Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 84072 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84072 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
I’d told myself I was curious.
But maybe I was searching—because I was trying to find him, hoping that in the process I would finally find myself.
“My mom.” My voice cracked. “She said I was born with a darkness hanging over me. I thought she was kinda crazy…” I looked up into his amber eyes. “But she wasn’t, was she?”
Benjamin slowly shook his head. “I have Aengus looking into it. When a Fae is reincarnated, it’s almost like part of their soul is missing. It turns into a shadow that haunts the very human the Fae’s reincarnated into—driving them toward madness, toward the place where they’ll hopefully be reunited again, but I’m not sure if it’s that or something more sinister.” His eyes flickered like he had more to say but didn’t want to overwhelm me.
“So, I’m haunting myself. Awesome.” I frowned down at my clasped hands.
“Possibly.” He licked his full lips.
I leaned toward him without even realizing what I was doing like he had a rope tied around me and continued to give tiny little pulls. He was like a drug I couldn’t stop taking, smoke I couldn’t stop inhaling.
“Now that you know, I understand if you want to leave and—”
“Leave?” I shrieked. “Why would I leave? So what, you might kill me? As terrifying as that sounds, you said you owed me the story. I want the truth, and it’s not like you’re touching me, so you can’t do that weird siphoning thing, right?”
He clamped his jaw. “Right.”
“So, I’m safe?”
“You’ll never be safe as long as we’re in the same room, the same house, fuck even on the same planet. I would find you and risk your life for just one taste. That is what you mean to me. Don’t you get it? I’m a selfish asshole who’s lost all ability to think about others. All I want is you. All I need is you. And soon, that need will trump everything else in my world—even if you run. I’ll find you.”
My breath quickened in my chest.
His eyes were blazing with fury.
With lust.
With something that I never wanted to look away from.
And that look was all for me as he gripped the bedpost with his hand, his fingers digging into the wood, his nails making a permanent mark.
“St-start at the beginning.”
“Well.” He gritted his teeth. “The beginning always starts with words. Meet me in the library…” I started to throw off the covers. “And Luna?”
“Yes?”
“No matter what happens, do not touch me.”
“Fine.”
“Good,” he snapped, slamming the door behind him.
The logical part of me said he was frustrated because he couldn’t touch me and wanted to, but the irrational part said he wasn’t attracted or hated that he couldn’t help himself.
With a sigh, I stood and took the very slow trek toward the door and down the gorgeous hallway.
The pictures lining the hall seemed to come alive as I took the stairs one at a time, careful not to fall and injure myself further since I was already ridiculously weak.
Both library doors were open when I got there, and I stepped inside.
And both closed with finality once I was fully in.
I gulped as Benjamin snapped his head up, his face expressionless. “Have a seat.”
“Please,” I corrected. “It’s have a seat… please.”
His jaw ticked.
Okay, wrong day to piss him off.
“Fine.” I walked over to the chair that was farthest away from him. How long would this puny wobbly feeling continue? My body still felt like all my energy had been zapped out of me.
“We fell in love.” He stared into the fire. “You were cursed to forget while I was cursed to remember that day like it was yesterday.”
Chills wracked my body as he continued to speak.
“You were from the Winter Court, so fucking beautiful on the outside, like a perfect ice sculpture—but warm on the inside.” He smiled like he remembered something and then sobered. “We didn’t even sneak around. Everyone knew you and I were together, and I was convinced that we had more time. But days after you found out you were pregnant, the Matchmaker returned, and our time was up.”
A shiver raced through me. This story would not end well, would it?
A memory hit me then of the smell of smoke, choking.
So the story the Crone told me was about us. It was our love story and our end.
I swallowed against the thick lump in my throat, almost tempted to ask for water.
“She sensed our love, but there’s something that’s just as powerful.” His eyes flashed. “Hate. Hate and jealousy go hand in hand. Your older sister was mad that you had gained the heir’s attention—my attention. She knew that one day I’d rule the Spring Court, and she knew you’d be at my side. Aengus had already rejected her choosing to become the leader of the Spring Courts army, so she had no way to marry into the courts, she’d forever have to bow to you, and that burned her from the inside out. She became a different person that day, using all her magic to wield a spell that would act like a beacon to the Matchmaker—not only did her dark magic work, binding me to your sister instead of you—but once bound, the Matchmaker couldn’t unbind us—I rejected your sister in front of the Matchmaker, earning her hatred. She was torn between being livid that she was tricked—and hateful because I refused her match.”