I followed in his laughter. “Hey, you are the one who said to dream big,” I elbowed him again, this time fully pushing him into the mattress. I leaned on his bare chest and pressed a few kisses, my lips trembling with the echo of his laughter.
“What are your dreams, then? Can you do better?” I motioned with a pout, inviting him to share his vision and hoping that I would find a place in it.
“We’re farmers,” he relaxed his head and let his hair fall on the pillow while pulling me closer to his chest, an arm wrapping around me to keep me protected and warm. I didn’t even breathe properly. He had saidwe. As in he and I, a collective we.
“We have a massive field where you plant crops and take good care of many types of tomatoes. They are your pride and joy.”
“Tomatoes?” I widened my eyes in surprise, but he pressed a finger to my lips to shush me. “I like tomatoes,” he whispered the explanation before he continued. “We have a decent home by the side of the lake, not too big but decent enough for when our children grow up and the grandkids come to visit.”
Now I fully stopped breathing. The idea hadn’t even crossed my mind. Children. Not once had I thought about having children of my own. But children with Galenor? It was a new dream I didn’t know I needed until this very moment.
“I take care of the animals, so basically I sleep in the sun a lot while they graze,” he displayed a cheeky smirk. “And I make cheese,” his eyes widened a little with the new idea. “You love my cheese, I am the best cheesemaker in the region,” he nodded with pride, pinning his eyesight on me again.
“Are you, now?”
“Yes,” he dipped his chin and curled his abs to reach the top of my head and place a kiss there. “Everyone loves my cheese. And we trade with the neighbours and other locals,” he smiled. “On Sundays! At the market,” he finished with a pleased smile, and turned his attention back to me, checking my reaction.
“It sounds perfect,” I leaned in and kissed him deeply, my hands roaming across his chest to find his heart. I placed my palm over it to feel every hopeful beat before I started kissing down his abs and lowered onto his pelvis, my teeth scraping and tongue licking lower and lower, fully intent to show him just how much I had enjoyed his vision of our future.
I watched with amazement how Galenor stepped in and out of the room, each time coming back with more greens. We were lying in bed and enjoying one another when he stopped moving inside of me, his eyes wide and chest heaving. “It’s a full moon tonight, I can feel it.”
Without any other explanation, he removed himself from inside of me and let me begrudgingly moan for his return, but the fae wanted to hear none of it.
He shifted me from bed and grabbed me in his arms to remove me from the mattress, then moved the bed frame and landed it next to the wall, creating an empty space on the floor. I remained petrified and watched the insanity in full development. Whenever I asked for an explanation, he continued saying how it was a full moon that night.
He even took the trouble to make some sort of nest for me out of the bed cover and blankets, with the pillows situated on each side of me like a fuzzy throne. I had no choice but to grab a long shirt and pull it over my head, while remaining nestled into the corner he had created for me, watching how he prepared some sort of a green circle in the middle of the bedroom.
He’d managed to create a full circle of greens, some of which I hadn’t realised existed in the kitchen. He’d brought in broccoli, lettuce, coriander, cucumbers, a cactus he found somewhere, probably forgotten from the last time this area was used, dried rosemary and lavender, and he even used some books that had a green cover.
“What is this?” I dared ask when he finally stopped bringing things in and started arranging them into a perfect circle.
“A pathetic excuse for a forest,” he sighed, driving his full attention into creating whatever vision he had in mind. Only when he was satisfied with the outcome, he turned to gaze back at me and carefully left his green circle to grab me from the pile of covers and pillows and place me at the centre of the greenery, by his side.
Then he grabbed my hands and motioned for us to sit, our knees close together while our eyes remained locked on one another. Once we were settled, Galenor finally revealed his plan.
“In my realm, whenever a couple is ready to confirm their relationship, they bind themselves in moonlight,” he blinked, those wonderful emeralds shining so bright, it put all the green things around us to shame.
I breathed slowly, dipping my head just once, too scared to say anything. Too scared to let myself dream. Was he saying what I thought he was?
“The couple will travel on a night with a full moon to the nearest forest and swear their love to the night goddess, binding their love. If they do it three months in a row, they are officially allowed to announce their engagement,” he explained, but my heart had already stopped beating.
Their love.I didn’t hear anything after that word, the name of that new feeling that started sprouting in my chest, the one that made me do the unthinkable. Love.
“I would like to bind myself to you tonight,” Galenor added, his voice dropping with anticipation, his regard pinned on me, ready to study my every reaction. Even his hands wrapped tighter around mine, as if he expected me to release him or protest. Instead, I felt a smile bloom on my lips.
“What do I need to do?”
With a new portrait of happiness, Galenor pressed his forehead to mine, forcing my back to arch to meet him, our hands wrapped tightly together, joining the very centre of our souls.
“I, Galenor Dalenth, bind myself to you, Ellyana Harrow, on this full moon. Under the eyes of the goddess and the magic of the realm, I confess my love and hope for a future together,” he spoke softly, reverently, as if these words were sacred. Each syllable drilled into me, caressing my present and embracing my past, forcing an unbreakable connection within my spirit.
Instinctively, I started repeating. “I, Ellyana Harrow, bind myself to you, Galenor Dalenth, on this full moon. Under the eyes of the goddess and the magic of the realm, I confess my love and hope for a future together.” By the time I finished speaking, my voice trembled, and my hands shook, emotion pricking my eyes.
With a sigh of relief and a cheer of celebration, Galenor pressed his lips to mine, the fire in our kiss sealing the union. We allowed our tongues to reach for one another, eager to swim in the familiar taste while our mouths clashed and waltzed eagerly, stealing our promise.
“Ellyana,” Galenor unpinned himself from me enough to grab my attention.
“Yes?” I moaned, already needing to reclaim his presence, the warmth of his lips on mine.
