Page 107 of Fate's Sweetest Curse
I frowned. The only time a love potion didn’t work was when there was no love there at all, or…when love was already present, making the potion moot.
I met his eyes. “It wouldn’t?”
He gave me an easy smile. “Nope,” he said, bending down to kiss me.
My forehead creased. “What kind of declaration is that?”
“You want a declaration?” He poked my nose playfully.
I assumed an air of annoyance. “Would be nice.”
“What exactly would you like to hear?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” I pretended to consider the question. “Something about how I’m everything you always wanted.”
“Did I not express that in the gardens?”
Just the thought of what he’d said in the gardens made my head swim. “I suppose,” I said, still feigning discontentment. “But that wassolong ago, and—”
Noble rolled me onto my back, swiveled to his side, and propped himself up on one elbow so that he hovered over me. He cupped my cheek in his big, capable hand, green eyes finding mine in the dark. “Hattie, you are everything I’ve ever wanted. You are the sun toward which everything inside me grows.”
He was being playful, lighthearted, but to hear those words from him—words I’d dreamed about, yearned for, doubted I’d ever hear out loud—made my throat squeeze. I turned my head, eyes pricking with tears. A shaky sigh slipped out of me.
“Keep going,” I managed.
He turned my face toward him, his expression sincere. “Hattie.” A soft smile. “I love you. I have always loved you. I’ve loved you since the moment I saw you, and I have not stopped loving you since. I am so sorry I denied you that truth for so long.”
A tear slid down my face, past my ear, and landed on the pillow. The next one was caught by Noble’s thumb.
“Do you love me?” he prompted.
Emotion blurred my vision, but I still saw it: the uncertainty that carved a line between his brows, the fear that made his nostrils flare.You still love me, he’d taunted me in Waldron over a year ago, yet now he seemed…unsure?
“You know I do,” I said.
A frown pulled at his lovely mouth. “Even now? Even considering…?” His gaze fell to his bandage.
Oh.
I swiveled, facing him in the dark. “Noble, I’ve loved you for fifteen years. I’m certainly not going to stop now.”
The green in his eyes shimmered. “I can’t guarantee that I won’t turn someday—that I won’t…hurtyou.”
“Noble…” I protested.
“I have dreams sometimes.Nightmares.” He stared at the door across the room, his gaze distant. “You’re in them, and I’m half-turned…stalking you.”
I tried not to stiffen. “Me?”
“Always you.”
“Do you think it’s because you want me?”
He seemed surprised by that question. “I’m not sure.”
“Do you harm me in your nightmares?”
“No,” he said thickly. “I always stop myself and wake up before…” He swallowed. “The nightmares increase in frequency when I haven’t taken Hylder.”
