The Glass Queen (The Forest of Good and Evil #2) - Gena Showalter Page 0,111

from them.

So where would I go? Unmarried mortal girls weren’t allowed to buy homes of their own. I couldn’t even rent a room at an inn. My dragons wouldn’t fare well in crowds.

Maybe the three of us could move into the stable permanently?

The evil sorceress—Everly—might kick us out, but she’d have to do it face-to-face, giving me the chance to speak with her about Leonora. Could phantoms be syphoned to death, as magic could be?

Was that my only option? Begging a sorceress to remove a phantom?

Would it even harm Leonora? Would she regenerate, as power did? Or would she just jump into someone else, Saxon and Dior still in danger?

“Ashleigh?” Saxon prompted, sounding concerned.

“I—I’m sorry.” I turned my head away and blinked back a sudden well of tears. “We need to stop.”

At first, he didn’t speak. He didn’t move, either. Heaving breaths, he peered down at me. “Did I frighten you?”

His go-to question lately. “No,” I assured him. I didn’t want him thinking he’d done anything wrong. “Nothing like that. I liked what we were doing.” So much.

“Did I move too quickly, pressing for more than you wish to give?”

I shook my head. Don’t you dare cry. “No, not that, either.”

“Do you fear what comes after a kiss?” He paused, thoughtful. “Do you know what comes after a kiss?”

I licked my lips and offered a slow nod, then gathered my courage to face him again. “We would do what the animals do. A part of you goes...inside me. That, um, part I spotted earlier. The really big one.” How was I discussing such an intimate topic even halfway matter-of-factly? “Is that, um, correct?”

Saxon gave a slow nod of his own. A drop of water fell from the ends of his hair and splashed onto my chin. “Yes, that’s correct.”

“Have you ever...?” Shut your mouth. End this line of conversation. I opened my mouth to snatch back the question. “I mean, I know you did in past lives, but what about this one?”

Well. So much for snatching back the question. I’d clarified it and asked for added information.

Again, he nodded. This time, his gaze dropped to my mouth. His attention lingered there, and my flutters returned.

“With who? No, sorry. That’s none of my business. I mean, what’s it like?” Needing to touch him, I dragged my nails along the center of his chest. “The dryads didn’t entertain, um, gentlemen callers.”

He radiated stark hunger and looked at me as if I were a last meal. “When done right, it is...consuming. You reach a point where the rest of the world fades and nothing else matters.”

I wanted the rest of the world to fade. “Do you have any children in this life?” The thought of miniature Saxons running around made my heart leap.

“No children.” He anchored a fist next to each of my temples and motioned to the bracelets that adorned his wrist. “One is imbued with magic to prevent a lover from conceiving.” Leaning down, he brushed his cheek against mine, as if he needed to touch me, too. Then, he just stopped, lifting his head. “Come. It’s time I returned you to the palace.”

Heartbeat. “You don’t want to...” Heartbeat. “Be my lover?” Heartbeat, heartbeat, heartbeat.

His eyes blazed. “I do want to, yes. More than I’ve ever wanted anything. But we won’t take that step until you’re certain you’re ready.”

I was disappointed. I was grateful. So much was at stake right now, so much uncertain. “I’m not happy about leaving the dragons in the stable without me.”

“I promise you they’ll remain unharmed. They’ll be shielded by magic. If there is a magical doorway between the secret passage and stable as I requested, you’ll be able to visit the babies anytime you wish, without delay.”

“How do you afford these magical services, anyway?” Ophelia charged exorbitant prices. “I mean, I know you have the royal avian coffers at your disposal and everything, but that doesn’t mean you should spend your people’s money on personal things.”

“I spend the money I earned collecting bounties for King Challen.”

An act of loyalty. My honorable prince.

My fated. The boy I wanted.

The man I couldn’t have.

Lady Leonora had been Craven’s fated one, too. My first incarnation had marked my first possession. Only, Craven hadn’t known or accepted our connection because a part of him had sensed the wrongness of the situation. The phantom had tainted their relationship, and he’d parted with her.

The same thing had happened with Tyron and Leonora.

Should I be the one who parted with Craven this time?

Different