His smirk departed as quickly as the last winter sunlight, and I regretted my unkind tone. His face became serious, yet starlight still twirled in his eyes.

I could not crush this man’s spirit.

“You,” he said.

I blinked.

“Youare all I want,” he added fiercely. “Nothing else and no one else. I’ve been looking for you for a very long time, longer than you’ll believe.”

I was so taken aback that I was speechless, and heat rose to my skin, tingling all over. This time it was no different—there was unmistaken, thick chemistry between us.

“Why?” I demanded. “Why have you been looking for me? And for how long?”

“From the day you disappeared,” he said.

“Did you have something to do with that? Were you in the Forbidden Forest that day? I caught a figure in the shadow before I was suddenly in this jungle!”

“Slow down, Daisy darling.” He muffled an amused chuckle. “I don’t even know where to begin with you throwing so many questions at me so forcefully at the same time.”

Anger swept into me. There was nothing to be amused about when centuries of my life had been spent as a slave and trapped in the Furies’ bodies.

“Why don’t you start with the basics?” I sneered. “Do you have anything to do with my curse? Do not lie. I’ll know if you do.”

“No, Daisy,” he said, his beautiful, rich, masculine voice a caress, but this time I brushed if off. “I’ve been looking for you as long as I could, ever since the first time you disappeared when you were a baby. You were hidden from our sight.”

“Our? Who else have been looking for me?”

It wasn’t my mother, who had died after she gave birth to me. Had my birth killed her, or had someone else killed her?

“The ones who would be loyal to you until death,” he said.

That seemed to be a long, complicated story. Elvey seemed to read my mind. “And I don’t have time to answer all the questions right now. I’m not a free man, and I’m constantly watched.”

“Are you being watched now?” I narrowed my eyes. “And by who? The queen?”

“I see,” he said drily. “Sybil reported everything without editing, against my warning.”

The next instant, I was in his arms, crashing against his hard chest.

I registered what he would do next. As if no words could express how he’d felt, he had to kiss me.

His hand threaded in my hair, tilting my head back slightly, as he bent down and enveloped my lips with his.

Instantly, sunlight burst on my skin, so warm and delicious that I almost cried. I hadn’t seen sun and hadn’t felt its ray for nine hundred years. I couldn’t even conjure it in my fading memories, but now it was on my eyelashes, my face, and my lips.

I brought up my hands and pressed them to the sides of Elvey’s face, so I could have more of the sunshine.

He kissed me tenderly and slowly, as if he had all the time in the world. But I was less patient. His scent of sunlight and sandalwood and sprinkles of spring rain drove me of my mind. I wanted all. I wanted them to belong to me, for they’d been lacking in my existence for too long.

I parted my lips, the tip of my tongue striking out and licking his sensual, warm lips. They tasted like faint honey. I wanted more of his taste and his scent.

At my demand, Elvey gasped, and I took the opportunity to thrust my tongue into his mouth. What other mystery and secrets did he hold? I needed to unveil them.

His tongue met mine, dancing a languorous dance. As I slammed mine to his hard palate, he lost his casualness. He was no longer that man who had no care of the world. He took control, wrapping his tongue around mine and mating mine, more aggressive and possessive with each stroke.

Mine, also mine!I heard his voice roar, though he hadn’t really spoken.

Then it happened.