Page 106 of Midwinter Wiles & Valerian Dreams
He’s wrong…so wrong. How could he think that? He thinks I can’t love him, but Ido.
I should have told him. I would have if I wasn’t so scared. I thought I had to keep the princess hidden, but he knew.He knew the whole time.And still…he fell in love with me.
Lumi nudges my shoulder. “You see now?”
“But he doesn’t believe I love him back.”
“That is not the same as it being untrue,” she replies. “He only feels unworthy, the same way you felt like you had to hide. Silly creatures, the both of you.”
They’re talking in the distance. A counterspell. Impossible ingredients. Lark’s oath to get them, because of course he can. He can do anything.
Through it all, my mind aches. My heart throbs with want. The darkness is heavy, even with Lumi’s light as my guide. I push at every dark recess and shadow, straining to reach for them, to find a crack I can slip through.
Lark.
Taynia.
I’m so filled with longing I can barely breathe.
Then: “…true love’s kiss.”
My heart skips.He can wake me.
With just one kiss, he’ll know!
“What?” Lark’s question is weighted with iron, the hope gone from his voice.
No, my heart screams. If he doesn’t believe I love him, will he try?
Lumi’s glow flickers beside me.
“Lumi, I have to wake,” I whisper.
“I know,” she says.
Then her glow wraps around me, holding tight as I slip into the blinding snow.
Chapter 37
Talvie
There’s warmth now, and a soft surface under me. The scent of wood smoke and the familiar murmur of voices tell me where I am.
The cottage. Home.
I think I’m on the sofa. Voices rise and fall around me—some that feel complicated, some warm and familiar, calling to me.
“…dew from the glasshouse,” Katja is saying. “It has to be dawn dew, and the sun’s almost crested the trees.”
“You go get that, Doc. And hurry.” Lark’s voice cuts through the fog.
“On my way,” she replies over the fluttering of wings, “but you hurry too, Lark. Don’t forget the hearing.”
“The…oh,storms. The hearing!” Lark’s groan is all too real. “That’s at midday.”
“We can’t reschedule. Sentry Niemi made that very clear.”
“I know, Doc. We won’t miss it. I won’t let you down.”
