Page 144 of Rescued By the Beast
I tilt my head, assessing him.
I run my fingertips over his face. He allows himself to be touched, his expression relaxing under my caress, but there's something new there. Fine lines around his eyes that weren't there before. Almost imperceptible, but I've spent ages admiring that face over the last few days. I notice the difference.
Then, something else.
My gaze moves to his hair.
Among the blond strands at his temples, I see flashes of silver.
The air leaves my lungs.
My hand recoils as if it had been burned.
"You look... older." I swallow hard. "Have I been in a coma?"
Ethan immediately shakes his head.
But Mark...
He presses his lips together, his golden eyes shining with intense emotion before finally speaking.
"No, my love. You were only unconscious for a day, recovering from yesterday afternoon's attack. But I..." He swallows hard, looking away. His good hand finds mine, his fingers intertwining with mine. "I bargained five years of my life with the old woman to save you."
My chest tightens.
Tears cloud my vision.
But something in his tone tells me that's not all.
"Is there more?" I whisper, my voice breaking. "Did you give her more than a few years?"
He closes his eyes for a moment, his chest rising and falling with a heavy sigh.
"A part of my fae essence."
The world around me dissolves.
"What?"
"Even when we feel our essence depleted, there is still a seed within us from which it springs. The witch, in her greed, wanted my entire essence in exchange for saving her last life." He smiles slightly and squeezes my hand in his. "But I bargained. Five years of my life and only a part of my essence. Not all of it."
My throat tightens.
"So... you can still...?"
"I can still put up barriers to protect you. I'm just not as strong and I won't heal as quickly as before. I also won't be able to transform magically, in the blink of an eye, it will be like any other shapeshifter.
"Mark..." My whisper is a thread of pain.
He lets go of my hand to hold my face, his eyes burning into mine.
"I would give anything for her, my love." His forehead rests on mine, his lips hovering sweetly over mine. "I won in this bargain. I got my partner back."
The words enter my heart, filling it with so many feelings that I can barely contain them, so they overflow from my eyes.
And there, with his firm touch, his breath mingling with mine, all hesitation disappears.
"I love you."
