Page 33 of Shadows and Flames
My queen glanced my way, but it was a fleeting sweep of her gaze. I almost smiled, recalling her denial that she was afraid. Bythe cross of her arms and tilt of her chin, she was still going with that lie.
As long as she didn’t lie to me aboutus.
She remained still, and I waited. Wondered why she wasn’t crossing into the room, demanding I get on with it, berating me for doling out commands.
And then it dawned on me.
Could she be waiting for me to check for danger? As I’d done when I was her Shadow?
Meline was not facing me, so she couldn’t see the smirk shift my lips now, but she shuddered as I bent to whisper, “Sit down, my queen. Be comfortable here.”
Her gloved fingers twisted, clenched, but she didn’t remove the leather coverings. Instead, she kicked off her heeled boots, showing her true height which fit perfectly against mine, and crossed the main space.
She did not sit at the table but on it, leaning against the scuffed but sturdy thing.
Deep brown and twinkles of gold watched me warily. How was it she could have changed and been so much the same? The female that haunted and blessed my dreams. The menace that I’d fallen in love with.
Her long, springing curls were all but gone. There was a deeper sadness clinging to her.
But the way she pushed against me earlier. The way she held onto me. It washer.
I eliminated the distance between us in an instant. If she did not want to sit, then I wouldn’t either.
Her exhale was shaky. “You’ve got me here, El. So, talk.”
Pink peppercorn. The wind over the ocean. I filled myself with her scent and shuddered at the trails of mine still on her. “I…have missed you.” Tears immediately started brimming,making the gold flecks brighter. The brown deeper. “Have you missed me?” I dared.
My queen laughed a high-pitched noise. She stared above, not looking at me and forcing the tears back. “Fuck, El.” I waited, holding my breath as she swiped at her eyes. “You have n-no idea.”
“I think I do.”
Meline’s expression crumpled, her body shook, but before I could bring her into my chest, she held out a hand to stop me.
Though I’d taken her in that back room, claimed her so that there was no space to question the connection between us, now that she’d agreed to stay with me, I knew I had to be patient.
My queen gasped, shoulders hitching. “Elián, I’m so—there willneverbe enough words for me to convey how sorry I am. For everything.”
My skin warmed, and my Fire stirred at the sight of her breaking. It’d almost ruined me, turning away from her that day. With her howls of despair as I rode from the witch house. “Nâ. I—it was unfair of me. To expect you to not be wary of The Shadows. After all you’d been through.”
She shook her head again, trying to fight off my words, but she stayed here. She did not flee. “It would be okay if you hated me, you know. I deserve it.”
That, I could not stand for. As Tomás had told me long ago, my queen had been hurting. Recovered from the brink of death and contending with the murder of her uncle and her brother’s betrayal. She could have responded differently, but I understood her reaction. Not wanting to be connected to a Shadow. Did she still feel that way?
I rested my palm on the nape of her neck, needingsomeconnection with her. And she leaned into my touch, ever so slightly. “I do not hate you. I have loved you for a while, now.” If we were going to rebuild, I would not hold back from her.
Her eyes widened, mouth dropping open. She gaped, starting and stopping multiple times before she could gather her words. I caressed my thumb against the strands curling behind her ear and marveled at the veins blackening beside my touch. Her power reaching out to me.
“You can’t say shit like that to me, El,” she whispered.
I hummed, bringing myself even closer to her. “It is a good thing that I am no longer working for you, then. I am no longer compelled to follow your orders.”
She chuckled darkly, but still, she washere. “I don’t think you had that issue before, either.”
The struggle between myself and her had been so infuriating back then. Now, I looked upon it fondly. “Maybe not.”
“I don’t…I missed you so much,” she confessed, and another coil of tension relaxed within me. Heat flooded my fingertips as I continued to hold her. Meline whimpered, lashes fluttering unsteadily. “What—how do we rebuild? How can we, after everything?”
I frowned. “As far as I am concerned, we discuss our past as we see fit. We spend time together. That is…if you’ve forgiven me? For being inconsiderate, for not being supportive, for?—”
