by Deanna Chase
Cheney laughed and kissed me again, longer this time. “I love you,” he said, making my heart leap.
I wanted to say it back to him, but the words caught in my throat. I reached up and stroked his face instead, wishing we could stay exactly like this. “Now you need to rest.”
After quickly planting one more kiss on his lips, I rolled to my side. Cheney spooned me and traced his tongue over the back of my ear again.
”I’ll never fall asleep if you keep doing that.”
“But I’ve missed you too much to stop touching and tasting you,” Cheney murmured into my hair. “You’ll have to distract me.”
“How exactly would you suggest I distract you?” I asked, twisting in his arms until I was able to push him flat on the bed. Kissing his chest lightly, I awaited his reply. My teeth grazed his nipple, drawing a sound from deep within his chest.
“If this is how you plan on distracting me, we may never make it out of bed.”
“I’m open to suggestions, my prince,” I purred. He groaned and pulled me back to his mouth, his tongue caressing mine.
“You’re doing wonderfully, princess. I don’t even remember what you were supposed to distract me from.”
Understanding finally dawned on me. “I’ve always hated you calling me princess because I thought it was an insult. But it wasn’t, was it?” I leaned away so I could see him more clearly.
Cheney gave me a crooked smile. “Of course it wasn’t an insult. So long as I’m a prince and you’re my wife, you are a princess.”
My nose wrinkled. “That may be the strangest thing you’ve told me so far.”
He looked at me seriously. “We can give up the titles if you don’t want them. Say the word and I’ll walk away from all of this with you.”
Part of me wondered what it would be like to walk away from everything. Could we live a normal life somewhere together? Have babies, join the PTA, coach soccer, and drive a mini-van? I couldn’t imagine that was something that would ever be in the cards for Cheney. Not that I was actual princess material either. Somewhere there had to be a compromise, a place for both of us. “I don’t want you to walk away from your life for me.”
“My life is with you.”
I ran a hand down his cheek. “We’ll make it work.”
Cheney’s face visibly relaxed, and I rested my head on his chest as he pulled the covers up around us. His hand brushed through my hair, lulling me to complete relaxation. My eyes were drifting shut, sleep pulling me away, when another thought popped into my head. “I’m sorry about Michael,” I blurted.
“Selene,” Cheney cupped my face, “if this is the beginning of a confession, let me assure you I am not naïve. You’re a beautiful woman, and I have little doubt you have had a lot of boyfriends during our time apart. Please feel free to never tell me about any of them. And if you never utter the name Michael again, it would be much appreciated.” His eyes flashed at his name.
Cheney guided my head back to his chest and resumed running his fingers through my hair. “No more talking,” he said. This time I let the sleep take me away.
Chapter 24
A horrible grinding noise drifted into my dream, pulling me out of it. My eyes flickered open, then closed again, my eyelids too heavy. What was that monotonous sound? I pulled the covers over my head and tried to force myself back to sleep. I was too tired to get out of bed. Fighting for a few moments of extra sleep, I suddenly became aware I was completely naked. With stunning clarity, all that had happened the night before flooded my memory. Suddenly I wasn’t tired at all. Cheney and I had taken the leap. My stomach twisted nervously. What if the spell was broken this morning and we went back to being at each other’s throats? Where was he?
I heard the bedroom door open and I felt the other side of the bed dip under what I assumed was Cheney’s weight. “Are you awake?” he asked softly, just in case I wasn’t.
“What time is it?” I asked, still underneath the covers.
“After ten.”
“Shit, I’m late,” I said, coming out.
“No, you’re not. I called Sebastian this morning and told him not to come until noon.”
“How long have you been awake?” He was showered and fully dressed in his typical uniform of worn jeans and a snug t-shirt.
Cheney shrugged. “I brought you breakfast.” He nodded toward my nightstand, where a green smoothie waited for me. That explained the grinding sound.
“I need to put on some clothes first.” I looking on the floor for anything I could slip on.
“I think you look wonderful,” Cheney said.
“You’re dressed.”
“Easily fixed.” Cheney slipped his t-shirt off, displaying his tightly muscled chest, strong shoulders and arms, and golden skin. My mind strayed to running my hands over those abs when I noticed he was offering me his shirt. I sat up and pulled it over my head. His smell filled my senses. “Thanks,” I said shyly.
He scooted closer, nudging my arm with his. “Hey, you all right?” he asked in a soft, intimate voice.
I looked up, melting in his warm eyes. He leaned down and kissed me again, his lips and tongue dancing nimbly against mine. “Good morning,” he said, pulling back slightly.
“Good morning.” I could get used to this side of Cheney.
He held my face in his hands, his eyes searching mine. It took me a moment to realize what he was doing—and then all of my contentment fled. I pulled away from him. “Christ, Cheney, will you stop doing that?”
I climbed out of bed and went into the bathroom to shower. My mind stewed with annoyance for letting it go this far with Cheney without speaking to him about how I felt. The water pelted my skin.
“I’m having trouble following your mood swings, princess. What’s this one about?” Cheney asked, shutting the bathroom door behind him.
“Can this wait until I’m out of the shower?”
“Absolutely not. Per our agreement last night, you have to stop running away. And you disappearing to shower in the middle of something I said? Classic example of you running away.”
“I’m not running away from anything.”
“Then what’s going on in that head of yours?”
I turned off the shower and wrapped a towel around myself. “After everything that happened last night, you still look for her when you look at me.”
“Look for who?” he asked flabbergasted.
“The half-elf, Cheney! You look for the half-elf rather than at the person standing in front of you.”
“You are a half-elf.”
“I’m not the girl I used to be.”
“I know that. Did you really think I haven’t noticed? I’ve been with you every day. Of course I see that you have changed.”
“Then why can’t you accept it?”
“I do accept it.”
“Then what are you searching for when you look at me?”
“Recognition.”
“So this whole time that’s what you’ve been looking for? It wasn’t that you were disappointed with just having me?”
“This is what’s been bothering you?” He chuckled. “Why didn’t you say something sooner?”
“Because I am a complete idiot?”
“Yes, you are,” Cheney kissed me lightly on the forehead. “But you’re my idiot. Now get dressed. Sebastian won’t show you an ounce of leniency, which is why I brought him here.”
I dressed quickly and drank the smoothie Cheney made for me, though it tasted somewhat horrible. We walked down to the woods together, hand in hand, talking and laughing.
Sebastian looked up at us with a slight smile.
“Good afternoon, Sebastian! Darts today?”
He nodded. “You’re in a much better mood. Have the two of you settled your differences?”
“Yes, Selene admitted she’s an idiot, and it’s all downhill from here,” Cheney said with a smirk.
I elbowed him sharply in the ribs. “We have…for now.”
“I’m glad. Let’s see if you can do better today.”
“All work and no play,” I grumbled.
“You better run, princess. If I know Sebastian, he’ll throw darts at you while you stand here.”
Taking off with a groan, I ran half-heartedly until the assault motivated me to pick up my pace. Running flat out, I barely noticed the branches scratching me or the darts puncturing me as the trees zoomed past my face. I pushed myself faster and harder, trying to stay as close to the trees as I could. Twenty feet ahead of me, a man stepped into my path.
Well, this is an interesting twist.
I couldn’t believe Sebastian didn’t warn me that he’d brought someone else with him. Before I could decide how I supposed to get past this man, he threw something silver at me.
Cheney shouted something behind me, but I couldn’t understand what he was saying. The silver object hurling toward me looked increasingly like a knife. I didn’t have time to dodge it. What the hell was Sebastian thinking having knives thrown at me?
I did the only thing I could do—I used my abilities, though I knew Cheney would be pissed. The knife stopped in the air, and I skidded to a halt with it only inches from my chest. At the same time, Cheney grabbed me with one hand and the knife handle with the other. He whipped the knife at the man, hitting him directly in the heart.
“Sebastian, finish this You know where to meet us,” he yelled before we appeared on a completely open, rocky cliff. I saw a weathered stone cottage over Cheney’s shoulder and heard the ocean behind me.
“Keep up,” Cheney said gruffly, pulling me into a lighthouse that I had completely missed. Dragging me up the winding staircase, he never loosened his grip.
“What in the hell is going on?” I asked when we reached the top. I knew I wasn’t supposed to use my abilities because they could track us, but did Cheney kill that man? I waited in stunned silence for him to explain what on earth was happening.
Cheney peered out of the windows that surrounded us on all sides until satisfied with whatever he saw—or didn’t see. Then he looked at me. “Are you okay? Did the knife touch you?”
“I’m fine,” I said, annoyed he wasn’t being more communicative.
“Did the blade of the knife touch you?” he asked again, searching my body with his eyes and hands.
“No.”
A quick succession of footsteps on the stairs below us made Cheney pull me behind him. A sword appeared in his hand. Sebastian lifted himself easily through the trap door in the floor, but Cheney didn’t lower his weapon.
“What was that, Sebastian?” Cheney asked in a calm, soft voice.
“Looked like a bounty hunter to me,” Sebastian said just as calmly, looking Cheney directly in the eyes.
“How did he find us?”
“Are you accusing me of something, Prince Cheney?”
Cheney said nothing, staring at him hard. Apparently this wasn’t about my magic; this was much more serious than that. I looked at Sebastian, too. There was no way he would’ve betrayed either of us. If there was ever an honorable man, it was him. Stepping beside Cheney, I put my hand on his arm that held the sword and gently pushed it down.
“Sebastian would never betray us. He’s our friend,” I said quietly. A few moments later Cheney nodded and the sword disappeared.
“I’m sorry, Sebastian,” Cheney said, extending his hand towards him.
Sebastian took his hand but looked anything but pleased.
“Who’s going to explain this to me? How did those rebel people find me?”
“He wasn’t a rebel,” Sebastian replied.
“Then who was it?” I asked.
“A bounty hunter,” Cheney said.
“A king’s bounty hunter,” Sebastian amended.
“Possibly,” Cheney nodded and began to pace.
“Your father is trying to kill me?”
“I told you the elves see you as a threat.”
“Yeah, but they’re trying to kill me? They hired a freaking assassin?”
“Speaking of that, why didn’t he succeed?” Sebastian asked.
I shot him a dirty look. “Your concern is touching.”
“You aren’t fast enough to dodge his knife. Cheney and I were too far away to get to you. How did you manage to get through unscathed?”
I feigned interest in pulling the darts out of my arms.
“The knife stopped in front of her,” Cheney said. I could feel his eyes on me. “Selene, is there something you’d like to tell us?” Their eyes bore into me.
“Fine.” I sighed. “I cheated. I used my abilities. I know you said they can track my magic and I’m not supposed to use it, but I really didn’t feel like being stabbed.”
“You cast a spell that quickly?” Cheney asked with wide eyes.
“No. I used my elf abilities.”
Cheney and Sebastian both looked at me like I’d gone soft in the head. “What ability is that exactly?” Sebastian asked.
“Don’t be stupid. My telekinesis.” They gaped. “You both know about it. Hell, Sebastian, we talked about it yesterday.”
“That isn’t an elf ability,” Cheney said at the same time Sebastian said, “You can control it?”
“Of course I can control it. What do you mean it isn’t an elf ability? Grandma specifically made me swear to never use this after I went to live with her. And you said I wasn’t supposed to use my magic because they could track it.”
“Yes, magic. Something you cast a spell to use. This isn’t a spell. This—”
“This could change our plans,” Sebastian said. “Exactly how much control are we talking about, Selene?”
It wasn’t like I ever practiced. Most of my life was spent pretending I couldn’t do it. I shook my head.
“We have to test her,” Sebastian told Cheney.
He pressed his lips together. “Not yet. Let’s go to the cottage. It doesn’t appear we were followed.” Cheney helped me through the trap door, and we marched back down the stairs, me in the middle.
“Hey, while you’re back there, would you mind plucking darts?” I asked Sebastian, who did as I requested without comment. The darts were irritating me, and I was more than a little peeved that I could’ve been blocking them the whole time.
We sat around the kitchen table. “Okay, so how long have you been able to control this?” Cheney asked.
“I’ve always been able to control it. I lose control now and then when I get really emotional, but all in all, I have very few slips.”
“When specifically have you used it?”
“If you mean, did I ever get something with it from across the room because I was too lazy to get up, no. If you mean stopping something on reflex, rarely. I never let myself fall into the habit of using the ability because I knew I had to keep it hidden.”
“Then how do you know you can control it?” Sebastian asked.
“The same way I know I can move my arm or my leg. I can’t really explain it. It’s part of me.”
“It makes sense,” Cheney told Sebastian. “Selene is much more connected with her human side now than the elf side. If this is part of her human heritage, then as an elf she couldn’t control it, but as a human she can.”
“I want to test her,” Sebastian insisted.
“It’s fine with me,” I said.
Sebastian took off a silver cuff he wore on his wrist and sat it on the table. “Let’s start with something easy. Move this.”
I focused my mind and lifted the cuff about a foot off of the table. “Where would you like it?”
Sebastian reached up and took the bracelet back. “Try the table.”
I lifted the table easily. Sebastian stood up, filled four glasses with water and placed them on the corners of the table. “Again,” he commanded.
“Sebastian, I can crumble a house to the ground. Do you really think I can’t lift a table with water on it?”
“This isn’t about brute force. I know you’re capable of that.”
I lifted the table again, but keeping it steady was another issue. Within seconds two of the glasses shattered on the floor. Sitting the table back down, another fell—finesse was not my strong suit. Sebastian filled three more glasses and I tried again, concentrating harder from the start. This time it was better. I held the table perfectly straight for thirty seconds then it started tipping slightly. One glass was about to go. I reached out with my mind and froze it mid-tilt, holding both the table and the glass.
Sebastian watched with an arched brow. Then he nudged the glass next to him off the edge. I caught that one as well, sweat beading across my forehead. The table shook. A moment later he pushed another off the edge. I caught that one just before it hit the ground, my head throbbing. He started to reach for the last glass.
“Don’t you dare,” I growled, staying his hand. Carefully I focused on setting the glass closest to the floor down, then the table, then the other two glasses. I pressed my palms against my eyes.
“Impressive,” Sebastian said. “Does it only work with inanimate objects?”
“She needs a break,” Cheney told him as I rested my head on the table. The ache was lessening, but I wasn’t ready to go again.
“I wish I would’ve known about this weeks ago. The possibilities…”
“Yeah,” Cheney agreed thoughtfully. “No one can know about this. Not yet anyway. She already has bounty hunters after her. If they knew about this, too—” He stood abruptly and paced around the kitchen. “Can you stay for a while?” he asked Sebastian, causing me to look up.
“Sure.”
“I’ll be back,” he said with a nod.
“Wait, where are you going?” I objected.
“To speak with my father. Sebastian will protect you.” He gave me a sexy half grin and winked. “I’ll be back soon.” Then he was gone, leaving me staring at the spot he’d just vacated.
“He’ll be fine.” Sebastian’s voice broke into my thoughts. “The king would sooner die than hurt Cheney.”
“I hope you’re right. It’s my understanding he’ll be none too pleased about any of this.”
“Cheney won’t let an attempt on your life go unchallenged. He has accepted that the two of you will never get along, but boundaries must be set.”
