Page 88 of Enchanted Heir
“Let’s go, love,” Krew said quietly. “You don’t have to freeze on my account. I know how you don’t like the cold.”
He stood, keeping my hand in his and we headed back in.
I shook out the umbrella at the door leaving it out to dry, and then sped into the bathroom, turning the shower water on hot.
I walked back in to find Krew standing before the fire, soaking wet.
“Go shower,” I demanded and pointed toward the bathroom. “Get warmed up.”
He opened his mouth as if he wanted to argue, but the look on my face must have stopped him. “Okay,” he muttered.
I grabbed the queen's journal and some hot tea from the credenza before heading to the couch in Krew's bedroom’s side of the wing. I was decidedly less excited to read the journal now, but I needed something to do. Something other than think of Warrick’s mother and what she must have been like. How much he must miss her. How I ever dared to replace her.
The queen’s journal was somewhat boring at the beginning. She spoke on the upcoming events in the castle, some large affair with the other countries that Wylan was hosting. There wasn’t anything too revealing, but the phrasing of her words and her attitude about life had me smiling.
She was a queen, but she was also just a mother and a woman.
I was so into the words before me, I didn’t hear Krew turn off the shower until he was there, wearing the same thing he wore to bed every night, lounge pants and no shirt. He grabbed a blanket off the foot of the bed and tossed it on my lap.
“Thanks.”
He added a few logs to the fireplace before walking over to the credenza. I was surprised to see him pour himself some water from the teakettle warmer and make himself a cup of warm tea too. Instead of his usual whiskey.
I patted the seat next to me and he sat down, taking a sip of his tea.
“Do you have any more meetings to go to today?” I asked him, worried he’d have to spend time with his father.
He shook his head. “No. Just dinner tonight. How’s the journal?”
I smirked. “Kind of boring so far.”
He nodded. “The first few are. Then they get more interesting. After Keir and I were born, in a few she gets quite mouthy. We were often a lot to handle. I’ll have to bring you some of my favorites.”
I honestly couldn’t wait to read those. I opened my mouth to ask him if Cessa was mouthy also, but then I thought that would be rude. I wasn’t wanting to compare myself to his dead lover. I was just wanting to know what she’d been like.
“What?” Krew asked, picking up on what had to be a weird look on my face.
I sighed. “I was just going to ask if Cessa wasmouthytoo, but I didn’t want to make you feel worse.”
He shook his head. “No, she wasn’t.” He paused. “I’m not sure the two of you could be more different, actually. You’re more like my mother than she was in that regard.”
I considered that a moment.
“I cherish the fact that you are nothing like her,” Krew said gently. “It is a constant reminder you are not Cessa, and that what happened to her doesn’t have to happen to you too.”
“Even if I have no magic?”
He gave me a nod. “Even if.” He paused, but looked like he was thinking through some things, so I gave him the space to do so. Finally, he added, “I tried to erase her memory so many different ways. First, I was just angry. I let that consume me for a while. Then I foolishly thought if I slept with enough other women, that would somehow make the memories of her not as sharp. And then finally, I wound up trying to kill my father. None of it worked. Her memories are still there, though they hurt less than they used to. More of a sting and less of a gaping wound. As it happens, I am not good with grief.”
“I don’t know of anyone who is.” I reached over to squeeze his hand, his magic churning in his palms in circular motions as if trying to comfort him. “And I understand some of what you went through. My relationship, if that’s even what you want to call it, began with Will in an effort to ease my pain when I lost my father.”
“Did it work?”
I gave him a shrug and took a sip of my tea. “Momentarily, yes. And that is what I thought I needed at the time, but I also think it just delayed the inevitable work of having to walk in my grief.”
“I understand entirely.”
Unable to help myself, I reached over rested my head on his shoulder. “I have no idea how to help you. How can I help, Krew?”
