Page 114 of Of Storm and Emerald
Auraelia
Bythetimetheygot back to the castle, the sky was dark, and the moon shone brightly overhead, while the stars glittered like diamonds scattered across the sky, and despite the heaviness of the conversation back at the waterfall, she never felt lighter.
They hadn’t solved everything, but the fact that they were now on the same page, working toward the same goals, lifted a heaviness that had been weighing on her heart and made it easier for her to breathe.
They returned Luna and Poe to their stalls in the stables, and Daemon instructed the stable hands to give them extra grains and apples after they were brushed down.
“Walk with me?” he asked as he twined his fingers with hers, his thumb tracing the line of her knuckles.
She smiled, and it was full and uninhibited as she nodded and squeezed his hand tighter in her own. She’d been smiling so much since their conversation that her cheeks were now sore.
Daemon weaved them through the groves of fruit trees that covered the castle grounds. Carefully picking his way so that neither of them ended up with a twisted ankle from stepping on any of the fallen fruit or nuts that littered the ground.
“Did you have fun today?” The tinge of worry in his voice had her pulling him to a stop.
She reached up to run her fingers through his hair, the silky strands gliding through her fingers like silk, then ran the pads of her fingers across the stubble on his cheek. When he leaned into her touch, her heart soared.
She kept her voice soft, her eyes scouring the moss green depths of his. “Of course, I did.”
Relief washed over his features as a small smile tilted up the corners of his mouth. Lacing his fingers tighter through hers, he started back in the direction of the castle. As they neared the edge of the grove, he pulled her toward a bench beneath a large plumeria tree that faced the courtyard where the celebration the night before had been held.
An easy silence fell over them, and she leaned against him as he draped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close.
She tilted her head up, taking in the sharp lines of his jaw and the delicate fan of dark lashes that framed his moss green eyes. “Thank you for today. It meant a lot to me that you would share that part of your life.”
Daemon turned his head toward hers and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. Then he smiled, and her heart lodged in her throat.
“My star, I would show you the world if you asked me to.”
Tears sprang to her eyes at the sincerity of his words, and he wiped them away before pressing another kiss to her lips.
The rest of her time in Kalmeera went by too quickly. One day bled into the next until there were no more left, and she was standing on the gangplank that led onto the Nevermore. Taking one final look at the multitude of colors that filled this part of Ixora, she wished she could bring a piece of it home with her.
Daemon wasn’t able to make the trip back with them, so they had said their goodbyes back in the privacy of her rooms.
She was sitting on her bed, hands clasped between her knees and her head hung low, when Daemon appeared swathed in shadows. Her trunk was still lying open, and half packed while Piper scurried between her own chambers and the sitting room. Leaving Auraelia the privacy she needed.
“What is it, Auraelia?” His voice sounded as defeated as she felt, and he crossed the room in two long strides, kneeling at her feet as he pulled her hands into his.
“I don’t want to leave. Being here has been a dream.” She looked up to meet his gaze, and the anguish that coursed through his eyes broke her heart. “I was able to justbe. Be a normal woman, spending time with a normal man.”
Daemon stroked her cheek, and she leaned into the caress–savoring the warm, calloused touch of his hand on her skin. He smiled, small wrinkles forming at the corners of his eyes, but the pain of her leaving still lingered there. “Auraelia Rose, do youlikeme?”
Her laugh came out as a hiccup as tears began to stream down her face. The memory of her asking him that question in the middle of the small bakery in the city seemed like so long ago. Daemon wiped away her tears, pulled her to her feet and into his arms.
“We were never normal, my star.” His words were muffled against her hair.
“I know.” She took a ragged breath, and then pried herself from his arms. Wiping the remaining tears from her face.
The rest of their time together was spent in a tense silence. Looks that said more than words would ever be able to crossed between them as he helped her pack the rest of her things. And when he signaled to his staff that her and Piper’s trunks were ready to go, tears began anew.
There were so many words that she wanted to say, but there was no time to give them a voice. So instead, she pulled him to her and pressed her lips firmly against his. Praying that everything she wanted to say was portrayed in that one kiss.
When they pulled apart, Daemon pulled the sapphire pendant from beneath her tunic, admiring the way his shadows played with the light that streamed through the stone.
“You don’t know how happy I was to see that you wear this every day.” When his eyes met hers once more, they were glassy from unshed tears, but he cleared his throat and let the pendant fall back between her breasts.
He then reached into his vest pocket, and Auraelia’s brow furrowed in confusion.
