Page 103 of Haunted

As I reached for the handle, a groan swelled inside me. I longed to embrace Carys.

I mentally groan as I think of Niawen in my arms. Why am I wasting time in this meeting when I could be with her? Why do I not take her and kiss her without ceasing?

Heat rises into my face. The room becomes a blur. I clear my throat. Before Lord Eshlar can stop, I interrupt. “Excuse me.” I rush out of the room, leaving behind confused looks from my counselors.

She didn’t know the effect she had on me. She thanked me for the help as we strolled across the yard, with her hips swaying and her skirts swishing.

Niawen, don’t you know the effect you have on me? I call on my dark power to quicken my steps beyond what those of a mortal can match. As I race around the corner to the library, inwardly I curse the novel I left lying about, curse it for the thoughts it pushes into my mind as Niawen continues to read.

The sounds they made were whispers. Yes, Aderyn, yes. Soon, Aderyn, soon.

How they teased me.

How she teases me.

I was mad to consider taking her in my arms…

I wink across the room to where my Niawen lounges on a chaise while reading. Powered with a maddening fury I’m desperately holding back, I rip the book from her hands before she even knows I’m there.

She has time to jump and scream my name just before I fling the book into the fire. The flames engulf the dried-out paper immediately.

“This is not the least bit amusing!” I exclaim with my eyes solidly riveted on her seemingly innocent face.

“You were in a meeting,” she whispers, as if not sure how I could run across the citadel so quickly.

“How could I focus on a meeting with you reading that novel? Don’t make me ache for you more than I already do! Don’t tantalize me with thoughts of your porcelain flesh. I’d drink you if I could, Niawen. By the stars in the firmament, I would!”

I storm out of the room without giving her a chance to reply.

70

“Come here, Niawen.”

She doesn’t move past the doorway to our chamber. I’m on the edge of the bed, with my back to her. I’ve taken my shirt off and left it where I dropped it, on the floor.

I’ve been turning around our new developments in my head all day. Our mental bond. Her teasing thoughts. Our innocent nights together in bed, where she shares her light with me to sooth me so I can sleep.

All these moments have been everything.

So I sink onto the bed, halfway through changing for the night, when I become overwhelmed with it all.

I want her.

I crave her.

Is this love?

Niawen has never seen so much of my skin. I hesitate to turn toward her. She’s nervous. What are you doing? she asks. It’s a rhetorical question that she doesn’t mean for me to hear.

I feel her eyes on me.

Do I meet her approval? I look more like an emrys than her mortal princes do, even if my hair is dark while emrys have shades of blond. My skin is pale like hers. My body thin and tall like my ancestors in the immortal realm where she was exiled from.

I hope I please her.

She takes a step into the room.

I want to turn to her, to see her in the nightgown she always wears, the same gown that I’ve tried so hard not to stare at. I’ve never told her, but it’s sheer enough to fill the holes in my imagination.

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