Page 75 of Never Been Gargoyled
She laughed through her tears. “Happy tears, remember? These are very, very happy tears.”
“Ah. Yes. Happy tears.” I still didn't fully understand the concept, but if Dazy said she was happy, I would accept it.
She stepped into the conservatory, moving slowly through the space I'd created. She touched the fountain, breathed in the scent of the herbs, ran her fingers over the soft cushions.
When she reached the plaque, she read it out loud. More tears fell, but her smile was radiant. “You really believe that I brought you back to life?”
“I know it.” The words came easily now, my certainty overwhelming my awkwardness. “I was stone, Dazy. Not just my body, but everything inside me. Until you arrived and made me remember what it felt like to want something. To hope for something.”
She moved toward me, and I opened my arms to catch her when she launched herself at me. Her legs wrapped around my waist, her arms around my neck, and she kissed me with an intensity that made my wings snap out.
“I love you,” she said against my lips. “I love you so much it scares me.”
“Why does it scare you?”
“Because I've never felt anything this big before. Youmake me feel like I could do anything, be anything, as long as you're with me.”
The fierce joy in her voice, the way she clung to me like I was something amazing, was everything I'd dreamed of and more. My mate understood what she meant to me, and miraculously, impossibly, she felt the same way.
“Always,” I promised her. “Whatever happens, wherever we go. Always.”
Chapter 27
Dazy
The conservatory glowed around us like something out of a fairy tale, and I was still wrapped around Feydin like a koala, my legs locked around his waist and my arms circling his neck. His wings had flared out when I'd kissed him, making me feel like we were the only two people in the world.
“Always,” he'd promised, and the way he said it, like a vow, like something sacred, made my heart flip over.
I pulled back to look at his face, searching those gorgeous gray eyes that always seemed to see right through me. “You know what scares me most about loving you?”
His brow furrowed. “What?”
“That I might wake up tomorrow and find out this is all a dream. That you're too good to be true.”
Something flickered across his expression, surprise, maybe, or disbelief. “I'm not good, Dazy. I'm awkward and out of practice with everything. I don't understandhuman customs half the time, and I constantly worry that I'm doing everything wrong.”
“You built me a secret garden room,” I said, gesturing around us. “You noticed every little thing I liked and created the most beautiful space I've ever seen. How is that doing something wrong?”
The spikes on the top of his wings shifted. “You're certain you like it? You're not being polite?”
I laughed, unable to help myself. “Feydin, I literally launched myself at you and wrapped myself around you like a monkey. Does that seem polite to you?”
“I'm still learning your signals,” he said seriously, which only made me love him more.
“Well, let me give you a very clear signal.” I unwound my legs from his waist and slid down his body until my feet touched the floor, then took his hand and led him toward the reading nook. “I want to show you how much I love what you've created. How much I love you.”
He sucked in a breath. “Dazy.”
“Unless you don't want to?” I paused, suddenly uncertain. We’d slept together the past few nights. Made love. But that was at night and in my bedroom. Maybe I was being too forward thinking we could be together here. Gargoyles could have different ideas about intimacy and timing.
“I want to,” he said quickly. “I always want to be with you. But are you sure? Here?”
I looked around the conservatory, at the plants and flowers he'd chosen with such care, at the soft cushions and the gentle trickle of the fountain. Late-day sunlightstreamed through the glass ceiling, and the air smelled like flowers and possibility.
“It's so beautiful.” I squeezed his hand. “So are you.”
This time when I kissed him, I put everything I had into it. All my love, all my gratitude, all my desperate hope that we'd figure out a way to keep the estate and the life we were building here.
