to Zoko, my mother’s piousness never something I’d picked up, but I sent a silent one, now. Quickly but emphatically thanking Her and Her siblings for whatever part they played in bringing Meline and me together. From the beginning.
“To be like…” My parents? I loved Mamá and Papá very much, still to this day. And when they’d reunite, they would embrace and kiss and go off on their own, a testament to the centuries they’d been friends and shared pleasure. But when they had my brother and me, they were older than Meline and I were now. Other than just not being something they wanted in life, I’d never gotten a clear answer as to why they did not want to marry or mate. My brother and I used to tease them, when they shared affection after time apart. But, just as they’d alluded to knowing they wanted to remain untied, free in that way, I’d known even as a boy that should I find someone who looked at me the way Mamá did Papá, I would want themwithme. “No. I do not. I’ve told you what I want from you.”
Her heart picked up, thumping against the inside of her chest, ringing in my own ears. “You want my love.”
“Yes.”
“My presence. My words and my body.”
Without realizing, I’d stepped closer as Meline repeated my words back to me. “Yes.”
My hands reached up, gently brushing her sides, and she whispered, “Tobe. To share pain.”
“Yes,” I repeated again.
“Even after—after Soleil.” Could there be such a thing? He was no longer in this realm, but he was forever marked on our souls. Onus.
I pulled Meline closer to me, until there was nothing left between us. Using the backs of my fingers, I caressed the edge of her jaw, dusted with a faint cluster of freckles. Twelve of them. “Our son does not change how I feel about you. What I want.”
She was crying. Not the thick wails of last night, but a silent release, now that we’d finally reached past the valley and met one another on the other side. “I want that, too.” Her voice cracked.
I bent, but before my lips met hers, I spoke into them, “I love you. My queen.”
A gust of air swept my skin, and a burst of her peppercorn scent bloomed. Her scent carried a gentle twine of the breeze over waves. And, faintly, a flowery sweetness I had not focused on before. One that was not there three years ago.
Fingers tightened in the front of my tunic, sharp fingernails scraping against the skin above my waist. “I—love you, El.”
I kissed her. Pressed my lips to hers. But the way she craned up into me, the way we melted into each other, it was truly more than just a kiss. When I had found my queen, seeing her across the ballroom in Morova, I had thought my search ended. The start of my life with her beginning on that day.
But, as our lips parted and joined, over and over in an unhurried pace, I knew I had been wrong. Surrounded by towering ash trees, sunlight dappling through the crimson autumn leaves, I knew thatthiswas the true end to our journey back to one another. Ushering in a new beginning.
Part Three
New Beginnings
Chapter Thirty-Eight
MELINE
“Well. My condolences,” Tomás mumbled while the rest of us stood, silently gaping at the sight across the street.
My home, the apartment that’d once been mine for a century, was… gone. Not just that, but the building was no more. The charming café where Shoko, Lee, Tana, and I had met for many meals.
Elián’s hand wrapped around mine served as an anchor while I parsed through this newest loss. It’d been years since I had such a space of solace, years since I’d had the inclination to reach out for the trinkets and heirlooms within its walls.
A brush of Maman’s. Papa’s years-worn tome of Versillian history. The things I’d squirreled away during my initial flight from my family’s kingdom. They were gone, too.
In its place, a new structure was being built to replace the last. The frame was almost complete, and supplies from the building crew were left for the light of morning.
“Why in the world would they tear it down?” Tana mused, hands on her hips.
None of us had an answer. Well, except for Elián. “Not torn. Burned.” I looked up at him to see his gaze narrowed on thewreckage. His nostrils pulsed with quick, analyzing inhales. He crossed the road, pulling me along, and the others followed until we stood before what used to be my home. Where I’dthoughtto stow our things before bringing Francie to Whitley.
