Page 60 of Haunted

“You’re always warm.” He puts down his mug and studies her. I do not like the leering look in his eyes.

“It’s my light,” Niawen says. Her voice is dreamlike, completely content.

“What does it feel like?” The prince brushes a wisp of hair away from her face, and his fingers linger too long on her jawline.

Her mouth drops open as her eyes close. My insides churn. While the prince might be a worthy match for her as far as humans go, I cannot stand him touching her, not when a fierce ache grinds through me.

The prince melts tension from her. Her shoulders relax. She’s putty in his hands. “Like warm water coursing through my body,” she says, “soaking through every pore, under my skin and into my bones. It’s like lying in the sun, cocooned in a black blanket on a frigid winter day. The blanket absorbs the sun’s rays until I’m toasty enough to melt, but instead, I drift off into a blissful slumber.”

“Show me,” he whispers much too closely to her ear.

I cannot abide this!

Right before my raven’s beady eyes, the crown prince kisses her.

Were they growing closer romantically over the past few weeks?

When Niawen grips his arms and presses harder into the kiss, I feel faint.

I cannot deny that they have.

Kelyn’s hands cradle her neck. He whispers her name between breaths.

No more.

I’m relieved when Niawen breaks the kiss.

As she says his name, her voice is filled with guilt.

She hugs herself and looks at the ground.

I want to take her in my arms.

Kelyn speaks, and I wish to punch him. “You’re absolutely right. By the stars, is this what being with perfection is like?”

Of course it is, foolish boy.

In her meekness, Niawen mutters, “I’m not perfect. You’re mistaken.”

Oh, Niawen. If only I could show you how perfect you are, how you shine in this dreary world.

“I’m right,” Kelyn says. “You’re perfect in every way. Can’t you see it? Those things you call imperfection are what I love about you.”

“Stop.” She backs away. “Don’t say it.”

He steps toward her. “Don’t say what?”

“Don’t say it!” She claps her hands over her ears.

He laughs and pulls her hands away. “You don’t need to fear my love, Niawen.” He pulls her into his arms. He is too forward. “Love is never anything to fear.”

“I fear it. You wouldn’t understand.”

With me you would not have to fear love.

“Let me love you, Niawen.” The prince seems desperate. What’s his rush? Does he know she’s immortal? Does he fear that his mortality will catch up to him? “I’ll give you my whole heart.”

“Kelyn, you don’t know what giving me your whole heart means,” Niawen says. No, he couldn’t if her whole heart meant bonding as the emrys do. Kelyn couldn’t even begin to understand.

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