Page 88 of Heartsong
She blew an annoyed breath when he still didn’t have a preference of phone, just whatever worked. “Fine, then we’ll get this one because it comes with a case.”
Anna typed through a few more things on the laptop, fingers clicking, until she was satisfied.
“Okay, that should come in a few days.”
“Most excellent. Thank you,fynghân.”
“I keep meaning to ask…” She folded the laptop on itself, gaze not quite rising above his chin. “What does that mean?Fynghân?”
“It seems while I learn to read English, you shall learn to speak Welsh.”
“You won’t tell me?” She arched those brows in that way she did, imperious and teasing.
“My song,” he rumbled. “That’s what it means.”
Her cheeks went rosy again, and pleasure trickled through his veins, sweet as syrup, to see her obvious delight in the pet name. His Anna being a proud woman, she of course tried to hide her pleasure, but Frey saw.
“You call me a lot of things.”
“I do.” He arched his own brows in an approximation of hers. “All sweet things.”
“All sweet? That’s hard to believe.”
One side of his mouth kicked up in a grin. “It’s true, for I enjoy your spines as much as your sweetness.”
She absorbed his words with wide eyes, and Frey let her take her time, the words sitting between them. Admiration squeezed his chest tight when rather than protest, she gave him a small smile.
When she replaced the laptop on the table, Frey drew her high on his chest and laid down to recline on the couch. Anna spread over him like a blanket, her face tucked into the crook of his shoulder, and soon Captain came to curl up in the dip of her lower back.
Frey’s heart swelled to the point of pain holding so much love in his arms. Their hands were soft and gentle as they spoke of easy nothings and difficult truths.
He described his strong, beautiful mother and sister. How they had taught him all he knew. How their family dwelling had been full of laughter and singing. How nothing had been the same since their passing. He didn’t shy away from admitting his anger at Seren’s mate, nor how he blamed the male for his part, or lack thereof, in the day she died.
He told her how lonely life was without family.
In halting words, she whispered to him of her life with her mother, the moving and the multiple mates. How sometimes she longed for what she’d never had. How she’d met her father only once and even then hadn’t held much interest or hope, for he was no better than the other men her mother consorted with. She told him of her anger, her resentment, and her hurts. How her mother hadn’t even loved her, not really, so how could she believe he would.
His heart ached for the girl Anna had been and the woman she’d become. That she’d even let him stay with her, let alone hold her close now, wasn’t something to take lightly.
He told her of the night the fae attacked, how everything he’d ever known had been ripped apart in a spray of blood and lash of magick. He’d never felt anything like it, the magick first cajoled and then stripped from his very soul. The way his flesh had hardened, movement had ceased, and his mind had retreated into the dark collective with the others who were cursed.
There were years he sensed nothing. His mind remained dormant, darkness his one companion as his kind passed into myth and the world passed around them. He’d sensed when he was placed with a handful of his kin, and slowly, their numbers grew. It was a small comfort to be together, even if he knew only a few from their life before, and for centuries they endured together.
“I know what it is to lose everything. Twice now, my world has been taken from me.” Lifting her face with a knuckle under her chin, Frey pressed one soft kiss to her perfect lips. “I cannot bear it again. It’s why I am so insistent about your safety. You are everything to me, Anna.”
Her throat worked on a swallow, and her eyes glistened with unshed tears. Slowly, she nodded. “I understand. I…I’ll start looking into other jobs, okay? It won’t happen immediately, but I’ll look.”
“Thank you.” His breath rushed out of him in relief, ruffling her hair.
“But, Frey…if I leave the museum, we won’t have any leads or way to get to your people. I don’t want to leave them behind.”
“Neither do I.” His chest rumbled with grief, his heart torn between his kin and his mate. Yet, he knew, “Any guardian would understand making safe their heartsong. Any would do the same for their own.”
The pain of such a choice played across Anna’s face, and Frey loved her for it. That she cared at all for him and now for his kin as well was a gift.
“I don’t know how else we’re going to help them. I guess I could start researching your kind, though I may need to wait for a bit until the investigation is over. But honestly, probably the most helpful resources are in the museum already.”
Another reason to find the place suspect. Why did her employers have not only his kin but tomes on their existence? He could only conclude that those who owned and displayed such artifacts took some sick pleasure in it.
