Page 24 of May: Bloom & Bane

He is out.

His breaths even out immediately, tickling my collarbone with each exhale. I try to wiggle free, but I can’t move.

I try to push him, but he doesn’t budge.

“Sage?” I squeak.

He snores loudly in response.

My face burns, and my heart hammers inside my chest—or maybe that’s his heartbeat. We’re pressed so close together I can’t tell anymore.

Big Bird is sleeping! Droot announces cheerfully, landing on the wing above my head. See? I told The Sun. Big Bird needed a nap.

“Droot,” I wheeze. “Help.”

The King is very small, Droot observes thoughtfully. Big Bird is very… big. This is a problem.

“Yes, it’s a problem,” I agree.

He does a little hop.

The Sun smells nice though! Like fire-flowers and honey… and vanilla beans… and a little like fresh grass.

I let out a strangled laugh.

I’m trapped under a beautiful, exhausted, green-skinned man who just nuzzled my nose and made my entire body feel like it was on fire.

I try to focus on anything other than the way his skin smells of fresh rain and cucumber. I thought I smelled it earlier coming from the water pitcher… I was wrong; it’s one hundred percent the male lying on top of me.

I study the iridescent membrane of his wing and the delicate latticework of veins pulsing faintly. It’s like looking at a map made of seaglass.

“Okay,” I whisper to the ceiling. “I can do this. I just have to… lie here.”

Eventually, the fire under my skin cools down. I manage to bridge my hips and slide a few inches to my left. I repeat the same movement until I’m finally able to slip out from under his arm.

He cuddles further into the spot I was just lying in.

“Droot. Stay with Sage. If he wakes up… tell him I went to look around.”

Droot will guard, he chirps. No one touches The Big Bird while the King is on duty!

I pull a few blankets from the bed and drape them over Sage. I look back one last time at the sleeping giant and his tiny glowing knight.

I find three beautiful bedrooms before I find a bathroom.

I catch my reflection in the mirror and freeze.

I don’t recognize the woman staring back at me at all. My hair is a wild, tangled mane of orange curls. My skin is fair and covered in cinnamon-colored freckles. Large green eyes look back at me. I brush my fingers over my lips. They’re soft and full.

I look… healthy. How is that possible after spending so long in a sealed box?

“Who are you?” I whisper to the reflection. “Why can’t I remember?”

I turn away from the mirror, my heart still racing as I leave the bathroom.

Who would leave something this grand to two strangers who don’t remember who they are? If this is a trap, it’s the most beautiful trap I’ve ever seen.

I pass through a hallway made of glass, its walls draped in flowering vines that only seem to grow larger the further I walk.