Page 90 of The Heir

“Kissing doesn’t mean you have to get married, necessarily, but it is a vow, and you just have to be careful because—if youmarksomeone, their melody is etched onto your soul.”

I was silent. I didn’t know what else to say. There were bigger things, more important things going on right then than us, but it hurt that I couldn’t have him, couldn’t have all his kisses, and couldn’t have all his love—that I could not have his melody etched onto my soul.

He touched my face and moved my head so that our eyes met.

“You are the most important person to me, the most important person in all the realms. Please, know that; I want you to know that, Emma. Ineedyou to know that.”

I buried his words inside my heart. I kept them close as I nodded. “We should probably get firewood. Keil and Mary will need it soon if we are going to eat tonight.”

“Yes, of course. You are okay, right, Emma?” His eyes looked worried, and I pulled out a smile. “If it helps, I do desire it–I desire to kiss you.”

“You do?” I asked. He pulled me into his arms and hugged me.

“Every moment of every day,” he grunted into the side of my neck, kissing me there for a second before pulling away.

“So, it is not because you do not like me–”

“Of course not.”

“Okay. I can be okay with that, then. Thank you.”

“Of course,” he said with a nod.

“Let’s focus on finding Ryker,” I answered, again my mind buzzing with too much information. I would need years to think it all over.

We walked side by side, bending over every once in a while, finding something we could use for a fire. As we made our way back, the shadows lengthened and the sky began to dim; starsbegan to dot the sky. We stepped into the clearing to see Mary and Keil looking over the map with a flashlight.

“We have the firewood,” I called as we dropped the wood in the middle of our camp. Keil and Mary didn’t look up. Shad bent down and started constructing a fire, and I thought about Ryker, once building a fire and doing a horrible job of it. I laughed at the memory, and then cried because Ryker wasn’t there with us.

“Emma?” Shad asked as he added kindling to the fire. I watched as the fire caught, and he eased the larger logs onto it. I knew what his soul was asking—if I was okay.

“Would you stop asking me, Shad? You know I amnotokay.” I sat down beside him in the dirt.

“I know, but I keep hoping that one of these times when I ask, you will be,” he said carefully.

“I am still not sure what to think of all this, and maybe I’m not even fully convinced that this isn’t just a dream. I don’t even know who I am anymore.”

“You are strong and brave. You love fiercely, and you give people second chances. You are passionate, kind, and honest.”

“Shad—”

“You are everything—my truest and best friend. You are all I will ever need, ever. With you by my side, Emma, I will never need another thing until the day I die.”

“Except food and water,” I said with a smirk.

“Yes, of course, but are you getting my point?”

“Yes, I will trust you. But for the record, I don’t like being called yourfriend.”

“You are my truest and best friend. Maybe, someday, I can explain to you exactly what that means to me, and then you won’t hate it so much,” he smiled. “What is most surprising about all of this?”

“The fact that all my mother’s stories were real.” I shook my head. “It still sounds so weird–fairy tales are real in another realm–a world that is my home.”

“What else?” he asked, moving away from the fire, letting it rise up and do its thing.

“And, the fact that I am an heir, aprincesswho is supposed to save people. I do not feel capable of that, Shad, not capable at all, but you all make it seem so easy and natural, like breathing—I do not think I could ever be like that with all of this.”

“You don’t have to go out tomorrow and slay every foe at once. You simply take it one foe at a time, and let them come to you. You will find their weaknesses, and then you will conquer them.”

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