Page 79

Chapter 79

Thevin

Sae was seventeen when I told her I loved her.

We were telling stories of the months we’d spent away from each other, having celebrated the longest day of summer and her birthday just the week before.

She tilted her head to the side as she added yellow paint to the buttercup flower she painted on the slanted ceiling of our fort in the grove of maple trees. Boros snored slightly at our feet while I added the long white stripes to the leaves of the crocus field she had painted as well.

I wrapped up my usual story of how my garden experiments had failed again in the murky Hallow Marshes . “ So , potatoes are a no as well. I think next spring I’ll attempt a cherry tree and write home to ask after its progress in the summer.”

She wiped her cheek with her sleeve and dropped her paintbrush onto her tray of colors. “ Potatoes grow here,” she mentioned casually. “ So do cherry trees. There’s one not too far away in a little clearing. We can visit later if you’d like.”

I sighed, dropping my own paintbrush into the bowl of water, saying, “ I miss Felgren when I’m gone, Sae .” I rifled a hand through my hair, adding, “ I miss you.”

She gave a hum and nod, wiping her hands on her apron. “ I miss you, too.” Her cheeks flushed a rosy pink when she caught my stare, and she added quickly, “ You know, we might be able to convince our parents to let you stay a little longer this summer since I’m taking the conduit trials in the fall.” She shrugged, wiping her face again, only to leave a smear of saffron paint across her cheek. “ Maybe they’d let you stay on as a sort of…supportive friend to help me pass them.”

I stepped closer and wiped a thumb across the streak of yellow, mumbling, “ We all know you’re going to pass them.”

She turned her face to help me wipe the paint from her skin, exposing the soft lines of her neck. “ I could pretend I want you here when I pass them.”

I stopped, my hand lingering at her cheek. “ What if you weren’t pretending, and you did want me here when you pass them?”

“ I —” She stopped, swallowing hard, turning her face to look at me.

By the Baron , her eyes were so blue. They’d haunted me for years now, and it wasn’t until last summer that I’d realized why. I had fallen for my best friend and didn’t know how to tell her she consumed my thoughts when I was away. How her letters once a week were never enough, but more of a bandage to stop the bleeding of being gone. How I tracked the days when we left each summer, counting them down until I’d see her smile and feel whole again.

Her lips parted and I stepped closer, closing what was left between us. She looked up to me in what I would call hope, her eyes lowering to my mouth more than once.

“ Ask me, Sae ,” I whispered, sliding my hand down the soft skin of her neck.

“ Ask you what?”

“ Ask me what I’m thinking.”

She closed her eyes in a laugh, lowering her head where I gently pulled on her chin in a request to meet my gaze again. She smiled in her beautiful way that was far more enchanting than any field of flowers the isle could produce, painted or not. “ What are you thinking, my dear friend Thevin ?”

“ I’m thinking I’d like to kiss you. I’m thinking it’s past time I tell you that I am in love with you.”

She closed her eyes, lowering her head once more, but I gently tilted her chin once again. Her grin bloomed, hitting me square in the chest, and she shook her head, meeting my eyes and wrapping her arms around my neck, rising on her toes. “ Oh , good,” she said above my lips. “ It’s about time you caught up.”

I met her in a kiss, the first of many we’d share in our little fort in the woods, dancing to no music, our hearts singing a song with no end.