felt her flutter around him as he jetted into her again and again.
When he opened his eyes, she was smiling up at him with sparkling eyes.
And vines were growing from their fingers up to their wrists, binding them together again.
“Forever this time,” he told her, gazing down at their hands.
“Forever,” she agreed.
He collapsed beside her and pulled her onto his chest. Her warm weight felt amazing on top of him.
He tried not to get too comfortable with the situation, reminding himself that things were far from perfect. She still didn’t have her memories back, and time was short if he wanted to bring his brothers back to faerie and complete his new bargain with the Queen of Silence.
But somehow, none of it mattered compared to the rightness of his queen in his arms.
He meant to stay awake, to make a plan, but he found his eyes closing in spite of himself.
He glanced over at the bedside table where he had left the hourglass.
The sand appeared to have stilled almost completely.
Maybe just a few hours of rest would sharpen his mind.
14
Jessica
Jessica awoke feeling incredibly happy.
She opened her eyes, expecting to see the interior of her cozy little cottage.
Instead, she saw a vaulted ceiling and sliders leading out to a balcony overlooking a gorgeous view of a wooded valley.
“Cullen,” she murmured.
She reached beside her, but the bed was empty.
The sound of a shower from the adjoining room told her he hadn’t gone far.
She sat up and hugged herself.
Then she remembered and examined her left hand.
A tattoo of inky black vines wound from her finger, wrapping delicately around her wrist, just like before.
Before.
She did have a tattoo like this before. An image of it flashed in her mind like a coin dropping into a fountain and disappearing.
The bathroom door opened, bringing her out of her thoughts.
Steam flowed out and Cullen followed.
He was so handsome that she almost couldn’t breathe. Droplets of water ran down his chest, sliding between those incredible abs and soaking into the towel that hung around his hips like an afterthought.
“Good morning,” he said, his voice low and pleased.
“Good morning,” she replied.
He eyed her like a predator, then smiled and shook his head.
“If you keep looking at me like that, we’ll never leave this room, and then I’ll end up stuck in faerie.”
Of course.
She had been so lost in her own thoughts that she’d almost forgotten their mission.
“I’ll let you get dressed,” he told her with a smile. “You still have some clothes in the closet. Help yourself to the shower if you want. Then we’ll get something to eat.”
“Thank you,” she said, suddenly feeling shy.
“Don’t,” he winced.
“What?” she asked.
“My people don’t like to be thanked,” he said mildly, recovering. “Besides, what’s mine is yours. You are my queen, after all.”
Those words…
“I’ll see you when you’re ready,” he said, slipping out of the room.
She rushed into the bathroom, freshening up and showering in record time in her eagerness to get back to him. When she emerged in a towel, she headed to the closet he had indicated, where rows upon rows of pretty dresses awaited her.
But her eye was drawn to a large folded denim item.
“My overalls,” she murmured.
She is wearing her favorite overalls. He is holding her, sliding his hands inside the worn denim to pat her bottom. She throws her head back and laughs as he kisses her neck.
She pulled out the overalls, still smiling at her happy memory.
A quick check of the rest of the closet turned up some underwear and a clingy long-sleeved t-shirt to wear with them.
As soon as she was dressed, she felt like herself again.
Gazing at herself in the mirror, she wondered how long she had been wearing fancy gowns while she lived in faerie. It felt like forever since she had seen herself as she truly was.
She pulled on some fuzzy socks and a pair of purple Doc Martens and headed out of the room.
Sunlight filled the airy space and shone in the wood floors.
She found Cullen waiting for her in the living room.
“Hey, there,” he said. “Oh, wow.”
“Now I look like me.” She smiled and spun around. “I think.”
“You sure do,” he said, striding over to embrace her.
She giggled when he slid his hands inside the back of her overalls and patted her butt.
“I remember that,” she whispered.
When she pulled back, he looked a little sad.
“I’m going to take you somewhere familiar,” he told her. “And on the way, we’ll talk about what happened in this realm while you were gone.”
“I’ll