Page 220 of A Winding Wave of Magic
“They said it wasn’t…complete. And by that, they meant?”
His eyes found mine with a new hunger. “What do you think they meant, Cass?”
I rolled mine. “It always comes down to sex, doesn’t it? Don’t you find it a little ironic how much fae imitate the Puritanical views responsible for their persecution?”
“More than you could possibly know.” He tugged me back to him as if he couldn’t bear the distance between us any more than I could.
I understood. The man drove me crazy, but something about separation feltwrong. Even now, inches from each other, there was that underlying urge to get closer, to meld together, to find a place where the divisions between our bodies and minds ceased to exist.
Jonathan buried his face in my neck and groaned. “Don’t do that to me.”
I turned my face into his nape and inhaled his fresh scent. “Why not? Misery loves company. And you’re the only one who gets it.”
There was another groan. “You have no fucking clue.”
“Don’t I?”
“Impossible situation.” He straightened with a lopsided smile—a crooked thing I was starting to love for its irreverence and hate for its hopelessness.
“As for the mind bending?”
The smile disappeared. “That.” He glanced up at the sky which was irritatingly clear. “We need to get out of here.”
“Will I be a fugitive?”
His mouth folded into a thin line. It was all the answer I needed.
“So this whole mission was a bust, wasn’t it?” I asked. “Penny must have known. She told me never to do that, but she must have known they would figure it out. Why would she send me here to be targeted as a criminal?”
“She sent you here to shine a light on the injustices of the system,” Jonathan said.
“Great, so I get to be a martyr?” I kicked at a stub of grass. “What kind of life is that?”
“One where you change the world.”
I turned. “You don’t really believe that, do you?”
He pulled me close again, urging me to feel every bit of his faith in me. “I believe that we have no idea yet what you are capable of. But I see what Penny likely knew—that you will be the most powerful fae in the world once you manifest. You will bare the truth of what we are to everyone and allow us to live freely as we never have. You will changeeverything, you magnificent creature.” He looked up to the sky again. Still clear. “If we can only get you away from here.” He shook his head. “This was my mistake. We never should have answered their summons. Penny wanted you to train for four years and come here after you had manifested. We’re here too early, and I put you in danger.”
He looked so forlorn and disappointed with himself, it broke my heart.
Acting purely on impulse, I stood up on my toes, clasped his face between my hands, and kissed him before he had a chanceto pull away. I willed his lips to feel the yearning, but also the acceptance in me.
It was quick. I knew it had to be. But when I released him, both of us were breathing heavily.
“Why?” he asked after his heart calmed.
“Because you needed it, and I did too.”
Jonathan’s hands still fitted to my waist as he pressed his forehead to mine. “It killed me not to get to you. I couldn’t feel exactly what you were going through, but I felt…close…if that makes sense. There was a pull. I would have known something was wrong even if I hadn’t been in the room.”
I shuddered. “I’m glad you were there.”
I kissed him again. This time I didn’t stop, and he didn’t either. His mouth opened as if he could somehow achieve the closeness we both craved so deeply. I ignored the mingled confusion and desire running through his thoughts as he pulled me to his chest, then slid his hands over my hips and down further to take two solid handfuls of my backside and squeeze, hard.
“Bloody hell, Cass,” he breathed, then squeezed again as he sucked my bottom lip between his teeth. “I can’t,” he growled. “I can’t…stop.”
“Thendon’t,” I breathed right back, wrapping both arms around his neck to urge him on.
