Page 171 of A Touch of Stars and Stones
forty-two
. . .
Aten
Falling asleep next to Ever turned into an impossibility I wasn’t ready for. It was a contradiction I couldn’t work out the answer to.
Not because of the fear of touching her in her sleep or the pain that might come from our contact if I’m not aware enough to shield, but from not wanting to close my eyes on her.
She fell asleep in seconds. I felt the gentle hum of emotion and power that comes from being this close and connected, fade like mist in the morning, burning off under Novandia’s rays.
Aslendrix, blessed may you ever be. What are you doing to me?
Despite needing to sleep like the dead, images cursed my mind every time I tried. As if the image of men attacking Ever wasn’t enough, my memory grew into a nightmare, forcing me to watch, locked out and on the other side of the bars, as they ripped her necklace, held her down, and snapped her neck.
Even if she hadn’t wanted to stay, I don’t think I’d be able to sleep without knowing she was next to me for a while.Safe.
And my fucking mind won’t turn off with all the information it needs to sort through. If it wasn’t about Ever, it was the question of who came for her and why. So really, it was all about her.
At some point, I must pass out, but I’m awake to watch as the dawn light creeps in through the window as I keep my vigil over her, who hasn’t moved all night. At least she’ll be rested.
My fingers itch to brush her messy strands of hair back into place, but I don’t want her to wake yet. Or risk having to shield when I feel this drained.
Last night was a whole different level of training. One that had exponentially more rewards, but she was right. It would have taken everything in me to sustain my shield. It was hard enough for the time we were together. I couldn’t do that every day, not without rest.
Here we can stay safe and pretend there isn’t a bunch of crap to work through when we get out of this room.
In here, we can be just a boy and a girl.
A boy falling for a girl whom he should have run from, but couldn’t find the will.
A boy who can’t shield well enough to be with her like she deserves. To be with her the way I’ve been thinking about since… zuns, she gave me the hottest show in her room.
And now I’m hard again thinking about just how good we could be at the new moon when I don’t have to hold back or focus on everything but her touch.
Goddess, yes.
Ever’s breathing shifts, and she finally moves, stretching her arm out from under her and bringing herself around. The simple movement is fucking sexy and gives me something to smirk about. But I lock all of that away, too aware of how she can sense me just as I can sense her.
“Morning,” she hums to me with her eyes still closed.
“Morning, Little Siren.”
“Hmmm… it wasn’t a dream.” Her voice is full of sleep, and suddenly, this is how I want to see her every morning, selfishly, before anyone else does.
“Well, it depends on what you were thinking about, but I’m betting on the answer being no, it wasn’t a dream.”
Finally, those green eyes open and blink up at me through her darker lashes. The colour in her lips and cheeks reminds me of last night after she trailed her tongue over my chest, and I know it’s going to be fucking frustrating to limit myself when it comes to her.
It’s been that way from the start, though, only now, my heart is invested too. Fucking all of it.
“Do you want breakfast? Rigel will set something up, I’m sure,” I offer.
“I think we should get back to the residence. Now it’s light, and after yesterday, I want to check on Micah and Kyra, maybe try and make sense of everything.”
“Shit, Micah.” I roll onto my back and scrub my hands over my face. “He came with me to The Court. But he said he wanted to check on his family. I told him we’d find him.”
“Well, we got a little distracted, what with the men breaking into my cell and all.” Her voice is far too buoyant to be describing what happened. My jaw tenses. But she’s okay. She’s here.
