Page 1 of A Touch Charmed

Chapter 1

Thora

Onceuponatime,there was a princess who lived in a silent castle with a cold king and a stone queen. The princess spent her days reaching into the dark, until one day, she found the light she’d been looking for in a mischievous boy. She would’ve followed him anywhere.

When the boy walked away from her, the princess fled the prison she’d once called home. But she left her heart behind, and as such, could never really leave. She tried to stand on her own and failed. With nowhere left to turn, the princess returned to the rule of the cold king.

The ground shook upon her arrival. For the first time in many years, she’d felt whole, certain she’d retrieved her heart. Only to understand it had always belonged to the boy who’d walked away, and so it slipped between her fingers once more.

I sat against the cliff with my sketchpad and colored pencil in hand. The ocean’s gentle rhythm kept me company as I drew the story of the sad princess in the silent castle. She had a short swing of auburn hair that curled just above her shoulders, a small upturned nose, and doe eyes the color of shaded moss. No relation.

Rough black rock dug into the tender skin between my shoulder blades, but I didn’t mind the bite. It beat spending another day in the guest house feeling nothing at all.

The high, imposing cliffs of this private cove cast long shadows over the beach. A prison I’d once been so desperate to escape, only to come back and find the black rock walls a cold comfort that kept everyone else out.

My parents’ sprawling estate featured a five-thousand-square-foot mansion and a fifteen-hundred-square-foot guest home, where I’d lived before I left and had been staying since I returned. They had acres of manicured lawns, rigidly maintained gardens, and a tennis court.

Aurora and Thomas Latham had a similar layout next door, with the same surrounding cliffs that sheltered their own cove, yet the differences between the two properties were as infinite as the stars in the sky. The Lathams were warm and welcoming. They filled their home with love, and it spilled out of every corner.

While my parents ruled a hard and formal palace, where everything felt as if it belonged under glass. Including the child who had been raised here.

When I was young, I used to leave my bedroom window open at night. If the ocean was still and I strained my ears, sometimes I could hear laughter from the Lathams’ on the other side of the cliffs. I’d close my eyes and pretend it was coming from inside my house.

With my bottom lip pressed firmly between my teeth, I finished my sketch. Shadows crawled off the walls of a castle as a princess in a frilly ball gown ran from the dark in terror. I leaned my head back and let out a humorless laugh no one was around to hear. The isolation must’ve been getting to me if I’d started to see myself as the heroine of a gothic paperback.

I set my sketchpad to the side and kicked off my sandals, curling my toes in the sand. The faint breeze teased the hem of my white skirt. The waves were calm today. Nothing like they’d been four days ago when the sea churned with black water and threw vicious funnels into the air. I’d stood on the beach as I watched dark clouds roll over the forest. Fire rained from the sky, and the earth had rumbled under my feet.

Just like it had the night the ferry brought me over from the mainland.

I waited to feel whole and complete again, but nothing good came from the most recent earthquake, and unlike the one before, everyone on the island felt the ground shake. Though only the high cliffs had suffered damage. Selene and Ella Raynor lost their home. I was sorry to hear it. Selene had always been kind to me, and not because I was the mayor’s daughter.

I picked up my sandals, dangling them by the heels as I walked back to the guest house. The velvety grass cushioned my feet and tickled my ankles. As I veered off through the gardens, the scent of salt water gave way to the potent perfume coming off my mother’s roses, a thick and cloying aroma that reminded me of old people with older money.

I hated those flowers.

As the stone path curved, the guest house soon came into view. My pulse tripped over itself as I caught sight of Finn standing on a ladder and tapping on my bedroom window. I squeezed my eyes shut, certain my mind was just messing with me, but nope. When I opened my eyes again, he was still there. A memory from long ago grabbed me by the throat, of another night when Finn had tapped on that same window.

My fingers shook as I tugged a throw blanket tight around my shoulders. I’d ordered the white silk bra and thong set online, unable to buy anything like that for myself in town, but now it felt like too much. Too dramatic. Finn tapped on my window and pushed it open. I froze as insecurity flooded me. What if he thought this was stupid? He’d been with lots of girls before me. I bet none of them made such a big deal of this.

He climbed into my room, concern written in his features. “Are you okay? Did something happen?”

Too late to back out now. I sucked in a deep breath and dropped the blanket.

His jaw hit the floor. I’d hoped he’d start ravishing me before I could overthink this, but he just stood there. Why wasn’t he saying anything? Maybe he didn’t want to have sex with me. We’d done other stuff, but we never talked about doing this.

I knotted my fingers together as I stared at the floor. “It’s okay if you don’t want to.”

“Don’t want to?” I looked up to find his fists clenched at his side. “I’m doing everything I can to get myself together before I touch you. I’m so hard, if I lay one finger on your soft skin, I’m going to ruin this night for both of us.”

I gave him a small smile. “You want to touch me?”

“You’re joking, right?” He approached me. The way he moved, like a panther who owned every inch of ground he covered, made my toes curl into my rug. A full-body shiver went through him as he wrapped an arm around me. With the tips of his fingers, he lifted my face, laying a gentle kiss on my lips. “I’ll go slow. I promise I’ll make this good for you.”

Happiness had been so easy to hold back then.

“Come on, Thora. Open up. I’m not trying to get on Audrey’s bad side today.” Finn rapped his fist on the window. “You can’t avoid me forever. I know you’re in there.”

“I’m not, actually.”

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