Ari’s black car is parked by the cabin when we step outside. I start to question where it came from but I immediately swallow it off my tongue. It honestly doesn’t matter where it came from or how it got there.

It was just… Ari.

Ari made it happen.

He cracks a smile and makes even the most passive thoughts in my heart come true with the wave of his hand.

We ride back to my house in a comfortable silence. At some point on the journey, Ari reaches for my hand and I let him take it. I watch as our fingers entwine and I start to wonder when exactly it was when his hand started to lose its icy coldness. Is he warming up? Or am I getting colder?

What is Ari doing to me?

The car turns off into my driveway before I can think of an answer. Ari briefly releases my hand as he steps out and I follow close behind him. We walk together up the porch and we stop in front of the door with our eyes on each other.

“Until tomorrow, Tannis,” he says.

I nod and my cheeks hurt from smiling too much. “Until tomorrow,” I repeat.

We don’t move. He doesn’t leave. His thumb runs along the edge of my hand and I remember our original bargain.

Three dates. Three kisses.

As silly as that seems after today, I step forward and tilt my head up. Strange to think that last night, I stood here in a nervous tizzy about to kiss a boy for the first time, but now… as my lips part and Ari smirks… last night feels like a thousand ago.

I kiss him on the lips, firm and confident with closed eyes. All because he taught me how. Another bolt of warmth fires from him into me, this one stronger and more powerful than last night’s. I ease back a half-step, feeling a deep rumble in my chest but Ari’s hand rises to the small of my back.

I fall into it, submitting to the bewitching feeling taking hold of me.

The front door opens and I lurch backward, startled by the sudden sound.

“Oh!” My mother slaps a hand to her mouth. “Sorry— thought you were the take-out guy— I’ll just— yeah.”

She slams the door and I instantly crumble into myself.

“Ah, crap,” I murmur.

Ari laughs as he draws my face back up. “They’ll get over it,” he says before his lips find mine again.

I kiss him back. For a moment, I wonder if I’ll be able to stop at all with this feeling taking over my chest. “Ari…” I whisper.

He withdraws and rests his lips on my forehead. “I know,” he says, taking a breath. “I can feel you in me, too.”

There are forces in this world that even I don’t understand.

Something is pulling our strings, drawing us together like magnets.

It’s changing me, molding me, training me.

To be queen.

Thankfully, my mother never mentions the kiss over dinner.

In fact, Ari doesn’t come up much at all.

It’s just us; me, my mother, and my father. The way its always been, except there’s a noticeable tension in the air that was never there before.

Is this one of the last family dinners we’ll ever have together?

That didn’t sink in until now. My birthday is tomorrow. Our twenty-year time limit is hours away from coming to an end.

I push Ari from my mind. I let today’s wonderful moments fade off into the background and I give my parents the attention they deserve.

Because it might be my last chance to do it.

The hours pass slowly and I wonder if Ari might have had something to do with that. He took me to Paris in ten minutes flat. I’m sure he can make what little time I have with my parents feel like days.

Midnight finally arrives and I kiss them goodnight. I walk upstairs to my room and the moments with Ari come rushing back, along with my deep smile.

Then, I pause.

We made a deal.

I don’t have to leave with him. At the end of three dates, I can say no and he’ll go away. He has to prove he’s worthy of me. That was the deal.

So, why am I thinking like these are my final days?

Because he is worthy.

I close my door behind me and plant my back against it. Has Ari proven himself to me? I’ll want for nothing. I’ll never have to work a day if I choose not to. I can travel the globe, stay anywhere I want, do anything I please, and he’ll protect every single hair on my body while I do it.

And that’s not even counting what he can do in the bedroom.

I bite my cheek as my heart skips. His mouth, his body. The way his hands knew just where to touch me and he knew just what to say. And I…

My gut stalls.

And I just laid there.

I didn’t say or do anything back. I didn’t even offer.

I lick my lips as I picture his body. Ari wanted to show me and teach me. He wanted to give me pleasure and he didn’t expect it in return.

But I want to give it to him.

I want…

I change into my pajamas and climb into bed. With the lights off, I lie down on my pillow and I picture the dream. That dark bedroom. That burning fireplace. That large bed.

And Ari…

The ribbon tightens.

I want to see Ari.

I close my eyes and I open them again in the same place as before. A dark bedroom full of shadows.

I did it! Or is this really a dream this time?

I look down. I’m standing at the foot of a large bed with black, silk sheets. A man lies there beneath the covers, his pale skin barely visible in the darkness but I can already tell it’s Ari.

A cool breeze blows in from the open balcony across the room. It touches my skin all over and I shudder before I realize that I’m naked.

Buck naked.

Or this better just be an awful, embarrassing dream.

I let out a gasp, quickly covering my breasts with my hands.

“Tannis?”

I jolt as Ari stirs in the bed. He props himself up on his arms and his deep chuckle crawls down my naked spine.

“I wondered if I’d see you again tonight,” he says.

“Oh, god. I did it,” I say. “I don’t know how, but I...” I wince. “Do you have a shirt or something I can borrow?”

He grips the bedsheet and tosses it in my direction, exposing the rest of his naked flesh in the process — though he doesn’t seem to care.

I wrap the sheet around me. “Thank you,” I say, keeping my eyes up.

Ari turns and plants his feet on the floor.”What were you thinking about?” he asks.

“Hmm?”

“You said you did it,” he says. “As you went to sleep, what were you thinking about?”

My cheeks burn. “Just today... and stuff.”

He grunts with amusement. “As was I.”

“You were?”

“I can’t lick my lips without tasting you on them,” he says.

I shift on my toes. “Is that a good thing, or...?”

He laughs and I clutch the sheet a little tighter around me.

“Yes,” he finally answers. “It’s a very good thing.”

I exhale slowly and wander toward the balcony with the long sheet trailing behind me. I reach out to push the curtain away but Ari’s voice makes me pause.

“Tannis,” he says from his spot on the bed.

I drop my hand. “Yeah?”

“What else were you thinking about?” he asks.

“Oh, nothing really. I was just…” I blush. “Well, I thought about what you did … to me… and...”

“Yes?” he urges.

“I wondered if you... you know.”

His head tilts teasingly. “You’ll have to be more specific.”

“Do you...” I bite down, urging myself to grow up and just say it. “Do you want me to…”

“Return the favor?” he asks.

I nod. “Yeah.”

“Desperately.”

“Oh.” My core twinges. “Okay, then.”

Ari smiles in the dark. “That’s why you found your way to me,” he says, not asking a question.

“I think so,” I whisper. “Is this real?”

“Yes, Tannis,” he says. “This is very real.”

Ari stands off the bed and walks toward me. He stops in front of me and places his hands on my shoulders.

“To see you here,” he whispers. “Finally. It’s...” He rests his forehead against mine. “I don’t want to let you go.”

That warm ribbon tickles up my spine. “I don’t know how long I can stay,” I say. “I don’t understand how this works.”

“Shh,” he says, his lips touching my temple. “Don’t think about it. If we believe we own the night, then we will.”

Ari wraps his arms around my waist and easily lifts me off the floor. My toes dangle as he carries me toward his bed and I steady myself with my arms around his neck.

He sets me back down and kisses me, gently tilting my chin upward with a firm finger. I kiss him back, drawn even further into this beautiful dream. Somehow, my heart pounds harder than it did earlier today in that cabin. The heat within this sheet is far warmer than the heat beside a blazing fire.

“Tannis,” he whispers, our lips touching. “Get on your knees for me.”

I inhale sharply, but not to object. The sound of his voice, so deep and full of lust, sends me to places I’ve never been before. His desire spreads through me, awakening a new woman in me.

Awakening his woman.

“My queen,” he says.

My throat constricts. To be or not to be, as the ageless question goes. Or maybe, it never was an option not to be.

Have I ever had a choice at all?

Haven’t I always been his?

He’s been by my side my whole life. He healed me when I was sick. Comforted me when I was scared. Whether I was aware of it or not...

I have always been his queen.

I look up into his eyes, seeing more of the man inside than ever before. “Will you teach me how?” I ask.

He smiles in the dark and draws me even closer to him, so close I can feel his hardness dig into my hip. A laugh trembles his throat but he doesn’t say a word. He just moves us, slowly sitting down on the edge of the bed and guiding me to stand between his open knees. I follow his gestures and lower myself to kneel before him.

His hand glides to rest on my cheek. I quiver against his powerful palm, gently turning my head to kiss his thumb as it grazes my bottom lip.

“Open,” he says.

I part my lips and he teases his thumb along the front edge of my teeth.

“Don’t bite,” he says. “Use your tongue.”

I taste his thumb. He holds it still and I lick at it, playing and learning new ways to use my tongue. Ari watches, his breath quick and warm. His erection stands on end in front of me, waiting for its turn, but Ari sits with patience as I swirl my tongue around him a little bit more.

“Good,” he says. “Use your lips.”

I tighten my lips around his knuckle. Part of me instantly feels silly. Can’t say I even remember the last time I sucked on my own thumb, though the action feels more instinctual than I thought it’d be. I suck on his thumb as he slowly moves it along my tongue.

“That’s right,” he says, lust burning in his eyes. “Do it like that.”

I close my eyes to focus. Soon, the movement comes easier and I begin to bob my head rather than rely on his short thrusts. It turns me on, truth be told. The thought of pleasing him, of obeying him to give him pleasure. It’s more intoxicating than I ever thought it’d be.

I pull back, removing his thumb from my mouth. I open my eyes and look at him again, my gaze quickly falling to his groin instead. I lick my lips, feeling ready for something more.

Ari takes hold of his shaft and gives himself a few quick strokes. “Are you sure?” he asks.

Saliva builds on my tongue. “Yes,” I say, practically moaning.

His lips twitch. “Open,” he says again.

I obey. I tremble as he guides himself in, teasing my bottom lip with it just as he did with his thumb before. This time, he leaves a line of his fluid along my lip and my tongue acts on its own to taste him. He tastes sweet, his skin salty, but I want more.

I stick out my tongue, eager to lick every inch of him. Ari nearly gasps as my tongue swipes his tip and my abs quiver as pleasure takes over him.

I smile, my thoughts on him and him alone.

Ari releases his shaft and touches the side of my head instead. “Tannis,” he says, “you drive me crazy.”

I continue teasing him, still a bit shaded with inexperience. I gather more moisture onto the tip of my tongue before taking his length a little deeper into my mouth.

He instantly groans, making me moan. I never knew how much I enjoy hearing that sound from a man until now.

I want to hear it again.

I tighten my lips around his head and he inhales sharply. Another grunt falls as I suck at his tip and swirl around it with my tongue. It feels sloppy and uncoordinated, but he doesn’t seem to mind. He grips my hair but he doesn’t move me or force me anywhere. The tease that he might sends a flurry of pleasure down my spine and I start bobbing my head to massage him.

“Tannis—” he gasps, a chuckle in his throat. “Don’t stop.”

My jaw tightens but I ignore it. I let out a deep moan, feeling my body edging with fire as his fingers twitch and his abs harden. I keep going, harder and faster, learning and playing with my own limits. I follow his groans; those soft, epic groans. I want to make him feel like this again.

The thought brings me pause.

Have I really changed my mind so much in so little time?

Two days ago, I was heartbroken. I was to be torn away from my friends, my family, my home... in order to fulfill some destiny I never had a choice in.

And now...

I’m torn in a different way.

Perhaps there are worse fates than becoming queen of the dead.

“Tannis?”

I look up at him, snapping out of my thought spiral. “I’m sorry,” I say, leaning back and wiping my mouth.

“Did I hurt you?”

“No, no. I just...” I swallow hard. “Catching my breath, that’s all.”

Ari cups my cheek and rolls his thumb under my eye, wiping away a tear I didn’t even know was there. “We can stop,” he whispers without an ounce of disappointment in him.

I shake my head and wet my raw lips again. “No,” I say. “I don’t want to stop.”

Ari grins and leans down, gently tilting my face up to his. He kisses me, suckling on my raw lip before pulling away. “Then, we won’t,” he says, his hands sliding down to my waist. “But I’ll happily give you a break.”

He lifts me up onto the bed. I let out a yelp of surprise as he turns me onto my back and lies on top of me. I allow my hands to roam his body, feeling all the firm muscles living beneath his skin.

Ari chuckles against my lips. “That tickles,” he says.

I snort. “This?”

I run my fingers along his left side again and he twitches hard away from it.

“Yes!” He reaches back and snatches my hand. “That.”

I laugh louder. “You’re ticklish?”

“… Yes.”

“You’re a ticklish god?!”

Ari playfully glares at me. “It’s not polite to tease, you know.”

I jerk my hand free and touch him again, purposefully drawing lines along his sensitive area.

“Tannis—” He pushes up to get away but I lean up to keep my hands on him. “No—”

My laughter bursts and he titters with involuntary giggles. He manages to grab my wrists and he pins my arms above his head with the full weight of his strength.

“You know, I’ve killed for less,” he says, catching his breath.

“Is that supposed to scare me?” I ask.

He glowers. “You’re lucky I love you, young Tannis.”

I blink. Even his face changes slightly, almost as if the words came out on their own.

He loosens his grip on my wrists and he starts to pull away. “Tannis, I didn’t—”

I kiss him and he stops. I don’t want to ruin this moment with over-thinking or stuttering out long-winded explanations.

I shift my legs apart, gently opening my sheet as I hug his hips with my knees. Ari stiffens above me, his passions building on his breath as he kisses me back, firm and fast. His hardness rests between my thighs, teasing and tempting me and I can’t help but moan.

“Ari,” I say without thinking.

His hips grind me and I shake from the inside out. I tilt my pelvis to guide his rub and we both freeze as his tip angles dangerously toward my entrance. My heart pounds and my adrenaline runs high, maybe even higher than it did when I kissed him out on that field. My thoughts go silent, leaving nothing but urges — urges I don’t care to control.

For a moment, I think he might have more control than I do. Ari shifts back ever so slightly and I prepare myself for a rejection.

But he lets out a stiff sigh and shakes his head. “Fuck, Tannis, I need you,” he growls before crushing his mouth on mine.

His tip glides between my folds, easily sliding into me. A pain stabs through me and my first instinct is to push away. Ari inhales sharply and bites down hard as his entire body clenches in wild passion over me.

I close my eyes and his touch instantly falls away. His warm body disappears and the pain subsides. I hear him say my name but his voice sounds a hundred miles away.

I jolt upward and look around. I’m back in my own room, in my own bed. The sky outside my window is bright and blue, save the few autumn clouds left behind from yesterday’s storms.

I shift on my seat, feeling the dull soreness inside of me, and I know that it wasn’t a dream at all.

Oh, god. I almost had sex.

That was an almost, right? I mean… did it count? Surely that didn’t fully count…

This might be a question for Dina.

I didn’t mean to leave like that.

Is he gonna be mad at me for leaving like that?

Crap, what am I gonna say to him?

My gaze drifts to my bedside table and I pause. A red rose sits there, as bright and crimson as blood itself.

A card lies beneath it. I pick it up, a smile drifting across my face, as I unfold it and read the dark red hand-written note.

Happy Birthday, my love.

I bring the rose to my nose and its scent takes me back to the dream.

You’re lucky I love you, young Tannis.

My heart skips twice then stops completely.

I never said it back.

Was I supposed to say it back?

Do I even want to?

I smell the rose again and the answer is more obvious than I care to admit.