[Fairytale 02] - Asleep (2013)
Page 29
The kiss ended far too soon, and they were forced to part, obligated to dance with some of the other important ladies and lords. For hours, Jess had to smile and feign interest in the conversations in which her other partners tried to engage her. All the while, her eyes roamed the ballroom, never letting Dev escape her sight.
They waited until everyone was flush with wine and song, then they stole from the ballroom and out into the gardens. They weren’t the only couple to have this idea. So many giggles and sighs issued from the shrubbery that it seemed as though they’d caught the garden itself in a secret tryst. But they kept walking until they reached a small, secluded pavilion far from the ballroom doors.
“Alone at last,” Dev said, drawing her into his arms and dipping his head down for a real kiss. By the time he broke it off, they were both panting.
“I need to apologize to you for how I’ve wronged you,” she said.
His brow creased. “What do you mean?”
“When we began planning the wedding, I was impatient with you for complaining about the amount of ceremony it would entail. I believe I told you to stop whining and do your duty, if I recall correctly.”
“You did.” He grinned. “No wonder my mother loves you so much.”
Jess smiled and shook her head. “Well, I realize what a hypocrite I was, because now I want to whine about all this ceremony. I wish everyone would go away and leave us alone.”
“I told you we should have found a meadow and gotten married there, just the two of us.”
“You were right.” She pulled his face down to hers, melting against him as his kiss sent tingles through her body.
“We were both right,” he said when they broke apart. He wound a loose strand of her hair around his finger and cupped her face with his other hand, his thumb brushing over her lower lip, making her eyelids flutter. “You were right that I needed to take my duties more seriously, and I was right that you needed to take yours less seriously.”
“We’re perfect together. When I’m with you, I feel more than whole. The happiness I used to feel, it was just a pale version of what I feel now. Everything seems clearer when we’re together. The things that used to trouble me seem so inconsequential. When we’re alone I feel a stillness, like all the pieces that didn’t fit have finally clicked into place. I was so frightened that I’d never know what it was to feel like that again. If I’d lost you—” She trembled, and he put his arms around her and pulled her close.
“That’s behind us, Jess. Forever. You never will lose me, never. I swear it to you. I’m going to be with you until my dying breath. You and I, it was like we lived in a dream, and though it wasn’t a bad thing, it perhaps made us too complacent. It’s not that I’d have chosen for Ellaria to abduct me, believe me. But sometimes the terrible things in life teach us everything we need to know in order to better appreciate the wonderful things in life. I’ve always treasured your love, but I know now just how precious it is to me, and I’ll never take it for granted again.”
The warm conviction in his voice washed over her, chasing away the last of the darkness. Years from now, Jess knew it would still be difficult and frightening to think of what had happened, but Ellaria was gone and Jess wouldn’t give her the power to continue to hurt them. Ellaria had hoped to destroy something beautiful and pure, but all she had succeeded in doing was make Jess’s bond with Dev even stronger.
Reaching up, Jess ran her fingertips over Dev’s face. Though its contours were familiar to her, though she’d traced them a million times, touching them now felt like the first time. Every time she touched him felt like the first time, every day she spent with him felt like the first. It filled her with wonder that someone she had known her whole life could still amaze her as he did. Even if they had an infinite number of days together, it wouldn’t be enough time, but Jess had learned how to be grateful for and make the most of the time she had been given.
“I love you, Dev,” Jess said. “At last, you’re mine and mine alone, forever.”
“Yes, that I most definitely am,” he agreed, lowering his forehead to hers. “Sometimes when I look at you, I almost can’t believe you’re real. You’re so beautiful, so full of life, so amazing, Jess. And I love you so. This isn’t a dream, is it?”
“If it is, I hope I never wake up,” she whispered, her lips brushing his as she drew him closer. Her eyes fell closed as he kissed her, and she could feel him pour all the love and passion he felt for her in their kiss. With a tender touch, he cradled her face in his hands and stroked his thumbs along her cheekbones, and she breathed in his scent, allowing the heat of their kiss to overcome her senses.
“I spent far too much time sleeping,” he murmured, caressing her face. “I moved through my life like a sleepwalker. It was you who woke me, you who showed me there was so much more to life. If I could, I wouldn’t sleep another minute, not ever. I’d rather be awake, looking at you, laughing with you, loving you.”
“Then let’s stay awake forever,” she said, pulling his mouth down to hers.