Page 88 of Frozen Hearts and Death Magic

“And you’re not going to tell me.”

“You shouldn’t worry about that kind of thing.”

“You said you’d answer.”

He fixed his eyes on her. “When we get married.”

“Yes, and now I’m here and you’re stalling.”

“I’m nice. I’m giving you a chance to change your mind.”

“And what if I change my mind now? What if I want to wait at home until you decide whatever you need to do is done?” She didn’t want to go home. At least not before figuring out what was in those woods, but she was testing him.

He was peeling a peach with his bare hands. “You made a deal. A deal is a deal.”

“But it wasn’t fair.”

The corner of his lips lifted. “Tip: if you ever make a deal with a fae, and if you think they didn’t swindle you, watch out, something even worse is coming.”

Naia couldn’t believe herself. “Really? You’ll keep me here as a prisoner? If I want to go home you won’t let me?”

“For a short while. I like you, Naia, I truly do, and you should believe me. You’re powerful and sweet, and you have so much kindness and compassion, but it’s not naive compassion. There’s slyness and strength behind it. You’re a force to be reckoned with, and I like it.”

She exhaled and rolled her eyes. “Great. Changing the subject.”

“Not really, no. I’ve thought about it. I’d been lost for so long, then there was that light calling me. I didn’t understand it at first. Now I think it was you.”

“Maybe. When I forget to wash my face my skin does get shiny.”

He laughed. “And you? How did you find me?”

A hunch. Something so powerful that had gotten her out of bed. She hadn’t given it much thought, but now that he had mentioned it… Still, no way she would confess this. Naia shrugged. “I was out for a walk.”

“In the middle of the night.”

“Couldn’t sleep.” Technically, that was true.

“I’m glad you found me, my beautiful savior.”

“What about me? Should I be glad I found you?”

“That…will be up to you.” He lay down beside her, and reached out for her. “Come here.”

She leaned on his chest, hearing his heart beneath his thin tunic. While she still wanted to figure out his secrets, staying away from him wasn’t going to change anything. Unless… she recalled the previous night, the feel of his hands against her skin… It was better to forget it for now.

“It’s a moonless night,” he said. “Beautiful.”

There was a brilliant trail of what looked like silvery dust across the sky. “Funny how the dark reveals the light.”

“It does.” She could feel his chest reverberating with his voice, such a lovely voice. He continued, “You see those stars? We Ancients believe that each of them has a whole world in it.”

“That’s a lot of worlds.”

His arm wrapped around her, and she couldn’t say she didn’t like that. “Imagine the possibilities. Sometimes I wonder if there would be a world like ours, but where things had gone differently. For a long time, I wished things had been different, I wished I hadn’t …” He sighed. “Gotten lost. It makes sense, right? But then I wouldn’t be here, and it makes me question so much.” There was a sad longing in his voice.

“What would you like to be different?”

“Right now? Nothing. This is a perfect moment. And perhaps that’s what life is. We think about it as a journey, as where it’s leading us. Maybe it goes nowhere. Maybe all it is are all those tiny, perfect moments. At the end of the day, nothing lasts anyway.”

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