Page 34 of The Barbaric Fae's Soul

When I woke up,there was a massive arm draped over my waist, and my cheek was resting against the side of Aev’s face, with my hair pooled on the mattress beside us. I really needed to cut a few inches off so it wouldn’t tangle as easily, but I hadn’t managed to convince myself to do it.

His hand was moving slowly on my upper back, over my tank top, so he wasn’t touching any of my bare skin.

“Your breathing changed,” he murmured to me.

My lips curved upward. “Did it?” My voice was sleepy, and that made the moment feel a little vulnerable. I forced my eyes to stay closed. “Sorry, I must’ve climbed on you while I was sleeping.”

“Don’t be. I could get used to waking up like this.” He moved his cheek a little, and the stubble on his face brushed against my skin, giving me goosebumps.

“Me too,” I admitted.

His hand continued moving slowly over my back, still not touching my bare skin. I supposed he was being respectful, but I itched to feel him really touch me.

Any awkwardness from before we’d fallen asleep had pretty much faded. It was hard to feel uncomfortable when we were so completely relaxed in each other’s arms.

“You can touch my back, you know,” I whispered, after a few more minutes of overly-appropriate contact. Neither of us seemed to be in a hurry to get up.

“I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

Happiness swelled in my chest. “Thank you.”

A moment of silence followed, and his hand slowly began moving over more of my back. It still went over my tank top, but now he was touching more of me, not avoiding my skin altogether. It felt good, but still wasn’t exactly what I wanted.

I hesitated for a few minutes before finally saying, “Despite what happened in your tent, I’m not usually very forward when it comes to new things. If you ever want something, it’s best just to ask me.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Aev said.

His hand moved up to my shoulder blade, and he slowly started to trace the marking there. It had appeared a little after I got settled in the Stronghold, a masterpiece of red roses and thorny vines that stretched over more than half of my back.

A thought occurred to me, one I’d been itching to ask a fae but had never really felt comfortable enough to bring up. “Do you have roses here?”

“Roses?”

“The flowers on my back.”

“We call those drelaes, but they aren’t purely flowers. They’re…” He trailed off, considering it. “Well, predators. They consume bugs, and any small animals that get close enough.”

My eyes nearly bulged out of my head. “What?!” I turned, trying to see my tattoos again, to check if they really looked like roses. When I started looking closer, I realized that they did look slightly different. “Do they have vines, too?”

He gave me a small smile, his pretty blue eyes bright and calm. “The vines are a part of them. They can move around the forest with them, climbing the trees.” His finger traced one of the long, spiraling vines, until it disappeared into my tank top.

“Well, that’s terrifying.” I grimaced deeply, dropping my head back to rest against the side of Aev’s. “Why do I have carnivorous flowers on my back?”

“There’s usually some kind of message in the magical markings.”

“What kind of message? Like, words?”

“No. It’s usually symbolic, and the meaning makes itself known to the wearer at some point in their life.” He didn’t sound nearly as bothered by the marks as I felt, and he was still tracing them on my shoulder.

I frowned. “I don’t even want to know the meaning behind mine.”

“Why not? The meaning could have to do with anything. Like you, drelaes are beautiful, and they look fragile but are among the strongest plants in Vevol’s forests.”

I sighed. “Maybe I do want to know the meaning. I thought they were roses, and it was some kind of omen about my future.”

He chuckled. “What’s unique about roses?”

“I don’t really know. Usually men buy red ones for women they care about. My boyfriend only ever bought them for me when I was sporting the bruises he gave me. He’d apologize, and bring me flowers, and say that he’d never hurt me again. We’d both act like we believed it was true.” My eyes shut, and I let out a slow breath. “I fantasized about stabbing him with the thorns on them so many times. It wasn’t even realistic—the thorns aren’t that big. But I still thought about it. Do you think that makes me a bad person?”

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