Page 66 of A Court Bright and Broken

For a moment, I could see a vision of her in my mind’s eye.

“She looked like an angel,” I said. “As she does in that portrait. Having it makes me feel like she’s still with me, though she’s been gone for years now.”

A gasp escaped Wyn’s mouth.

“You did not know the Queen had passed away?” I asked, surprised. I would have thought that news would have reached even the remotest parts of our kingdom.

“No I…” She stopped then started again. “I knew. It’s just…mymother used to do the same thing. She’d say she was sorry to have awakened me, but that I was so beautiful to her she couldn’t help herself.”

“I can’t blame her,” I whispered.

Unable to helpmyself, I lifted a hand and stroked Wyn’s cheek with the backs of my fingers. Her skin felt like the finest silk from across the Sapphire Sea.

Her lips parted, and I could hear her breaths quicken. Looking up at me with those soulful eyes, tears dotting the corners of them, she was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.

“You lost your mother, too?” I asked, feeling a timeworn ache echo through my chest.

Wyn nodded. “Yes. I’m sorry for your loss.”

“I’m sorry for yours,” I said.

It seemed impossible, but I felt more connected to this woman I’d met only tonight than I’d felt to anyone in years. She pulled at me like the moon drew the waves.

“I know we’ve only just met, and I know you’re a lady of honor, and it’s far too early for this to be appropriate, but I wonder if I could… that is, would you mind if I…”

All the while I’d been talking, I’d been moving closer to her, lowering my head over hers to accommodate our height difference.

Now our lips were close enough that I could feel her warm, tantalizing breaths against mine.

I didn’t know her well enough yet to read her signs. I didn’t know what she wanted.

But I knew whatIwanted.

It didn’t even feel like a desire, but arequirement, a necessity rather than a choice, like drawing air into my lungs or eating when I was famished.

Without waiting for Wyn’s permission, I kissed her.

Chapter 18

My Lady

Raewyn

What was happening?

Well, I knew I was being kissed for the first time in my life, buthowhad it happened?

When Stellon had touched my cheek and looked into my eyes, my heart had started pounding like a drumbeat from one of my ancestors’ traditional battle songs.

My eyes had fallen to his lips, taking in their full shape, their appealing softness. I couldn’t say the thought of kissing him hadn’t crossed my mind.

But the reality of it was mind-bending.

In fact, I couldn’t think at all. My knees were shaking, and my eyes had closed without my permission. My skin felt flushed all over, sensitive to even the touch of the light breeze.

When Stellon sank his hands into my hair and stroked the back of my head and neck, I feared I might actually pass out—or fly apart like sparks lifting off from a bonfire.

This must be that sexual glamour Pharis had mentioned.

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