Page 72 of Fate of the Fallen
“Don’t make me beg you,” Liam crooned, causing me to get swept away in his hazel stare.
“But you sound so good doing it,” I laughed, bringing his face to mine so I could reach his lips.
“Don’t be cute,” he groaned playfully, burying his face in the side of my neck.
A laugh burst from my throat and I brought him closer, remembering something I dreamed a few nights ago.
“You know what else you sound good doing?” I asked.
He pulled away slowly, still eyeing the spot on my neck he’d just kissed. “I’m listening,” was his reply, and the depth of his voice added to the point I was about to make.
“Singing.”
“And that’s my cue to leave,” he announced, one corner of his mouth tugging up into a half smile. As soon as the words touched my ears, he moved to stand, but stopped when I caught his arm.
“Wait! I wasn’t even gonna ask for a song,” I laughed. “It’s just something I saw and heard a few nights ago. In a memory that came to me,” I clarified.
But that honestly hadn’t been the only time. The first was when I wandered inside his head while he drove, unaware that I was present with him. Before getting his attention, he’d been singing one of my mother’s favorite songs—TalihinaSky. I hadn’t forgotten that, but hearing him in the dream was a pleasant surprise.
He lowered his head and I smiled a bit at what I saw.
“Oh wow! Are you turning red, Liam?” I laughed, teasing him. “Did I actually embarrass you? The warrior known around the world as Reaper?” I went on, rubbing it in even more.
“All right, enough,” he laughed, pushing a hand through his dark waves. “I was a different guy back then, so I want your word that this highly classified information will never leave this room,” he added.
I crossed my heart with my finger. “I promise.”
I stared after that, in awe as my cheeks ached with a grin. I still found it hard to believe he was mine. And seeing him actually being shy about this was kinda sweet.
“It’s been cool having you remember, though,” he said, changing the conversation.
“Agreed. It still doesn’t quite feel like they’re my own memories yet. It’s more like watching someone else’s, but I don’t think it will always be that way.”
He kissed the back of my hand and, at the feel of it, I was overwhelmed with a sense of unmatched joy. It felt so good to be home, so good to be back with the ones I loved. Granted, there was a lot of work ahead of us as I established myself in my new position, but the Council advised me to wait until I was no longer‘in a delicate way’,which suited me just fine. I’d take the time to get acclimated to motherhood, and then I’d step into my role as queen, prepared to be the leader the people had deserved for so long.
“Ten minutes,” Liam said, sealing the comment with one last kiss before disappearing again.
I held the rose, sniffing it as I tried to guess what he might have needed me downstairs for. When I kept mulling over the same two or three things in my head, I decided to just get dressed and go see for myself.
I took the stairs slowly and had to laugh at how I’d begun to waddle a bit when I walked. Bracing one hand at the base of my back, I entered the living room and was surprised to see that Liam wasn’t the only one who waited for me.
Hilda greeted me with a smile and came to take my hand.
“We’ll be taking a little ride,” she grinned. “You’ll need a light jacket.”
Confused, I let her lead me back to the foyer I’d just passed through where I was handed a pair of shoes.
“I don’t understand. Where are we going?”
No one answered. They just got their things on and filed out the front door where they piled into two vehicles—my brothers in Liam’s pickup, which would be driven by Dallas. Hilda held onto my hand as she pulled me toward Elise’s car where Liam held the passenger side door open. I passed him a curious glance as he helped me down into my seat. There was definitely a grin as he closed me in.
He and Hilda climbed into the back and Elise got behind the steering wheel. Her engine started and two guards opened the large gate to let us pass through. The suspense was killing me, but then a thought occurred to me. I’d made a request the moment we made it back home. It was that a memorial be set up for Nick, something to commemorate his bravery and the major impact he had on all our lives.
He deserved that recognition and much more.
Content that I’d figured it out, I settled into my seat and decided I wouldn’t ask anymore questions. Instead, I gazed out the window at our beautiful town. The scenery was familiar as we traveled further uphill, not slowing until we came to a long driveway.
The home was massive and, from what I could recall, I hadn’t been here before.