Page 23

Chapter 23

The Best Thing for Both of Us

R aewyn

Pharis wasn’t scaring me now, but he was overwhelming my senses.

How could I not be utterly defeated by that face, that voice… that body?

Though my mind kept telling me this wasn’t a good idea, my body was speaking more loudly, drowning those protests in a deep pool of sensation, drinking in the feel of Pharis’ mouth on my skin, his incredible voice rumbling in my ear, telling me how beautiful and desirable I was, his hands moving over my dress and then sliding underneath the skirts to touch my bare legs.

This was not something I’d ever expected, but now that it was happening, it felt so right .

Stellon’s kisses had been wonderful, but when Pharis kissed me, it felt like a key clicking in a lock, opening some secret room inside me I hadn’t even been aware existed.

I didn’t understand it. It made no sense to feel this way when there was no way for it to last. It was foolish to get in deeper with him than I already was.

And yet I was doing nothing to stop it. What was wrong with me?

Why did I have so little control over myself when it came to him?

Did I have no regard for my own future welfare? Once our journey ended, I would never see Pharis again.

That was going to hurt, perhaps worse than anything ever had. And if we kept going, parting was going to destroy me—not to mention prevent him from taking an Elven bond-mate.

He’d be alone for the rest of eternity, like his father.

When Pharis’ lips left mine to move to the newly exposed skin of my chest, I forced myself to stop him.

Placing my hands over his incredible lips, I said. “This is pointless.”

Pharis engulfed my fingers in his large hand and moved them out of his way, determined to continue.

“We’re getting to the point,” he said between intoxicating kisses. “Give it a few more minutes.”

“You don’t know what you’re doing,” I tried to protest.

That gave him pause. He lifted his head and raised one dark brow sardonically.

“I beg to differ, Wildcat. As I said, give it a few more minutes… then try to tell me I don’t know what I’m doing.”

He tried to move again toward the sensitive skin his mouth had been targeting, but I slipped my hand beneath his jaw and lifted it so our eyes met.

A sexy grin spread across his handsome face. “Am I going to have to pin those little hands over your head? I’ll do it, you know… and you’ll enjoy it.”

He did push my arms over my head, though his fingers threading through mine were more persuasive than forceful. He brought his mouth back to mine, trying to shush me with kisses.

With great difficulty, I turned my head so his lips landed on my ear instead.

“Pharis.” I tried to make my tone firm, though it was difficult with the way he was stealing my breath.

“Pharis, stop. We have to stop.”

Finally, he did. His riveting aquamarine eyes burned with passion as he met my determined gaze full-on.

“Why? Stopping is literally the last thing I want to do,” he said, “and I don’t think you want that either.”

Suddenly his lustful expression shifted to uncertainty—and a hint of hurt. I heard it in his voice as well.

“Or am I wrong? Do you not want me?”

I almost laughed.

“Of course I want you,” I said. “I think I’ve made that rather obvious in the past few minutes.”

His smile returned. “Then why? What’s troubling you?”

Lifting his head, Pharis looked around. “Does it have something to do with the fact that it’s broad daylight and anyone could come walking over the knoll at any moment?”

He looked down at me again with a rueful smile. “Facts that seemed to slip my mind entirely once I kissed you.”

Shaking his head, he said, “You are a mind-altering substance, Wildcat—worse than the most potent Nymphian water. You’re right. We need privacy for all the things I plan to do to you.”

Unable to stop myself, I wriggled at the feelings his words and expression sent swirling through my body.

“That’s not the reason,” I said, beginning to button the top of my dress. “Though the daylight and public location should have occurred to me as well.”

Pharis laughed. “I guess I make you forget yourself, too.”

I nodded vigorously and sat up. “Definitely. One thing I haven’t forgotten is that you’re an Elven prince with duties to the crown and his people… and I’m a human commoner.”

His face contracted in a comical expression of disdain. “I don’t care about our differences—or my ‘duty.’ That’s where my brother and I differ.”

“You’ll care when you get back to the royal city,” I said, “and it’s time to take a noble High Fae bond-mate—and you can’t because you’ve already bonded with some human.”

Pharis’ face lost all its humor, his brows pulling together. He almost looked angry.

“You’re not just ‘some human,’” he said. Then his voice softened. “You’re my human.”

What?

“And I’m not going back,” he said. “By now the King knows I’ve defied him and deprived him of something he truly wanted. That’s a deadly sin as far as he’s concerned. I can’t go back, even if I wanted to.”

“You’re not… planning to go back to Merisola? Ever?”

“We’re both fugitives now, little Wyn—a matched pair.”

He pressed a gentle and oh so seductive kiss to my lips. “The best thing for both of us would be to stay on the move.”

Pulling back to look into my eyes again, Pharis said, “And it’s what your father wants. He told me that before the healer did her work.”

“He did?” My mind was buzzing along with my body now.

Pharis nodded. “He made me promise to take you out of here to safety… and leave him and your sisters behind.”

Gesturing toward the idyllic town, he said, “This is the perfect place for them, secluded, unknown to the King. I’ll make sure they have everything they need. I’ll leave them with enough money to last them the rest of their lives and give the girls huge dowries so the stupid human men won’t be deterred from marriage. They’ll be safer here than they would be traveling. You know that.”

He continued with his shocking proposal.

“The two of us can travel fast and light. We can go anywhere—or everywhere. I can take you to see all those places you want to see—the Drylands, the Silvery Mountains, the Cyan Sea. And when we’ve explored this continent we’ll move on to the next.”

I just shook my head repeatedly, my chin wagging back and forth. “But this is too big a sacrifice for you. What about your brother and sister? You’ll miss them. You love them more than anything.”

“Not more than anything .”

The look in his eyes made my heart flutter.

Drawing me against him, Pharis wrapped his arms around my back and pressed soft kisses to my forehead, my cheekbones, the tip of my nose.

“My siblings will be fine. Your family will be safe here in Havendor. And you’ll be safe with me, far from the Earthwife’s reach and from my father.”

My mind was whirling with the sudden turn of events—and from the realization that Pharis was offering to give up literally everything he held dear… for me.

He must have taken my hesitation to respond as a refusal because he threw in one more persuasive argument.

“It’ll be better for Stellon, too. Without you there for our father to hold over his head, my brother won’t be forced to do anything against his will.”

“He’s already been forced into marrying an Elven woman he doesn’t love,” I said morosely.

Pharis’ eyes darted away toward the waterfall. Apparently he didn’t like hearing my sympathy for Stellon. His gaze returned to meet mine.

“He was always going to do that,” he said. “You knew that. It’s his destiny as Crown Prince, and his sense of duty is too strong. He told me he knew the two of you were doomed from the start. I’m sure he misses you—gods, what man wouldn’t? But I know my brother. He’s always been the happy go lucky sort, like one of Mareth’s golden retrievers. He’ll get over it eventually and be happy again, especially once he has children, which is something he’s always wanted.”

I nodded, blinking back tears. “Right. And it’s undetermined whether I’d ever be able to give him children as a human—even if we were allowed to be together.”

Pharis gripped my waist, his expression fierce. “I don’t care about that. And no one cares whether I produce heirs. You’ll be safe with me, Rae.”

He paused a long moment before asking, “But could you be happy with me?”

It seemed ludicrous he could even ask such a thing after all he’d done for me and my family, after those sweltering kisses we’d shared and the way our bodies had demonstrated we were beyond compatible.

After the sacrifices he was willing to make for me.

But I still had questions.

“I appreciate your generous offer, and I’m sure Papa and the girls will be safer staying here, especially considering there’s probably a bounty on my head now.”

The King might never stop looking for me. When I thought about it, it was obvious I was putting my family in danger by staying with them.

“They don’t really need me now that my father’s eyesight and health have been restored. My family will miss me, but I know they’ll be happy here.”

“But….” Pharis said in a leading tone. “You haven’t answered my question.”

Instead of answering it, I asked a question of my own.

“Could you really be happy with me ?”

He squinted in apparent confusion. “What do you mean? I just told you it’s what I want.”

“Traveling with a human fugitive will put a serious damper on your highly active love life,” I said. “Could you really be happy spending all your time with just one woman?”

A mortal one at that. One who could never give him children, which he might want someday in spite of his current insistence that he didn’t care about it.

He was young. It might become important to him at some point. A lot could change in forever... and as a human, I wouldn’t be here for it.