Page 50 of Claim the Twilight
“I didn’t receive it.”
His sigh molds me to him. “But you’re here.”
I lick my lips and drop my gaze, too aware of this intimate proximity, of all the places that we fit so easily. “I came with the others…Orina and…well, we need to do a spell inside your ward boundary.”
He slowly sets me on my feet. “What kind of spell?”
I take a step back and lift my chin to look up at him. “One to trap an entity.” I quickly explain the situation. “It’s one of our only leads on how to stop Loviator.”
“Then you have my permission, although you could have done your spell without it.”
“We weren’t sure if there’d be a mystical consequence.”
He purses his lush lips and nods. “The wards are designed to protect the park, and as long as your spell doesn’t threaten that, it won’t elicit a reaction.”
The air crackles against my skin, and an earthy aroma fills my nose. Crush’s head whips up, his nostrils flaring.
The air feels heavier somehow, pushing down on my body. “What’s happening?”
“The hidden grove spell has begun. Doorways to faerie are opening once more just as we were promised.” His eyes gleam when he speaks, his excitement palpable. “The hidden grove spell will place Brimswood Park in a protective bubble until a faerie doorway finds us. The Raven I sent asked you to come here.” His tone softened. “To stay here. With me.”
With him? He wants me to stay here with him? The rush of warmth that washes over me is quickly followed by a prickling of ice—a reminder of what can and can’t be.
He blinks sharply. “You will of course have your own quarters.”
He thinks I’m worried about propriety. He has no idea how desperately I want to throw propriety out the window when it comes to him. Does he feel it? Does he understand?
I push away the questions because the answers can’t matter. Not now, and maybe not ever. My emotions must show on my face because he frowns and sucks in a sharp breath, clearly ready to take back his offer or explain it away.
He needs to know how badly I want to accept. “I want to stay,” I blurt out. “There’s nothing I would like more than to stay. But I can’t cloister myself away when my friends are in danger.”
His jaw flexes. “The fae of Brimswood are my responsibility. I must keep them safe.”
My heart sinks. Is that why he wants me here? Because he feels responsible for me? “I’m not a fae of Brimswood. Not yet. I’m a member of the Order, and the people of Dracul need me. My friends need me. I can’t, I won’t walk away. Could you? Walkaway from Kalveen, Breyburn, and Roarke? Could you leave your friends to potential doom?”
His expression clouds. “No. I could not.”
I smile up at him to hide the ache in my soul. “Thank you, though, for thinking of me. For offering me a place here.” Heat gathers behind my eyes because this is the last time that I’ll see this amazing, monolith male whose heart is kind and pure. A male who I’ve fallen in love with. I blink back the threat of tears and crook a finger, beckoning him to lean in. His gaze flicks over my face as he obliges, and I push up on my tiptoes, my intention to press a kiss to his cheek, but at the last moment, a surge of courage grips me. I grasp his jaw and bring my lips to his in a hard kiss that finally releases the tears pressing against my eyelids.
Heat unfurls low in my chest, spreading warm fingers outward to wrap around my torso like a hot vise, and for a moment, I can’t breathe. But the sensation fades, and there’s only the firm, warm pressure of Crush’s lips against mine, parted slightly in surprise. I ache to taste him, to deepen the kiss, but I fight the urge, breaking contact to rock back on my heels.
His chest heaves, eyes glazing as he stares at me, clearly stunned by my wholly inappropriate move. I don’t want to ruin this moment. I want to cherish the memory of his lips against mine, so I back away, heart hammering against my ribs as if it’s reaching for him. Longing to stay.
“Merry…” His voice cracks. “Merry, I?—”
“Thank you for making me feel like I belong.” I turn and flee before he can say something to burst my bubble, or maybe something to dissolve my resolve and make me stay.
Goodness, how desperately I’d love to stay…
Chapter 22
PADMA
Holly chooses the perfect spot to cast the spell. A quiet location on the east side of the park down a bicycle track lined with trees and hidden from the main road, not that hiding matters. Any humans who see us doing spell work will probably look the other way. Loviator’s spell seems to make them oblivious to strange magical happenings. Still, we opt to err on the side of caution.
While we wait, I people-watch, mainly the people in my group. Particularly the dynamic forming between Orina and the men who love her.
She traveled to New Town alone in a carriage with Lorenzo, and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what they got up to. If the tousled hair and slightly rumpled clothing didn’t give it away, the smell of sex wreathing them both does, and the fact I can smell it so strongly makes the pit in my belly wider.
