Page 12 of To No End

I winked at him, “You’re alright yourself.”

He knew I was just holding back on inflating his ego, and just like that, we were transitioning back to friends, who we were before I brazenly showed up at his front door requesting a far-fetched bargain be redeemed.

Gris climbed from the bed and handed me my dress. He pointed me to the washroom nearby and asked if I needed anything to tidy up. He remarked that I better not go back home looking like I fell off a horse. He didn’t need my father finding out where I had returned from and demanding Gris’s head on a pike.

When I returned to the bedroom, it was clear that Gris had used magic to straighten the place to appear as if no one had stepped foot in there. I gave him an eye roll.

“Out here just throwing magic around?”

He sighed, “Oh, you’re lucky I didn’t use any magic while you were riding me.”

His remark stopped me dead in my tracks, and I’m sure the shock was written all over my face. I had never considered the use of magic in the bedroom or with partners. Was that a thing? Versa had never mentioned that. Now I was exploding with curiosity.

He added, “Can’t use my whole bag of tricks on the first go around.”

What did he mean by that? Was he trying to imply there was going to be another time?

I let him guide me back to the foyer, asking if I wanted anything to drink. I was desperately parched, so I asked him to fill me a canteen of water to take with me.

“Leaving so soon?” he questioned with dismay.

This interaction was odd. This was not like Gris—implying a second rendezvous and unsettled by my quick exit. Was he suddenly pining for me? I didn’t want to disappear on Gris, not after the kindness he showed me today. I knew he’d take it the wrong way. He’d internalize everything if I didn’t at least come back to say goodbye.

“I just thought, you know, with you having to leave for your new adventure you might want to stay longer. My family won’t be back for a while, we’ll have the whole manor and grounds to ourselves.” That last remark came with a nefarious look, and I could see the lust still lingering in his stare.

There was no possibility of me staying. I had a lot to process, and I wanted badly to speak with my sister. I also didn’t want to have to spend any more time discussing that awful lie about my new role with the Seafarers, all while struggling to keep my guard up so I wouldn’t run the risk of him finding out where I was truly headed.

“I have to go. My sister is going to be livid that I didn’t help with the wedding planning at all today.”

I could see the disappointment sprawled across his face as he went to hand me the water…to go. I also knew deep down I had no other intention than checking item number one off my list, and I couldn’t get distracted. No, not now that I had other things to accomplish.

Letting myself stay longer or visit more would just send me into a spiral that I wouldn’t be able to climb out of. And even though this new weird spark between us was something that I’d possibly delight in exploring, it was wrong. I didn’t want to hurt him any more than I already would once he found out I was never returning. I took the water from him and began to make my way to the front door.

I could feel the traitorous tears beginning to form at the bottom of my lashes. The impending permanent goodbye loomed over me. While I could come to see Gris again, it was the reminder that these were the goodbyes I’d need to perform for anyone I cared about. The sting of that truth was becoming all too real. During this time with Gris, I had managed to mostly ignore my fate, but now it was torment. My emotions grappled with the inevitability of one of my lifelong nearest and dearest friends slipping through my fingertips.

I turned and plunged myself into him, throwing my arms around his giant torso, hugging and squeezing him tightly. His body was still radiating heat from our time together.

I was saying goodbye, even if he didn’t realize it. “Thank you, Gris, for letting me call in a bargain…seventy-five years early.”

He laughed, hugging me back, and gently kissed the top of my head where his chin rested.

He released me, and as I began to head down the steps toward my horse, he called out, “Maybe I was the fool for needing one hundred years.”

And then it hit me like a sharp stab in the chest. Words like daggers indicating he had felt something and I had done exactly what I had hoped to avoid. I didn’t want him to feel anything for me. I didn’t want him to question if there could be more, because there couldn’t.

I couldn’t have trusted a stranger with this, to ensure I was treated properly as I knew Gris would. That’s all this could be. I bit back the tears and mounted Rain.

Before I rode away, I yelled back to Gris, “You wouldn’t be the first fool.”

It was cocky, sarcastic, and something he and I would have said to each other before I selfishly asked to cross the boundaries of our friendship.

Just as I rounded the corner, I heard him yell out his response coated in longing, “And I won’t be the last!”

CHAPTER

5

On the return home, with each stride Rain took, I felt a mixture of yearning and soreness between my thighs as my center rocked back and forth against the leather saddle. I longed for the feel of Gris between me and struggled to concentrate as I was overcome with flashbacks of what had just occurred.

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