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He moved slowly until that bite of pain was replaced with a chaos of pleasure that left me aching for more. I wrapped my legs around his waist, pulling him in deeper.

Our pace, our caresses, our kisses became more as our control melted away. I hardly knew where my body ended and his began. We were both at the brink of something amazing. Our hearts were beating as one.

He gazed deeply into my eyes, and I didn’t need his words to know what he was saying. But he gave them to me anyway. "I love you."

With one more thrust, I was over the edge, and he was falling right after me.

He collapsed into the spot next to me, and I rolled into his warm embrace. "I love you, too," I whispered.

We fell asleep tangled in each other's arms.

The dark storm clouds parted just enough for a ray of faded sunlight to wake me.

I was laying on top of something uncomfortable. I shifted before realizing the thing I was laying on was Forrest’s arm.

I looked up at the sky then back down at the sleeping man next to me. A jolt of pure joy shot through me.

"Forrest," I said, shaking him awake.

He sat up, and his eyes darted around the room. "What’s the matter?"

"Absolutely nothing," I said with a huge grin. "You’re… you."

For a split second, he seemed confused. Then his eyes roved down his body and our intertwined legs. His mouth dropped open, and his eyes widened in surprise. Then a slow smile spread across his lips, and his eyes lit up like the sun. “Georgia,” he whispered in awe.

I pressed my body up against him. “I know,” I breathed back.

“But how?” he whispered.

“Love?” I guessed. “Yours? Mine?”

“Ours,” he rumbled.

Then he pulled me close and kissed me soundly.

When, at last, he broke the kiss, I groaned in protest.

Breathless, he said, "Little sparrow, I want to do so very many things with you, but first, I need to go kick some unseelie ass. I want you to wait right here in this bed. Promise you won’t move?"

I hesitated, wanting desperately to go with him. Though I knew I would be in the way. I could jump into a whirlpool. I could cross the sea in a sailboat with magical aid. I could stand up to my father and older sister. I could bare my heart to him. But I wasn’t a soldier. I had never been trained to wield a sword or elements.

“Please don’t worry,” he said softly. “Because of you, my curse is broken. I am more than strong enough to defend my crown and court. This is my duty.”

I took a deep breath and nodded.

He dropped a kiss on the top of my head, and I watched him go.

I pulled the comforter tight around me until I was warm and cozy. I didn’t have to wait long before a bolt of lightning cracked open the sky. It was bigger and more powerful than any I had ever seen before. It had to be Forrest. A warning to the unseelie, perhaps.

Over the next couple of hours, I watched a war rage across the open skies. Swirls of dark clouds and pelting rain were replaced with blue-gray skies, only for thunder to rumble in the distance. The terrible dance continued.

Then the sky turned a brilliant blue, and the clouds became puffy and white. All was calm.

At last, the sun was ready to shine on a new day.

CHAPTER 43

The Fae King