Page 115 of Beneath the Flames
“Ask me.”
Our chests were nearly touching now.A pained look crossed his face.
“I can’t,” he admitted.
Though his words surprised me, I didn’t let it show on my face.I was going to get this out one way or another.Whatever reason he was afraid, I wasn’t going to let it stop me.
I took a deep breath.“Then let me show you.”
Without hesitation, I leaned onto my toes and pressed my lips to his.Rhydian’s body was stiff, unmoving.For a second, I thought he might push me away, shut me down.But I was patient.I waited, hoping he’d admit how he felt too.
It only took a few more seconds before he melted into me, winding his arms around my waist and tugging me into him.He took control, deepening the kiss, and I was all too happy to let him.
We lost ourselves in the kiss.He was a strong Fae, and yet the way his fingers pressed into my lower back was extraordinarily gentle, the way he held my cheek with his palm surprisingly tender.
I didn’t know it was possible to feel loved like this just from the way Rhydian held me, kissed me.
When the burn of desire faded to a simmer, I smiled against his lips and spoke three words I’d never said to anyone before.
“I love you.”
The three words I had waited centuries to hear hung over Maren like a death knell, and she had no idea.
“I’m in love with you,” she repeated, resting her forehead against mine.Her warm breath tickled my lips, but I couldn’t move.My lips pressed together, unable to say the words that would doom her—and me.
In all these years, all I had wanted was to break the curse.To finally be free.
Though I’d always held a small bit of hope that it would be broken, I didn’t think I ever truly believed that it would be.How could it?I’d never loved anyone before.I wasn’t supposed to be capable of it.
And yet Maren had wormed her way into my cold heart, making me feel things I’d never felt before.And that was why Icouldn’tsay those words.Because I knew what would happen if I did.Yes, the curse would be broken, but the beast would alsobe released, and then she would die.
Saying the words out loud would doom her.
There had never been any choice.
If the curse wasn’t broken, we would all die, Maren included.And if I said those words, Eroth would survive, but the beast would raze the world in revenge.Maren’s life would wither to nothing, just like mine had over the centuries.Only, there was no telling how long she would live, even if she survived the beast’s wrath.
My heart ached at the thought.I should have tried harder to send her home.I should have tried to summon enough magic to activate the portal and send her back to her world, or lowered myself to begging Carrow or one of the queens to help.But I was selfish at heart, and I’d kept her here as if she belonged to me.
And then like a fool, I had done the one thing that should have been impossible.
I fell for her.
I pressed my lips together, trying to contain the words that were desperate to be spoken.Maybe Nico would figure out how to get her home if the curse was broken.Perhaps if she went home before the queens’ magic could claim her life, death wouldn’t be her fate.
Or maybe that’s just wishful thinking, Rhydian.
As much as I tried to fight it, the words rose to my lips unbidden.I opened my mouth—
The door slammed open, ricocheting off the wall.Maren and I jumped, and I instinctually shoved her behind me before my brain could register Nico standing there.
“Rhydian,” he shouted, panting.Terror flooded his face as he pointed at the flower beneath the glass dome.“The Magmara.”
Thosewords I had expected.
Much like when the Magmara first sprouted and released a burst of power that could be felt by all Fae, it did the same just before it died.And yet I had felt no power, no flare.I had felt nothing at all.
Magic leaked from my veins, barely a trickle, and was likely the reason I hadn’t felt the final bursts of power coming from the flower as the last petal wavered.If it weren’t for Nico feeling its death approaching, I would have missed it altogether, and the chance to finally be free from the curse with it.
