Page 45 of The Unseelie Wish
He was a laughing, evil, devilish thing. Seeing him like this twisted a knife in her gut and spun them around like spaghetti. Reaching out, she pulled him toward her, wrapping her arms around him. He fell against her as if he had been holding himself up by will alone, his head resting against her shoulder.
“I am so sorry, Alex.” He sniffed. Shit. Was he crying? No, she couldn’t handle him crying. That was a step too far. “I love you.”
Tipping his head up to her, she kissed him. It wasn’t like before—passionate and hungry. This was about emotion. She didn’t know what to even name the swirl of messy nonsense that was rolling around inside her heart. It wasn’t clearcut. It wasn’t simple. But it was real.
When she broke away from him, he straightened and wiped his eyes with his sleeve. She let him compose himself and regain his dignity. No point in adding insult to injury.
Finally, she broke the silence. “I believe you. On both counts. I can’t forgive you, at least not right now. I—I still have to cope with all this and figure out how we can possibly go forward.”
His shoulders slumped like a great weight had been removed from him. He suddenly looked very tired. “We have a mess to untangle.”
“Yeah. We do.” She took his hand, threading her fingers through his. “Can we do it together this time?”
“I would like that very much.” He squeezed her hand. “But for the moment, I think I am in desperate need of a nap.”
“You and me both.”
Not long later, he was under the sheets with her, lying at her back, his knees tucked into the backs of hers. His arm was draped around her, and he held her close, her head beneath his chin. His slow breathing and the warmth of him there lured her into sleep, breaking through her worry and desperate thoughts.
I’ll get Izael to bring Abigail here. I’ll give up my magic. Then…I’ll use my wish to love him. For however long we have each other, at least we’ll be together. That will have to be enough.
Who needs a soul, anyway?
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“You want me…to do what?” Izael was staring at Alex like she was the one who was insane. Alex didn’t blame him. From his point of view, she might as well be. And honestly? From her point of view, too.
“If I give up my magic, then Valroy can’t use me to wage his wars.” She stirred the cream into her coffee, her spoon rattling against the sides of her mug as she did. It was actually mid-afternoon, and usually far past the point she’d let herself drink coffee, but whatever. Her sleep schedule was all screwed up. It wasn’t going to get any better for a while, she figured. Either when she was his pet human or when she was dead.
“Yes, but—” Izael grimaced. He was pacing in front of her, his brow knitted in concern. “Valroy will be furious if he finds out you are nothing more than a powerless mortal again.”
“Well, it’s not my fucking fault that he knows about my magic, is it?” She shot him a glare. “That was your brilliant idea, not mine.”
“I am aware. But I was trying to find us a way out of this mess.” Izael threw up his hands in frustration.
“A mess you created.”
“Yes, I know.”
“A mess you keep making worse.”
“Yes, I know.”
“A mess you?—”
“I get it!” He threw himself down onto the sofa, looking like a period painting of a woman on a fainting couch. “But you do not understand what Valroy is capable of. He won’t care about the rules. Normally, when a fae takes a human’s soul, they become protected property, even from other members of the court. But in this instance? He’ll murder us both.”
“Do you know that for certain?”
He was silent for a beat. “I have my suspicions.”
Izael knew something he wasn’t telling her. Fae and their goddamn games. “Who told you that was going to happen?”
“A little manic birdy told me.”
“Puck.” She shut her eyes and hung her head in exhaustion for a moment. “Great. And how does he know?”
“He travels through more than just space. He can travel through time.” Izael waved a hand dismissively like he was shooing away a fly. “It’s complicated, so don’t ask me to explain it.”