Warrior King New Worlds (Crystal Kingdom #6) - Milly Taiden Page 0,39
even those memories you do not want to remember. I will protect you from their pain.”
Lilah sat there, not believing that someone wanted to listen to the sob story of her life. Nobody, not even best friends, asked for such misery to be cast on them. Did she really want him to know the worst part of her? The most vulnerable moments when she was torn to pieces over simple words?
“I don’t think you know what you’re asking,” she replied.
He pulled her hair to one side and kissed the curve of her neck. “You are right.” He paused for a moment, then spoke in a low voice into her ear. “Shortly after my two hundredth peak—”
What did he just say? If she understood correctly, peaks were equivalent to years. But she didn’t know how many days were between peaks. But two hundred anything seemed way too many. “How many peaks old are you?”
“I have been alive for a little over five hundred.”
Her jaw dropped. She couldn’t believe he was that old. “How many peaks do fae live?”
“My father is almost a thousand. My grandfather was fifteen hundred before he went to the spirit.”
“Oh, okay then. Sorry I interrupted. What happened when you were so young?” She had a feeling this wasn’t going to be a happy story. He was going to share with her the most painful experience he’d had when he was a child. Tears already crept into her eyes, knowing that he had suffered terribly. If she could take away his hurt, she would.
“My mother,” he said, “was a wonderful fae. Not only was she beautiful outside, but she was also beautiful inside. She loved everyone she met and let them know how special they were to the world. She would give anything she had to make someone else’s life better, whether that be a material item or just a caring word.
“She loved me and spoiled me with her time and affection. I knew I was wanted and loved at all times. Even when I took too much rock from a wall, and it collapsed, crushing everything in my room. That is when I learned moderation was important in life.” He laughed.
“My father was so mad at me for that. It took cycles before the adults had put the wall back together. Mother considered it a learning experience while Father saw it as a mess.”
His arms tightened around her. “That was the difference between my parents. Mother saw the good in everything while Father saw the worst. So, when Mother became ill after giving birth to my sister, my father expected the worst, which happened. She went to the spirit, leaving us to make do on our own.
“After that, Father was not the same. It seemed that Mother took with her all that was good and light about him. He became withdrawn and was difficult to talk to without angering easily. I learned to stay away from him for the most part. I did my time in the mines and grew to be the strongest and most tireless worker.
“That was, of course, how I got through the transition of my life from doted on child to unwanted, uncared about young adult.”
Lilah twisted around in his arms and wiped away the wetness on his cheek. “No, Ferrus, that couldn’t have been true. Your father still loved you. He just had trouble showing it.”
He chuckled. “We are a warrior race. Showing emotion is not looked upon as favorable.”
Lilah rolled her eyes. “Of course, it wasn’t. I guess some things are universal. What about your sister?”
“Father spared no expense for her. She was his princess. She was allowed things no others were.”
“She was his favorite? I’m so sorry you felt like second place. I know how that feels.”
He tilted his head down and kissed the tears on her own cheeks. “Your siblings were more important too?”
She snorted. “Worse. My mother wanted my cousin as a daughter instead of me.”
“Mothers love all their children, Lili.” He kissed her forehead then turned her around, so she rested her back against him again, snuggling her into him.
Her breath stuck in her throat. Ferrus called her by a nickname, and she loved it. She knew the significance of such a term of endearment. Only those you really cared about had that kind of name. Her mother always called her father “sugar,” and Dad called her mother by her middle name, which no one else used.
Did this mean he really cared for her? That he wanted