Page 73 of Fae Unleashed
But this was food that Cerri had painstakingly prepared for me. It would have been rude to let it sit and get cold.
When I took a bite, there was no flavor. I waited, slowly chewing, for my sense of taste to return. Where had it gone? I could smell everything. It made no sense.
Lifting my gaze, I took in Cerri. A broad smile still graced her lips. She danced as she cleaned even though there was no music in the air. The sway of her hips mesmerized me. All thoughts faded and fell by the wayside as the sight of her consumed my mind once again.
I leaned back in my chair and watched my love as the light kissed her freckled skina dn gold curls.
“Are you ready for the grand opening tomorrow?” she asked.
I cocked my head to the side.
Cerri turned and put her hands on her hips. “Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten! My café! The one I worked so hard to start opens tomorrow. I can’t believe you would forget about something like that.”
How had I forgotten? That seemed too big to just lose track of. It was all Cerri had ever wanted, and all I wanted was to make my princess happy.
But she was a princess, though. What was she doing opening a café when we still needed to deal with Beryl? The bitch queen was still out there, ruling the Unseelie Court with a bloody fist.
I stood and moved to Cerri. By the time I reached her, my thoughts had emptied again. The aroma of sage and butter filled my senses. I breathed deep and buried my face in Cerri’s shoulder.
“Of course, I didn’t forget. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” I gently kissed her shoulder.
Cerri pulled me tighter to her body. Her small frame fit so nicely into mine. I put my hand to the small of her back and could nearly cover the span of it with my palm. She was so petite, so fragile. I just wanted to protect her and keep her close forever.
That way, Beryl and Faust would never be able to hurt her.
Wait.
Beryl and Faust.
They were still out there. If I let my guard down, Beryl would catch us and take Cerri from me. I couldn’t let that happen.
Cerri ran her hands down the sides of my face so she could cup my chin and look me in the eye. My heart thumped ones, twice, three times. But my beast never moved. I began to realize that there were no auras to be found here, either. Cerri glowed, but only with an internal radiance that might have been my attraction to her and nothing more.
“This is a dream,” I said, sadly.
I let my forehead rest against Cerri’s. She sighed, the sound turning heavy. It almost thudded against the floor.
“I’ve been trying to break past your beast’s glamour for days now,” Cerri said.
Her voice was different. It had lost the cheeky cheer and taken on a low note of exhaustion. I tightened my grip on her as if I could somehow protect her from even that.
“We need to go back,” she said quietly.
When I pulled away to take her in, my princess’s appearance changed. Her golden curls were gone. A halo of opalescent white wreathed her head. Black tattoos climbed over her shoulders and across her chest.
Each of us, cursed in a different way.
Could I tell her how I felt in here? Could I give in to the feelings I’d been avoiding for the sake of our own safety? I hesitated, even here in a dream.
I got the feeling that she knew, though. There was nothing that I had to say. Neither of us needed to speak to know what had grown between us.
“Let’s go home,” Cerri said.
My heart twisted. Home to me had become her cramped warehouse apartment with its little kitchen packed to the brim with potion supplies. However, I knew that home meant something different right now.
“Do you think we’ll be able to come back here?” she asked.
I could have lied and woven a pretty vision of the future that we could believe in for a short while. It wasn’t going to end like that. Not for us. Our curses kept us separated. The moment that all was said and done, I would tell Cerri everything I held close to my chest, and I would lose to the beast and the contract that’d given it to me.
