Page 28 of Enchanted Kisses
Caiden turned and went to my closet. He opened the doors and ran a finger over the colorful sundresses hanging inside.
I joined him. “What are you doing?”
“Did you want to go in your robe?”
“We’re leaving now?” My heart sped for a brief moment before an idea came to mind. “Do you think I have the ability to call my mom for help with this? If I could reach her, maybe she could heal this person instead of me.”
He faced me, his lips slanted in a way I didn’t like. “It’s forbidden for her to have contact with you or your father.”
“Oh.” I slumped, hit with a sadness I hadn’t expected. “I guess that means I’ll never meet her.”
I’d let myself hope, and I hadn’t realized it until now. Never had I imagined meeting my mother. She was dead and that was that. I had no memories of her, no pictures, or anything to miss other than the idea of a mother. To know she was alive and still unavailable to me fueled my anger.
What kind of gods forbid a mother to see her daughter and husband, if only for a moment? Wasn’t it bad enough that they forced her to abandon us? What would an hour of being together hurt?
This was a lot to digest. I wasn’t sure I could take any more. I also wasn’t sure I had a right to feel this sad. A girl I knew back in high school had lost both her parents when she was ten. At least I still had my dad.
“I’m sorry,” Caiden said.
“It’s okay,” I uttered, reassuring myself. “It’s better this way, easier not to know what she’s like and what I’m missing.”
Caiden’s warm hand touched my shoulder.
I brushed it away. “Please don’t. I need to feel this so I can work through it.”
“Not when I can help.”
He didn’t understand. Part of me didn’t, either. Maybe it was the human side of me. “If I need your help, I’ll ask for it. How about that?” I forced a grin.
He tucked wavy strands of my hair behind my ear. “You don’t have to be so strong. You’re not alone. You’ll never be alone again.”
I wanted to curl up in his arms, have him hold me and tell me everything would be okay. Instead, I buried my emotions—I could cry later—and focused on the task at hand, happy for the distraction but feeling silly for the question I was about to ask. “So what does my mom do to, uh…conjure her powers?”
Caiden studied me for a moment before facing the closet and continuing his search through my wardrobe. “She uses different things. Wind. Words. Touch. Kiss. Song.”
“Song?”I snorted. “You’re kidding. You know I can’t sing.”
He glanced sideways at me, one corner of his mouth lifted. “Doesn’t mean it won’t work.”
“I hope, for your friend’s sake, it won’t come down to that.”
Caiden yanked a light-blue sundress from a hanger. “I always liked you in this one.” He threw it over his shoulder and then reached for the belt of my robe.
I stepped back, my hands flying up in protest. “What are you doing?”
“Suddenly shy?” He arched a brow. “You think I don’t know what you’ve got on under there? Your Tinkerbell favorites. Which I’ve seen on you. Not to mention, your bikini bares far more skin, and you wear it in public.”
I stepped away from his reaching arms. “Well, everyone dresses like that at the beach. And when I changed in the same room with you in the past, you were always distracted. Watching TV or reading. It’s not like you were interested.” Or had he been, and I was too naïve to notice?
He closed his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. “Does this work for you?” Before I could respond, he said, “Come now. If I’m to have you back before your father wakes, we need to get moving.”
I couldn’t even comprehend how he could take us to the Realm of Life and have me back home before sunrise. Part of me thought this was a dream and I would wake in the morning to Caiden still being gone.
I glanced at the clock. 10:13 p.m.Here goes nothing.I tossed the robe to the floor, yanked the dress from Caiden’s shoulder, pulled it on, and fluffed my hair while sliding my feet into a pair of sandals.
“Perfect,” Caiden said, surprising me.
I glanced at his face. His eyes were wide and glowing with intense color.
