Aveen pressed her forehead against mine and gave my arm a reassuring squeeze. “Good luck,” she whispered, rising and gliding to the door. After exchanging a quiet word with Tadhg, she and Rían both disappeared down the hall.
Tadhg stepped into the room and shut the door.
And waited.
Why wasn’t he saying anything?
Surely after a year and a day he had something to say.
“I see you’re alive again,” he said finally.
That’s it? He had died, and I had died, and all he had to say was, “I see you’re alive again?”
“Yes. I’m alive again.”
He stepped closer but stopped before reaching the foot of the bed. I hated that his expression was so unreadable. With his teeth scraping his lip, he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “Death isn’t a very pleasant experience, is it?”
“No. It’s not.”
A tiny black-and-white bird landed on the windowsill only to fly away again. It sounded like someone was dragging something in another room. Somewhere, a door slammed.
Then, more silence.
The longer the silence stretched, the more I felt like crawling back to the darkness. How could he even stand to be in the same room as me after what I’d done?
Tadhg’s fingers tapped idly against his hip. “Can you walk yet?” he asked, his eyes raking down the blankets covering my bottom half.
I tried moving my legs, but they refused to budge. Wiggling my toes didn’t work either. “No.”
Tadhg nodded as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Right. Um . . . Well . . .” He huffed a humorless chuckle. “You’d think I’d be ready for this. I’ve had a feckin’ eternity to prepare.”
I could only sit and wait and hold my breath.
“Right, so. First and foremost, I would like to apologize.” Wide green eyes met mine, filled with glistening regret. “I should have revealed who I was the moment we met and let you run the cursed dagger through my black heart outside the Green Serpent.”
If he’d done that, we never would’ve gotten to know each other. He never would’ve fallen in love with me. Did he regret everything? Of course he regretted it. I had killed him.
“If I’d accepted my sentence, Fiadh wouldn’t have tried to kill you twice, and you wouldn’t have been forced to marry me, and you could’ve gotten Aveen back right away and . . .” His gaze dropped to his wringing hands. “I’m so sorry.”
How could he think this was his fault? “Tadhg, I’m the one who’s sorry. If I hadn’t made that bargain with Fiadh, none of this would’ve happened.”
Tadhg’s expression hardened, and he stepped forward. “If you hadn’t made that bargain, we never would’ve met. And that is the one part of this mess that I do not regret.”
I heard the words, knew they must be true, but they didn’t make any sense. “How can you say that after I killed you?” Could he truly forgive me that easily?
“I killed you too, so, I suppose that makes us even.” The barest hint of a smile crossed his lips, but it was gone just as quickly.
I stared down at my hands, paler than ever from a year of death. I had killed him, and he had killed me, and now we were both alive. “What do we do now?”
“That’s up to you.”
Up to me.
Just because he had forgiven me didn’t mean he could find it in his heart to love me again. And I couldn’t remain in Tearmann knowing he would always be searching for someone new to break his curses.
“If you wouldn’t mind me staying a week or so, until all my faculties have returned and I’ve had a chance to catch up with Aveen, then I will leave.” I would need someone’s help to cross the Black Forest, of course. Perhaps Rían this time. I wouldn’t mind watching him get stabbed to death.
“Is that what you want?”
If I could have lied, I would’ve said yes. It was what I wanted. Because Tadhg deserved someone better than me.
“Y—” My head started to pound. “Y—” Dammit. “No. It’s not what I want.”
“Then stay with me.”
Stay with me.
It was what I wanted more than anything. “How can you stand being near me after all that’s happened?”
Tadhg’s head tilted, sending his dark hair tumbling across his forehead. “Because I love you.”
This had to be some sort of joke. The ring. He was wearing the ring. “Liar.” It must be a lie.
Tadhg took off the ring and tossed it onto the mattress. The emerald caught the sunlight, sending green sparks across the coverlet.
“I love you, Keelynn.”
“Even after all I’ve done, you still love me?”
“Desperately.”
I swallowed, but the tightness in my throat refused to ease. The mattress dipped when Tadhg sank onto the bed at my side. He reached a tentative hand to brush his thumb across my lips. “I know you don’t love me,” he said, the quiet resignation in his voice breaking my heart, “but I think I love you enough for the both of us.”
I know you don’t love me.
But . . . what if I did love him?
True love was sacrifice, putting someone else’s needs above your own.
True love endured every trial, every curse.
What if that thing that had been unfurling, stretching, coming alive inside of me had been the revival of my own heart?
“I love you,” I whispered, the words slipping through my lips with an unsteady exhale.
Tadhg’s swirling green gaze searched mine. His tongue nipped out, wetting his lips. “How can you lie?”
It wasn’t a lie.
I glanced down at the emerald and smiled.
I loved Tadhg.
And he had been cursed long enough. We both had.
“Keelynn, look at me. How did you break the—”
I stopped his question with a kiss. Tadhg tried to pull away, but I caught the back of his neck and refused to let go. His lips were as cold as I remembered and just as intoxicating, tasting of almonds and sugar. I breathed him in and found his tongue, and he shuddered and groaned, and still I didn’t let go.
His lips began to warm, his mouth growing hungry and insistent, and then he crushed me into the mattress and took and took, and I gave and gave until Tadhg broke our kiss to drag in a ragged breath.
When I found my voice, I asked, “Did it work?”
He pressed two fingers to the pulse at my neck and smiled. “You seem to be alive, but I could be dreaming.”
He had a point. This could all be a fantastic, beautiful dream. “Lie to me,” I said.
Keeping his weight on his elbows, his chest brushed mine as he whispered, “I hate you,” against my neck.
“Again,” I said, drawing his mouth to mine so I could taste his sweet lies.
“I have been so happy without you. I never want to marry you again. I have absolutely no desire to lift up your skirts and sink between your thighs.”
I slipped his shirt free of his breeches, reached for the buckle on his belt, and said, “I hate you too.”
Acknowledgments
As always, the first people I need to thank are the readers who picked up this book. Thank you. And in case no one has told you this yet today, you’re amazing.
My husband has been taking up my slack for years in hopes of me “making it” so he can finally realize his dreams of becoming a pool boy. Hopefully this book will bring us one step closer to that goal. I love you, Jimmy and cannot wait to see you in a Speedo.
My children, Colin and Lilly, thank you for being so good at watching screens so Mommy could get work done. You both mean the world to me even when you’re being monsters.
Hi Mom. I know this book was racier than the last few, but I hope you enjoyed the story and my improvement all the same. Megan, thanks for devouring my books and saying they’re good even when they’re not. And Dani, thanks for helping me embrace the scandal.
Phyllis & Shay, thank you for babysitting my children so I co
uld “write another one.”
Miriam, thank you for being my go-to Beta and for loving this story as much as I do. And Krysten, thanks for shouting about this book via the inter webs, creating a spectacular playlist and vision board, and being a genuinely amazing human.
The editing goddess also known as Meg, you continue to bring my stories to a whole new level. Thanks for making it sound like I know what I’m doing.
Elle, Candace, and everyone at Midnight Tide Publishing, thank you for being so wonderful to work with. I’m thrilled to be part of the MTP team.
About the Author
Jenny is the founder of the PANdom and a lover of books with happily-ever-afters. A native of Oakland, Maryland, she currently resides in County Tipperary, Ireland with her husband and two children. As much as she loves writing stories, she hates writing biographies. So consider this the “filler” portion where she adds words to make the paragraph look longer.
Also by Jenny
The Myths of Airren
(NA Dark Fantasy Romance)
A Cursed Kiss
A Cursed Heart (2022)
A Cursed Love (2023)
Prince of Seduction (2022)
Prince of Deception (2023)
The PAN Trilogy
(YA Sci-Fi Romance with a Peter Pan Twist)
The PAN
The HOOK
The CROC
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A Cursed Kiss (Myths of Airren Book 1) Page 34
