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And it wasmine.

Slowly, I turned to face Andrues. He was leaning against the archway that connected the hallway to the kitchen, his hands tucked into his pockets as he smiled softly at the awe I knew was plastered onto my face.

“Did you know about this? That it was going to be . . .this?” I asked, waving my hands toward everything that was so perfectly organized.

“Yes.” He pushed from the wall. “Do you want to see my favorite part?” he asked as a radiant smile broke onto his lips. He gestured his chin over his shoulder, turning to lead me back down the corridor as I followed behind him.

We walked to the right of the foyer, stopping at the base of the staircase as I peaked my head through the large rounded arch that led into a sitting room. It was full of black velvet couches and chairs with crimson accent pillows and blankets strewn across them. A large fireplace was tucked into the wall with a bow and quiver hanging above it and a silver dagger with a ruby hilt displayed on the mantle.

A smile crept over my lips thinking of all the books I was going to read in those chairs as I turned back to the stairs to see Andrues had already climbed them.

“What?” I asked as I watched him grin down at me from the landing.

He stretched his hand out to me. “Come see.”

I took the steps two at a time and followed Andrues’s line of sight as I reached the second floor. A gasp left my mouth as my fingers slowly brushed over my lips, my eyes widening with each new sweep they took around the huge vaulted room.

No, not a room.

Alibrary.

Mahogany bookshelves that seemed to reach for the sky lined the walls, each one packed tightly with hundreds of books of all shapes and sizes—their spines adding a rainbow of color against the deep blue walls that seemed to match Andrues’s eyes. The air was heavy with the rich smell of polished wood and old leather and I filled my lungs with it.

My hand slid up Andrues’s arm, my fingers wrapping around his bicep as I stared into the room in disbelief. “Andrues, this is—”

“Magnificent,” he said, finishing the sentence as I looked up at him.

“Did . . . did you do this?” I whispered the question, scared that if I so much as breathed too hard, I would wake myself from whatever dream I was standing in.

He didn’t answer, just stared back at me with that effortlessly beautiful smile and lifted his hand to my cheek, wiping away the tears I hadn’t realized were falling. The edges of his features blurred through the liquid filling my lashes as he took a step closer to me.

“Dance with me?” he asked quietly, slipping his fingers through mine.

My brows creased as the corners of my lips pulled up. “You’re a terrible dancer.”

He shrugged, pulling my hand to his chest as the other slid down the curve of my back. “I may have practiced what you taught me in the safe house.”

“There isn’t any music.”

His lips lowered to my ear as he pulled me closer.

“If you listen close enough, your stories might just sing for you,” he whispered. Then, in one fluid motion, he began twirling us around the room.

A laugh bellowed from my chest as I pulled myself against him, a real and raw sound that felt foreign coming from my lungs.

His fingers slipped from mine, meeting his other hand at the small of my back as I flung my arms out, leaning back as he whirled us around and around—our laughs colliding and echoing through the air. The room spun around us, but for the first time, in a long time, I felt grounded.

I could finally see colors swirling in my vision, pushing against that black veil that had fallen over my world.

My heart flared as I leaned back into his chest and felt the rapid pump of his heart against my cheek. The twirling slowed, turning into a gentle sway of our bodies in the silence.

A tear slid down my skin as I listened to the quiet and realizedit wasn’t painful.

I didn’t know how long we’d been holding each other, or when we had stopped dancing, before I felt Andrues’s hands slide up the expanse of my back. My heart stilled as his fingers brushed loose strands of hair over my shoulders before trailing up both sides of my neck and caressing my jaw. There was an energy pulsating between us as I lifted my chin to find his eyes waiting to meet my gaze.

I swallowed.

There was something so haunting—so beautiful swirling behind those two glittering oceans and I knew that if I stared into them for a second longer, I would drown.