Page 9 of Forbidden Obsession
“Even if they are, you have your father.”
Do I? But I can’t put voice to that thought. Too dangerous. Saying it out loud makes it more real, and that’s the last thing I want. “What are your nightmares about?”
Rahz turns away and casts his gaze downward.
Regret slams me sideways. I didn’t mean to make him uncomfortable, especially when he’s kind enough to comfort me. “You don’t have to say if you don’t want to.”
“No, it’s all right. You’re my best friend. I can tell you.” Rahz takes a deep breath. A shadow crosses his face, and his gaze takes on a faraway quality. He looks older like this, and I see a hint of the man he will become someday. I like what I see.
“I dream of war,” he says. “Of fighting. I dream we need soldiers, and I am called to serve. So I go to battle, even though it frightens me. I don’t want to fight. I only wish for peace, but sometimes peace must be fought for. There’s blood and pain and death. And like your dream, it all seems real. The screams, the metallic scent in the air, the groans of the dying.” He trembles. “If I close my eyes, I can hear them, even now.”
I squeeze his hand. “I wonder why you dream such things when Luminia has been at peace for ages.”
His gaze falls on me like a rainstorm. “And what guarantee have we that it will stay that way?”
“Why would things change?”
“Because things always do.”
I think on that. Perhaps it’s true for Rahz, but not for me. My life changes little from day to day. Attend my lessons, mind my father, stay out of his way, and help Bessa with the chores. Same old, same old.
But Rahz lives with his mother. His human mother. A fact I haven’t given a whole lot of thought before this. He has only a mother, and I have only a father. Between us, we have the whole set. But what must it be like to be human among so many fae? And to be a hybrid of the two, like Rahz?
A sad reality dawns on me. Rahz will lose his mother someday. Her kind doesn’t live as long as ours. Whereas I might someday go dormant like my mother, Rahz’s mom will actually die. And he’s never known his father, whose heritage will grant Rahz a long life like mine.
Rahz is destined to be alone.
Tears blur my vision as I grip his hand even tighter, bringing it to my chest and holding his palm over my heart.
“What is it?” he asks, turning to face me.
I sniffle and shake my head. He’s known for his whole life what I’ve only just realized. He doesn’t need to hear me say it. “Nothing.”
“It’s definitely not nothing,” he huffs. He lets go of my hand and wipes the tears from my cheeks with his thumbs. Then he slings an arm around me, drawing me in. “Don’t be afraid. We’re safe here together.”
Warmth floods my chest. I stare at his mouth. We’re so close. If I leaned in, just a little, I could—
Rahz kisses me, bridging the gap between us and pressing our lips together gently. A quick peck. There and gone. In that second, my entire world rearranges itself.
My body alights with a tingling rush of sensation that curls my toes and flutters my wings. I lick my lips to taste him there and nearly moan at the sensation.
His cheeks are pink, and he’s turning away.
No, no, no.
I grab his face and bring it back to mine. This time, when we kiss, the touch lingers. Soft and warm. Our mouths pressed together, parting slightly to fit even closer. I breathe through my nose so I don’t have to pull away. Tasting sweet apricots and sugar, I’m swooning, floating, even though my wings lay folded on my back.
I don’t know what to do—this is my first kiss, er, well, second if I count that little peck he just gave me—I only know I never want this moment to end.
Rahz’s hands are hot on my waist. Mine cup his nape under the silky-soft weight of his silver hair. I chase him as he pulls away, and both of us grin.
“Feel better?” he asks shyly, his cheeks still pink as lollyberries.
Whatever upset me is a distant memory that pales compared to his lovely, shining lips. “Mm-hmm.” I dart in to kiss him again, but he stops me with a hand braced on my sternum.
“Jindal, slow down.”
I search his face and find no answer. “Why?”
