Page 38 of Deliverance

Come on, Iris. You escaped a burning building, you can walk into the bedroom in a towel.

Making sure everything is covered, I push the door open, only it doesn’t open all the way, catching on something. Frowning, I look down, and to my surprise, I find a pile of clothes waiting for me. Relief loosens the knot in my chest, and I take them, slinking back into the safety of the bathroom. Dropping my towel, I start to dress. A pretty floral dress greets me, which obviously belonged to someone with a larger bust than me. Never mind, I can cinch it in with a belt or add some pleats. It really doesn’t matter what I do with the dress, I need to stop hogging the bathroom.

Smoothing out my skirt to give my hands something to do, I walk over to the door, unsure why I suddenly feel so anxious. I pause as their voices reach me from the other side. There’s nothing stopping me from walking into the room, yet their hushed voices tell me this is a private conversation. I shouldn’t be eavesdropping on their conversation, but something inside me says this is important and I need to hear it.

“You don’t understand.” Alaric’s hushed voice is filled with frustration, and I can imagine him pacing the room. “Something happened when I went to find the naiad. Iris used magic to heal you.”

Any guilt I felt about listening in on this conversation melts away. They are talking about me. Alaric thinks I can use magic. Stunned, I back away from the door and cover my mouth in shock. Time seems to slow down, and my mind starts replaying the moment when I held Blaise in the water, singing and praying that he would survive. That wasn’t magic, was it? How could I use it without being aware of it?

No, it cannot be true, but I need to know what else they are saying. With a shaky breath, I step up to the door, leaning against the wall for support. A human with magic… We call them witches and sorcerers back in the human lands, and they are put to death immediately. That is not me, it can’t be.

“She’s human, that is not possible.” Blaise attempts to placate his friend. “We would have smelled magic on her if she could use it.”

“I know what I saw. You were both glowing, her eyes were shut, and she was singing in the old language. Then, hundreds of butterflies landed on her. It was not a coincidence.”

What is the old language and why does he think I was using it? I was simply singing from my soul. Words do not make a song, and in this case, they did not mean anything in particular. It is the intent of the song that is felt.

There is a long, heavy pause. Is Blaise thinking the same thing, or is he remembering my song and can attest that it was no magic old language that I was using?

“Butterflies,” he mutters, the tone of his voice changing. “You don’t think…”

I wait for Blaise to speak, to say what he is thinking, but he never finishes his sentence.

Making a noise of agreement, the prince moves across the room, his footsteps getting fainter, which makes me think he’s walking over to the window. “There is more to her than justbeing the doe the Unseelie want. She might be the answer to all our problems.”

“All I know for sure is that she saved my life. I owe her.” Blaise sounds completely sincere.

My mind feels heavy and full, completely overwhelmed with everything I just learned. In this moment, I miss my simple life back in Brine. I miss my family, my safe garden, and Nyx in the forest. There is no longer any direction in my life. Before, I knew my place in society. I would get a husband, have some kids, and live our life as a family. It was straightforward. Now, my existence is anything but.

One of the males in the room starts to speak again, pulling me back into the present. That’s enough, I shouldn’t be listening to this. With a deep, steadying breath, I push the door open and poke my head into the room, smiling in greeting. The two males look up, Blaise nodding in greeting, but it is Alaric’s expression that makes me pause.

His stare is intense as he holds my gaze. Determination and passion shine back at me, but for what, I don’t understand. All I know is that I feel the same way. It is easier to breathe when I am around him, like the weight of the world has been removed from my shoulders. Our connection is no longer a desire to be near him, it is an integralneed.

He stalks towards me, and the rest of the world falls away as he fills my personal space, stopping close enough that we don’t touch, but I can still feel the heat of his body against my exposed skin.

We continue to gaze at each other, my head tilted back so I can look up at him. He makes me feel seen—not just the odd Bloom girl who lives on the edges of society, but seeing every part of me, both good and bad, and accepts me for who I am anyway. There are no words to explain how I feel, but his gaze tells me he understands and that this feeling transcends words.

An awkward sounding cough comes from the other side of the room, and it takes me longer than it should to work out that Blaise is still here with us. Usually I might blush and look away, embarrassed at being caught, but I am in so deep that I don’t care.

“Well, I suppose I shall wash up next…” The snarky comment is clearly meant to pull Alaric and myself apart, yet it doesn’t have the desired effect. Neither of us respond to his comment, and I am distantly aware that he mutters something under his breath as he slips into the bathroom, leaving Alaric and me alone in the room.

Chapter Twenty-One

“How are you feeling?” Alaric asks after a moment, his voice soft and low.

I glance down at myself before returning my gaze to his. My skin feels better for washing, the tightness that settled over it from the fire now eased. Thankfully the same goes for my shoulder. My palm still hurts from the burn but is much improved. I don’t think that this is really what he’s asking though. Physically we have been through a lot, but perhaps even more so mentally.

In reality, I should be a quivering mess. While I am overwhelmed by everything, I am remarkably calm, and honestly, that is because of Alaric. I might not understand what this connection is between us, but it is undeniable and beyond all rational comprehension. He makes me want to be vulnerable with him and trust him so deeply that I can tell him anything. I also want to know everything about him, down to the smallest detail.

“I’m fine, thanks to you.” I don’t explain that he healed some part of me that I never even knew was damaged. Everything about me feels different, and that has everything to do with the males surrounding me. I cannot deny that I miss Nyx, and that pull towards Ciaran is still a tight knot in my chest, yet in his presence, those feelings are muted.

“Iris…” He chuckles, shaking his head with amused disbelief. Reaching out, he touches my cheek with the back of his hand, my skin tingling from the touch. His eyes seem to glow with a radiance that makes my heart flutter in my chest. “You are a miracle, Iris. I don’t know what force decided to bring us together, but what I do know…” He pauses and seems to be gathering himself. His tongue flicks out and wets his lips, a nervous gesture I have never seen him do before. He takes a deep breath and continues. “I am falling in love with you.”

My breath catches in my throat. I can’t have heard him right. There is no way that someone like him could love someone like me. It makes no sense. Everything has moved so quickly, yet it feels so perfectly right. My heart speeds up with shocked excitement, and my breaths are short and quiet, as though the action of breathing normally might wake me from this dream.

His eyes are wide as he scans my face for clues as to how I feel, his expression open and raw as he hurries to continue. “I know that our races are supposed to hate each other, and we have only known one another for a handful of days, but…” He shakes his head slowly. “I don’t think I can go back to living my life like I was now that I have met you. You complete a restless part of me.”

Alaric’s entire body is tense as he waits for my response, all except for the gentle hand that still caresses my cheek. I stumble forward, not realising I had been leaning towards him, drawn like a moth to a flame. His hands instantly grip my shoulders, stopping my fall, my own hand now pressed against his chest.He removed his jacket at some point and is now standing before me in his shirt, the thin layer of fabric the only thing keeping up apart.

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