“Prudence,” he said against her mouth, against her throat as he pulled away to kiss the tender skin there. “Prudence, please…please come with me. Don’t leave me.”
“I can’t.” She hardly recognized her voice. “I want to, Royd, I want to, but…I can’t.”
Elden cleared his throat. Prudence glanced at him, holding the wand, standing a few feet away. Was he going to threaten them now? She tensed and pain shot through her rib cage.
“I am sorry,” Elden said. “I truly am. But Royd…you need medical attention and you need to get the wand back to get it. You must go back.”
Fresh tears started in her eyes. She wanted to scream, to fight against whatever world had done this to her.
Royd shifted in his position on the floor, taking her hand in his left one. His right hung useless at his side, still bleeding. He lifted her hand to his slick, hot chest. “If I can’t have you with me,” he whispered, “I can keep you in here. The most important place.”
“God, Royd, this isn’t fair…”
He shook his head, a ghost of a smile flitting across his handsome, tired face. “Uishta, that you still seek fairness from life is a testament to your spirit.”
“Royd…I am sorry…” Elden shifted on his feet, the wand still glowing faintly in his hand. Prudence hadn’t seen it before, the ordinary piece of wood that had somehow managed to enrich and destroy her life, to bring both Royd and the goblin into her world.
Royd glanced at him and nodded. “Can you begin the spell here, Elden?”
“Yes, since you’re here.”
“Prudence.” Royd’s eyes were red, and she saw wetness in the corners. “Prudence, you should go stand over there. You could get trapped in the spell otherwise.”
“I can’t. I can’t stand and watch you go.” A sound, half sob and half laugh, escaped her throat. “I’m not sure I can stand at all.”
“Elden? Will you help her?”
Elden nodded and took a step toward her. She leaned forward and kissed Royd again, squeezing her eyes shut, trying to savor the moment instead of giving in to the overwhelming pain in her heart. “Goodbye, Royd. And…thank you.”
“I’ll keep you in my heart, Prudence.” His voice was low and thick. For a second he pressed his forehead to hers. “I won’t forget.”
She wanted to tell him how she felt, wanted to tell him she loved him, but didn’t dare. Once she said those words, once she truly admitted to him and herself how she felt…how could she leave?
Elden’s gentle hands lifted her. He urged her to lean on him as he helped her walk a few step away to lean against the wall.
“Thank you,” she said.
He shook his head. “I wronged you, Prudence. I’m sorry you aren’t coming with us. But I too will not forget you.”
I’ll keep you in my heart…
Elden started walking in a slow circle, his voice strengthening as he spoke in the language of the Fae. Silvery light poured from the wand as he walked, creating a wall so dazzling she could hardly see Royd through it.
I’ll keep you in my heart…the most important place.
What was she doing?
What was she doing, staying here because of a house and a set of china? Why was she staying here because of her grandmother’s legacy? Because of a family she spoke to once a year?
Gran’s legacy was in her heart. That’s where it lived, not inside some walls.
And that’s where she would always keep it.
Elden had almost completed the circle. Once it was done, she knew it could not be broken. She had to act now, if she was going to act.
Before she had a chance to chicken out, she shoved herself forward with her good leg. “I’m coming! Royd, wait!”
Elden stopped short, his mouth hanging open as Prudence fell into the circle through the gap remaining. Her chest and knees exploded with agony. Royd opened his arms, reaching for her…
Just before he touched her, the world turned into a swirling, spinning mass of silver-black.
Chapter Fourteen
“Aaaaaah!” This wasn’t right, this wasn’t right, she couldn’t find Royd and everything was black and oh, oh, she’d made a terrible mistake, she hadn’t reached him in time and what if she was sent to the wrong place…
The ground was solid beneath her, but still she screamed, her throat aching, her body racked with agony. She couldn’t catch her breath. The air felt so thin, high somehow, and it smelled like heaven…oh no.
She was dead. Hadn’t Royd said something about a golem and the wand killing its human carrier or something?
Had he set her up? No, she couldn’t believe it, he couldn’t fake what she’d seen in his eyes, felt in his hands…
The hands that grabbed her, held her. “Prudence! Prudence!”
She opened her eyes. Royd looked at her, his dark eyes full of concern. He looked tired and in pain and better than anyone she’d ever seen in her life. “Prudence,” he said again. “By the Mistress, Prudence…”
“Prudence?” Who was that? With effort she pulled her gaze from Royd and turned. Another Fae, shorter and rounder than Royd, with his shockingly bright blue eyes wide and staring.
“Prudence?” he whispered, just before her vision went black again. “You came back, you came for me…”
* * * * *
“So it was one of your people all long,” Elden said, leaning back on the pallet bed set up for him.
Royd nodded. “He didn’t mean to cause real harm. He and Prudence’s grandmother—also named Prudence—met on the astral plane. It seems it was many years ago in human time, but it was only weeks for Cullen. They met quite a few times, he thought he was in love with her… He sent her the wand, thinking she could use it to come to us. He didn’t know about the time difference.” He shook his head. “He sent the wrong one too. She must not have known how to use the eighth, or maybe she just didn’t realize what it was. Prudence said her grandmother wouldn’t have stolen it.”
“Did you believe her?”
“I did after a day or two.”
“Your people are so trusting.”
“We trust our instincts, Elden. That’s why you’re here.”
“I’m here in prison.”
Royd smiled. “Yes, well, instincts are good, but caution is better.”
He watched as Elden tried not to smile and failed. “Indeed, in my case that is true. But I assure you, I have no desire to go back to the Rachanyi.”
“And in time, I’ll believe you.” Royd smiled back, then grew serious. “You saved my life, Elden. I will not forget.”
“And you saved mine, despite my trying to kill you and your woman. How is she?”
“She’s…recovering. Slowly.”
“Is she awake?”
“Not yet.” Prudence’s injuries had been more serious than they’d thought originally, and worse than that, her body seemed to be having difficulty adjusting to the lighter air of Royd’s world. He wished Elden hadn’t asked. The anxiety that seemed never to leave him had receded for a moment. Now it came roaring back.
Her human hospitals could have saved her, he knew. If she died now…because of him…
He would want to die too.
Bidding Elden goodbye, he made his way out of the building and headed for the room where Prudence now rested.
For almost four days now she’d lain sleeping, occasionally muttering things under her breath, occasionally crying. He’d spoken to her, held her hand, and she’d calmed but had not awakened. He was starting to wonder if she ever would.
What surprised him was how many had rallied to his side. He’d never had friends, never thought his people cared for him. Respected and feared, yes. But caring…he’d not expected it.
So the plates of food brought to him, the pats on his back as he sat by her bedside touched his heart. For so long he’d carried the burden of his ancestor’s disgrace. For so many years in his childhood he’d been taunted and left out.
Now he realized
that his self-imposed exile as he grew in wealth and importance had been just that—self-imposed. And all he needed was for Prudence to wake up, to take her place at his side, and he could start living again. For real.
The sunlight fell across her lovely face as she slept. He sat down and took her hand in his. “Prudence,” he said softly. “Prudence, time to wake up.”
Nothing. No reaction.
“Prudence,” he said again. It had been this way every day, every hour. Sometimes he spoke to her in his language. Sometimes he read or told stories of his youth.
Sometimes he begged.
None of it worked, but he would keep trying. The healers told him there was still hope and he believed it with every bit of strength he could muster.
“Time to wake up.”
“Noooo…”
He tried not to get his hopes up. It had happened before.
“Yes, Pru. Time to wake up now.”
“Tired.”
His breath caught. She hadn’t responded to him last time she spoke, hadn’t seemed to hear him. “I know you’re tired, uishta. But you have to open your eyes. It’s time to get up.”
“Want to sleep.”
She was talking to him, really, honestly talking to him. He stroked her warm, damp forehead. “Please, Pru, wake up, open your eyes.” His own were wet. “Please, wake up.” He could feel her slipping away again, could feel her wanting to slip away again, and he could not let that happen.
He leaned over and kissed her. Her lips were soft and motionless beneath his, but he refused to give up. Instead, he slid his still stiff right arm beneath her neck, lifting her. The healers might not approve, but he didn’t care.
She moved, leaning against him. Suddenly the lips beneath his were responsive, the body in his arms alive. Suddenly she was back, and though he knew his kiss had not done it, he couldn’t help but feel somehow proud.
His heart pounded as he raised his face from hers. All he wanted was to climb into the bed with her, but he knew the healers wouldn’t approve of that. Not to mention how fragile her health still likely was.
There would be time for that later and he knew it because her blue eyes were open and her soft lips curving into a smile as she looked at him, really at him, for the first time in days. “Royd,” she whispered. “It wasn’t a dream.”
“No.” He had to shove the words out past the lump in his throat. “No, uishta, it wasn’t a dream.”
“I’m really here?”
“I love you.”
The words came out in a rush, words he hadn’t planned to say, but which forced themselves from his mouth as if they were afraid that if he didn’t say them now she would go back to sleep without hearing them.
She smiled. “I know. I love you too.” Her fingers stroked his cheek. He grabbed her hand and pressed it to his chest, then lifted it to his lips, kissing each fingertip in turn. His heart swelled.
Even as he’d sat by her bedside, even as he’d dreamed of their future together, he hadn’t allowed himself to really think about what she’d done. What she’d given up to be by his side. “You’ll never be sorry,” he whispered, staring at her hand, not daring to meet her eyes. He hadn’t cried since he was a child. He didn’t want to start now. “I promise. You’ll never be sorry you came with me.”
“I’ll be sorry if you don’t kiss me again, right now.”
As if in a dream, he moved, getting out of his chair to slide into the bed next to her. His elbow sank into the soft mattress as he rested his head in his hand, trying not to put pressure on the slim little body next to him.
Her eyes were damp. He noticed it, knew his were too, but didn’t care. Her lips were soft and inviting and he kissed her as if kissing her was the only thing keeping him alive.
Which maybe it was.
Her mouth opened beneath his, her sweet tongue entering his mouth. His free hand, which had been resting beside her on the bed, clenched the sheet. He shouldn’t be doing this. Shouldn’t be in the bed with her, shouldn’t be kissing her, shouldn’t be now letting go of the sheet to touch her face, to slip down to the gentle curve of her breast and feel her hard nipple beneath his palm. She’d been injured, she was fragile… She was his to keep safe and he wasn’t doing a very good job now, was he, reaching down lower to dip his fingers into the wet heat between her legs? He could practically see her heart pounding, that couldn’t be good for her, could it?
Gasping, he pulled away. “You’re not well enough, Pru. We shouldn’t do this.”
“I want to do this, I don’t care.” Her lips traveled down his chest. His cock jerked. If she kept going, if she took the hand which rested on his hip and moved it just a few inches down, she would feel how hard he was.
If she touched him, he didn’t think he could stop himself. Even knowing they had the rest of their lives—what a wonderful thought—to do this, to touch and taste and make love, couldn’t change the way he wanted her now. Right now.
“You’ve been traumatized—”
“Don’t be silly, I’m fine.”
Shit. She found him. Her warm palm rubbed his cock through his trousers. He gritted his teeth. “Don’t your ribs hurt?” he managed.
“It’s not so bad. Why don’t you kiss it better?”
“By the Mistress, Pru, if you don’t stop—”
“Shhh.” She tugged at his laces, opening them, releasing his cock to grasp it in her hand. His breath left him in a sharp hiss.
His mouth found hers again, giving in to her demands. He couldn’t fight her, not when her fist stroked his cock so efficiently, not when his fingers were slippery with her need and her clit plump beneath them.
“I thought you were going to die,” he whispered. “I thought you were going to die.”
“I didn’t die.” She shifted her weight, tucking her body into his.
“I know, but—”
“What is going on in here?”
Royd almost fell off the bed as he jerked his head around to look at the healer entering the room.
“This woman is still not well,” the healer scolded. “And you dare to take advantage of her like this? You could seriously jeopardize her healing, my lord, and you would have no one to blame but yourself. Get out of that bed.”
His face hot, Royd reached down to try to tuck his erection back into his pants and do up the laces. The healer was right, he should be ashamed of himself…she wasn’t well. He was the one who knew how long she’d been out, he was the one who should have kept his head, not her. She was just… It probably would have been easier to tie his laces while staying balanced if the bed hadn’t been shaking. Prudence was…was she crying?
No, she was laughing. Laughing so hard tears squeezed out of her eyes and no sound escaped her throat save asthmatic gasps. “Your…your face…” she managed finally, as both he and the healer stared at her. “You’re so…pink!”
And he was. Pink in the face, struggling to put away his cock under the stern gaze of a healing matron. His head fell onto the pillow beside Prudence’s as he too started laughing, laughing until he thought his chest would explode, laughing until the tears he’d refused to allow to surface came out and he and Prudence held each other tightly on the bed.
* * * * *
Prudence leaned back and closed her eyes. No, the showers here left something to be desired, but nothing could beat the baths. The tub Royd built for her was deep enough that it needed benches, and even then the water reached her neck if she scooched down a little.
Which she did, resting her head on the cushion he’d devised. It wasn’t quite as comfortable as her old one and it didn’t have suction cups, but as with most of the things she’d lost in coming here, it didn’t matter so much.
The phone and the TV and the car…what were any of those things compared to Royd? No movie could be as exciting or romantic as the one she lived in now. No phone conversation could be as interesting as the ones she had with him, late into the night over excellent wine or whiskey, opening herse
lf to him completely while he did the same.
And afterward…nothing in the world could be as good as that, as sinking into the huge bed with him, as having his hands and lips and tongue caress her. Nothing in the world had ever been as good as his body moving inside hers.
He was everything she needed in the world…he was the world. And she’d never been this happy in her entire life.
She smiled as a hard hand caressed her cheek. “I heard you this time,” she said, without opening her eyes.
“No, you didn’t. You just knew it was time for me to come home.”
She sat up, twisting in her seat to grin at him. “I did hear you! It’s that creaky board by the door.”
“I skipped the creaky board.”
“Then I heard the door.”
“I don’t believe you,” Royd said, smiling. “Would you like to know what I think, uishta?”
“I don’t think I do.” She lifted her nose, pretending to be offended. They played this game often.
She really was getting better at hearing him, though she would never be as good as he was. She couldn’t go anywhere in the house without him knowing.
“I think you knew I was coming,” he continued, as if she hadn’t spoken. “I think you looked at the sun and saw I was about to return, and drew yourself a bath, because you know I can’t resist you when you’re in the bath.”
“Nonsense. I was just bored.”
He reached for her, sliding his hand down her wet, bare arm to take her hand and lift it to his lips. “I can think of a way to alleviate your boredom.”
Her breath caught. “Oh?”
“Mmm-hmm.” He nibbled her fingertips one by one. “We can do some more language lessons.”
That wasn’t at all what she had in mind, and when she looked into his eyes and saw the devilish light in them, she knew it wasn’t what he wanted either. “I’m not sure I’m really in the mood for talking.”
“Oh? But…what would you do with your tongue, if you aren’t using it to speak?”
“Come here and I’ll show you.”
He tasted sweet, like the Haidrean wine she’d adored from the first sip, and his cheeks and chin were a little rough brushing against her damp skin. Heat bubbled up in her chest, spreading through her entire body and making her want to get out of the tub and into his arms.
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