Page 88 of Fated

“You saved me, Areya. Before you even broke this curse, you saved me. You pulled me out of the darkness and led me back to myself. I’ve done nothing to deserve you, but I’ve spent over three hundred years waiting for you. Now that I’ve found you, I can’t imagine any sort of life without you. I don’t know how I managed to live so long in a world where you didn’t exist.”

He ran his finger gently down the side of my face, the soft touch sending tiny shivers across my skin.

“I love you, Areya.”

In that instant, everything around me seemed to stop. The world, time, even my breath, all frozen as the weight of his confession sank in. Goosebumps erupted over my skin and myheart thundered in my chest, threatening to break free.Ash loves me.

His curse was broken, he was whole again, and he loved me.

The realization was overwhelming. Ash leaned forward and kissed the very spot where a solitary tear fell, his lips soft and warm against my skin.

He pulled back just enough, his face so close I could feel the warmth of his breath on my lips. His eyes shifted from mine, lingering on my mouth.

“I want to kiss you, Areya,” he whispered.

I couldn’t remember how to speak, how to form words, so I simply nodded. I stared at him, nodding like a fool, and he let out a quiet laugh before leaning in and gently pressing his lips against mine in a kiss so tender it left me breathless. He pulled away slightly, just enough that our breaths mingled, and he whispered once more.

“I love you, Areya.”

Chapter 22

Ireached out to touch Ash, but my hand met only emptiness.

There was so much I had wanted to talk to him about last night, but after that single kiss, he’d insisted I needed to rest after my ‘kick-ass display of magic.’

It didn’t take much convincing. Between the shock of everything wearing off and being wrapped in the warmth of his arms, sleep quickly came for me.

This morning though, the absence of Ash left a larger-than-usual ache inside me.

It felt like an invisible rope tugging me, pulling me toward him. I had planned to take a shower, but the urge to find him was so strong that I quickly changed clothes, brushed my teeth, and followed in the direction of that invisible pull. Down the stairs I went, through the manor hallways, all the way into its school section. Beginning to think I was imagining the tug, I found myself standing in front of a door covered in children’s drawings.

Slowly, I opened it, peeked inside, and for a moment, I wondered if I was still dreaming.

Ash sat at a tiny child-sized table, in a child-sized chair, surrounded by a group of young children looking to be between five and seven years old. He was in the middle of telling them a story, a small dark-skinned boy with curly hair perched on his lap.

“Are there really flying bicycles?” the boy asked, his eyes wide with wonder.

“You’ll have to come see for yourself one day,” Ash replied with a smile.

A shy, curly-haired blonde girl who seemed to be the eldest, spoke next. “My mommy says no one is allowed to go above because the kingdoms are closed.”

“Your mommy’s right.” Ash nodded, “but if I have anything to do with it, the kingdoms will one day be open again, and every one of you will be invited to visit my Kingdom of Ambrosia.”

The girl’s face lit up in a wide, toothless grin. Another smaller girl with dark brown hair chimed in, “Miss Pearl called you Prince Sebastian; so, are you really a prince?”

It was then that Ash noticed me standing in the doorway.

His face glowed with the biggest smile, making my heart melt in my chest as I walked over to the little table and took a seat in a tiny yellow chair.

“This is my friend, Areya,” Ash told the children.

“Are you a princess?” the same child asked, her eyes gleaming with excitement.

I chuckled and shook my head, but Ash leaned in and whispered to her, “Don’t pay any attention to her. She is a princess. She just likes to keep it a secret.”

“I knew it! I knew it!” the girl squealed. “She’s so pretty, just like a princess!”

I laughed, covering my face with my hand.

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