Page 118 of Somnium

Her breath hitched when his finger slid from the ring to graze against her skin, confirming that, even now, after everything, their bodies could still speak to each other effortlessly. Elias flexed the muscles in his jaw to suppress the mischievous grin that threatened to give him away.

“It suits you,” he said, his voice low and reverent.

Cadi tugged her bottom lip between her teeth, but the shy smile she was trying to hide shone through despite her efforts.

“So,” he said, cautiously, “do you still want to try?”

For a moment, Cadi didn’t say anything. She just looked at him, her chest shaking through each ragged breath she drew. Elias could have sworn time stood still as he waited for her decision, panic spearing through him like lightning at the thought that she may have changed her mind and decided a future with him wasn’t what she wanted anymore. The silence seemed to stretch for miles until she lowered her gaze to where their hands still touched.

“Elias,” she began, the choked sound of her voice nearly broke him. “I barely slept last night thinking about this. About whether or not we could ever go back to what we were and I realized … after what happened, I don’t think that’s possible.”

A piece of him began to crack. This couldn’t be real, it couldn’t be the end. Not right when they had just found a glimmer of hope. She was his oxygen, his home. It couldn’t be over.

She looked up, and her fingers tightened around his. He clung to the feeling, to the closeness of having her with him even if it was just for a few more moments. He couldn’t let go.

“But what I do know is that I don’t want to be without you. I can’t be. The last few days, I’ve felt like a piece of my soul was ripped out, and I never want to feel like that again. So, we may not be able to go back. But every piece of me wants to go forward.” She shrugged and took a small step. “With you.”

Elias didn’t realize he had stopped breathing until the air rushed from his lungs, making his head spin.

“Sorry,” she said, tucking her hair behind her ear. “I guess I should have led with the last part.”

Elias let out a tight laugh. “Don’t worry about it,” he said, “you only took five years off my life at the most.”

Cadi laughed softly, and with it, nearly every ounce of the weight Elias had been carrying fell away.

“Can I give you a ride?” he asked.

She smiled up at him and nodded.

“Excellent,” Kai said abruptly. “I have somewhere to be.”

The god disappeared through the swinging door without another word, leaving the four of them in stunned silence. A loud snort broke the quiet, and every head turned to look at Cadi.

“He is so weird,” she wheezed, her shoulders shaking in a fit of giggles. “Would you believe the entire way here he only responded to me in single word answers and grunts?”

“Nothing about that surprises me,” Sera replied, rolling her eyes as she held the door open.

They made their way to the front of the shop to say their goodbyes, which included obligatory farewell cheek kisses from Mona. Elias rubbed the spot where the faerie had planted her parting gift as he guided Cadi out onto the street. He thoroughly enjoyed Mona, and loved the way Sera was so taken with her, but that particular quirk would take some getting used to.

Elias walked Cadi to the passenger side of his SUV and opened the door to guide her inside as the peaceful hum of the evening drifted through the city. When he slid in beside her, the sight of her sitting there next to him prompted a contented tug from the familiar flutter in his chest.

For at least that moment, everything felt perfect.

They were right where they belonged.

36

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

CADI

The breeze drifting off the sea left a salty sheen against Cadi’s skin as she shrugged into her long black cardigan. A sigh escaped her as the soft yarn slid over her arms, warming her just enough for the brisk walk from her car.

She slipped around a corner and had to immediately hug the brick wall to avoid colliding with a small family of demons. Judging by the balloon hats worn by each of the children, they had just finished their day at the exact spot where Cadi was headed. She had heard about the Fiddler’s Green Harvest Festival, but until Elias asked her to go during their fourth consecutive coffee date since getting their rings, she had never seen a reason to subject herself to that level of overstimulation. But that stupid grin on his face had won her over in an instant.

Now, bathed in the colorful lights of the boardwalk, she pushed onto her toes to scan the crowd clustered beneath the archway at the festival’s entrance, searching for Elias while she absently spun the gold band that rested against her finger. Her new accessory had taken some getting used to, and she still had to remind herself to put it back on after she finished the dishes, but she had come to appreciate its steady weight against her skin.

She pulled her phone from her pocket at the gentle buzz against her hip, and the ever-present flutter in her chest danced as she read the new message from Elias.