Page 29 of In Love With the Leshy

“I understand you’re no monster and don’t want to hurt anyone,” I look at Em. “But you have good reason to kill Nikolai. Why didn’t you?”

“I can’t seriously harm or kill anyone in the family. It is a limit Irina installed when she created me. I am a healing Leshy.” Of course he’s a healer; everything about him is good and just.

“Even though he deserves it?” I push to change his mind. “Nikolai killed Irina. I can’t prove it, but I know he did. Doesn’t that change things, if you’re avenging her?”

No one speaks. The silence stirs the sleeping Ana, and she starts to wriggle on Em’s lap, opening her eyes. She smiles at her protector with the innocence of an angel, and no matter how grim the present seems, looking at her makes the future look brighter.

Chapter 14

“Are you sure you’re comfortable, Little Flower?” Kneeling beside the mattress in his cave, Em strokes my cheek with the back of his knuckles.

“I’d be more comfortable if you lay down next to me?”

He laughs his hearty laugh. “How would I fit?” he answers, amused.

“How do you normally fit?” I look from him to the bed and back. “Why do you have a mattress if you can’t use it?”

“I had it made for you.”

“For me?” I ask, looking for his bed that I don’t see anywhere. “Are you psychic? Did you know I was coming?”

“I did when I carried you here. On the way, I told the squirrels and rabbits to gather some help collecting leaves and feathers. Of course, the owls and fireflies helped as well.”

I sit up, not sure if he’s joking around. “Are you serious? The animals made this for me?” That’s impossible. Things like that only happen in movies and fairy tales. Next thing you know, they’ll be sewing a dress for me to wear to the ball.

“Didn’t you hear me while I carried you?”

“No. I was overwhelmed. I heard you make noise, but I thought you were, I don’t know, singing or something.”

“Come here.”

Em shifts his body so that he sits on the mattress with his back leaning against the wall. His legs still don’t fit completely. How did I not notice that his body spans beyond the length of the bed before he pointed it out?

I nuzzle against his chest, inhaling his fresh scent of pine and cloves. “If this isn’t your mattress, where do you sleep?”

“I don’t.” He wraps me up in his long arms, bathing me in the warmth of his body, and kisses the top of my head.

“Ever?”

“I tend to be lazy in the winter and spend most of my time in my cave. I rest, but I don’t sleep like you do unless I’m injured or weak from using too much magic.”

I slip my hand under his shirt and splay it along his smooth, hairless skin, resting it against his heart, reminding myself that he’s real and alive and not something conjured up by my imagination. Silence falls over us. The longer it lasts, the heavier it becomes.

“Do you think Nikolai will come back for Ana?”

“Yes,” He whispers, giving me a gentle squeeze. “And for you.”

“Because I gave Masha the pincushion?”

“In part.” His deep voice drops. “I didn’t tell Masha, but if he knows about the sacrifice of innocence and purity, he knows that he can change my disposition.”

“How?”

“If he kills the mate destined for me, I will no longer be a healer. I will be filled with hate and seek blood. I’ll feast on the lost and snack on disobedient children.”

A cold sensation of fear and unease crawls up my spine, but as Em squeezes me, the blood inside me warms and tingles with reassurance. Em is good.

“He can’t possibly know or suspect that. We only just met.”

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