I suck in a breath. The way he said my name has those damn butterflies fluttering all over in my chest again. His eyes sparkle so brightly as he looks down at me. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he almost looks…happy. Like, genuinely happy, as though he enjoys playing the role of caretaker.
I hate the fact that I’m enjoying it, too.
“How long are you going to hold me here?” I ask, turning away so I don’t have to look at him.
“Only as long as it takes for you to regain your strength.”
“I’m strong now. You can let me go.”
“Yeah, that’s not how that works. You need to take a break. A real break. Take a nap or something.”
“Or something?”
“I’m not the boss of you. If you won’t sleep, at least lay here, whatever you choose to do.”
I feel his side of the mattress decompress as he gets up. I’m almost a little disappointed that he’s leaving without saying goodbye. I prepare to give him a stinging comment on his way out the door when I hear his footsteps approach and feel something hit the side of my pillow.
“Here. I figured you might enjoy this.”
He walks out of the room before I flip around to see him. Sitting on my pillow in his wake, though, is a copy of a famous fairy tale, The Demon and the Dragon. I brush my fingers across its authentic, two-century-old cover, marveling at its fine details.
This has been sitting in my to-read pile forever. Did he…know?
I hug the book close to my chest, looking back at the door where Aurelio left only moments ago.
“Thank you,” I whisper.
I prop the pillows up, lean back, and flip to page one, diving between the pages of a book I’ve been dying to read for a long, long time.
Chapter fourteen
Aurelio
She’s even cuter when she’s loopy! Unfair!
I can’t stop grinning like an idiot as I walk out of Ophelia’s house. With her hair a mess and her face rosy red, Alessia was the cutest thing I’ve ever laid eyes on. She mumbled to herself in her sleep, too—gibberish, of course, nothing of substance—but it has my heart drumming in my chest, even minutes afterward. She acts so tough, but in reality, she’s an adorable human being with an ocean of feelings that happens to have god-tier strength in spite of her soft heart.
In other words, she’s perfect, and I hope nothing changes about her, ever. I must be the luckiest man alive to have been married to a woman who is perfect for me.
“How is she doing?”
Ophelia’s voice stops me in my tracks. I look up to see her smiling warmly at me. I return the expression.
“She’s doing amazing, as usual. She just needs rest.”
“Good. I was worried she pushed herself too hard for our sakes,” Ophelia says, a few of the wrinkles in her forehead disappearing. “I would never forgive myself if the Queen of Celestia injured herself on our behalf.”
I shake my head. “She overextended herself a bit, but nothing serious. She’ll just take a nap and wake up perfectly fine.”
“I’m glad to hear it.”
Several screeches of laughter catch our attention. Ophelia turns to look out at the children playing in front of the house. Their ages range from toddlers to teenagers, but they all crack up as one little girl trips over her own feet and gets herself covered with dirt. Ophelia’s eyes shine with unshed tears as she gazes at their happy faces.
“You’ve saved their lives, you know. I couldn’t have imagined such a beautiful sight only this morning,” she admits. “I’ve buried so many of them already; I don’t know how I would have managed burying more.”
My stomach is instantly queasy. “I hate to ask, but how many did you lose?”
Instead of answering, Ophelia’s smile fades, and gestures for me to follow her. She leads me down the steps of her house, into the main road, and toward the farm fields on the west side of the village. Here, the houses are abandoned, and the children don’t run and play in the streets like they do in front of Ophelia’s house. The broken shutters flap against the sides of houses, doors creak on their hinges, and torn curtains flutter in the wind. Some houses are charred from burns, and others sink into the ground where their foundations have crumbled against the shifting soil. Even the wind here feels colder, as if life has been sucked right out of the side street.
