Chapter 13

 

 

 

 

Chloe’s insides, at first, might have still been in the bathroom stall at the lawyer’s office. But by the time Sparrow took her hand and led her toward the cottage, her equilibrium had returned. A small part of her still wondered if maybe her night of bourbon at the bar had led to alcohol poisoning and coma or brain damage, and that’s how it was possible for the most gorgeous man she’d ever known to have fox ears and lightning inside him.

That would go a long way toward explaining how she’d jumped from the bathroom at work to this magical-looking place in the space of a breath.

“My mother was banished here while she was carrying me,” he explained.

Chloe scoffed. “Banished? This place looks like a reward, not a punishment.” The cottage he was leading her toward looked like the little country cottage in every fairy tale movie ever made. Flowers ringing the outside, a little stone path leading to the door, and green, lush grass in the front yard. Everything was green here, except the flowers that were multicolored and the impossibly blue, clear sky save a few fluffy, pure white clouds.

Birds flew overhead, singing sweet tunes, and two squirrels chased each other around the trunk of a huge tree that offered shade to the cottage. Well, not shade exactly, because…there was no sun. The light simply seemed to come from the sky. It warmed her skin like sunlight, but seemed to come from every direction.

“Yes, it’s beautiful. But if you can never leave, anyplace can be a punishment.”

Or any situation, she thought bitterly.

He led her through the door of the cottage, and the inside was as old-world fairy-tale as the outside. And nearly as bright and warm. He motioned for her to sit on a puffy, green chair that might have been the most comfortable chair in which she’d ever sat. Without doing anything, it extended beneath her feet and lifted them so she was reclined.

That’s quite a trick. She caught herself before she said it out loud, because unless she was trapped inside her brain imagining all this, none of this was an actual trick. Real magic, perhaps. She had to face what was in front of her.

“I haven’t been here in some time. I left right from your palace to find you after I won the Selection and was knighted your consort. I lived there, mostly. But this is where I lived as a boy, even after my mother died.”

“It’s…” Beautiful seemed inadequate, and he’d already called it that. “Amazing.” She couldn’t miss the wistful look on his face as he glanced around the sitting room and kitchen of his childhood home. “She died when you were just a kid?”

Sparrow nodded. “I think a broken heart killed her slowly over the years.” He knelt next to her chair and rested both palms casually on her arm. “My father was a powerful demon, duke and heir to a noble house. My mother was a servant there. She fell in love with him and believed his lies that he loved her too. Lies he told to get her into his bed. When she was with child, he trapped her here for the remainder of her life because he wanted nothing to do with her or me, and he didn’t want the duchess to know he’d been unfaithful.”

Sparrow breathed in sharply through his nose. “My mother faded every year that I can remember, and when I was twelve, she died. Not long after, the duchess died without ever giving my father a proper heir. So he sent for me and finally acknowledged that I was his blood. I—”

Sparrow stood and moved to the window, staring out and swallowing repeatedly.

“You what?” Chloe asked, the chair moving before she did, as if it knew she wanted to rise. She stood and pressed a hand to Sparrow’s back. “Go on, please.”

He tilted his head her direction but didn’t meet her eyes. “I didn’t know the story of how we came to be here. She never told me. I was happy here with her, even though I knew I had a father somewhere. So when he sent for me, I was overjoyed. I didn’t know the whole story until later. Another servant in his house told me, and I was so ashamed for being happy to be a duke’s son.”

“But you didn’t know, and you were just a boy!” She moved to his side where he had to look at her. “I’m sure if your mother never told you the story, she wouldn’t have wanted you to feel badly.”

“I know. But that doesn’t change how I felt at the time. I’d tried so hard to win his favor, but had never been good enough. One day, I had enough. I resolved to leave. Damn him and his house.” Sparrow paused, back straightening with pride. “That’s when I went to your palace to work as a royal guard, and after years of service, I was promoted as a knight. When the time of the Selection came, I knew I was ready to compete. I won, and was knighted as your consort. And I came to you, and here we are.”

His soft smile melted her heart. His eyes still shone with tears, but he was beautiful, just like this place, and proud and stubborn, just like she was. It was going to be impossible not to fall in love with him.

The realization hit her like a slap, but even if she’d tried to fight it, Sparrow’s words would have broken down the rest of Chloe’s walls.

She leaned over, pressing a kiss to his forehead. A tingle flowed into her, starting at her lips and traveling to her toes. He tilted his face toward her even more, so she kissed his perfect nose, the tingle warming her, loosening her tense muscles and making her feel hot all of a sudden.

His face was close, his eyes eager. His stare was hypnotic. She couldn’t look away. The rest of her resistance melted away. He pressed a kiss to her lips and Chloe knew she was lost.