Betrayals of Spring (Forever Fae #2)(65)
“Come in,” I answer in annoyance. It would be nice if I could have some peace and quiet for a while without someone bothering me.
Gothin opens the door and ushers in the dwarf spy that I have been waiting anxiously to hear from. I can’t stop from smiling because I have been desperately waiting to hear how devastated the courts are over their dead kin. The dwarf has his head down when he enters and after a few minutes of silence my smile slowly begins to dissipate. The anger begins to build and my patience is running thin. He’s scared to tell me something and I must know now.
“Tell me, dwarf. What news do you have from the courts?” I demand in annoyance.
He looks up at me trembling with fear in his eyes. I don’t even have to hear it to know what he’s going to tell me because…I think I already know.
The game is not over.
“Meliantha, please come back to me,” I whisper.
A week has gone by and nothing has changed. We’re now here in the Summer Court where Meliantha is in a strange slumber that she has yet to awaken from. She lies there motionless and detached while we wait anxiously for her to come back. After she saved me I have been by her side every minute of every day since then. Elvena will be here soon, along with Calista and Ryder, to try and help us get her back. She’s going to perform the dreamscape magic so we can enter into Meliantha’s mind. Elvena did the same spell years ago to communicate with Calista when she was captured. By doing this we’re hoping to communicate with Meliantha and somehow bring her back.
Her hand still feels the same as mine when I pick it gently up from the bed. I hold her hand tight against my cheek so I can breathe in her intoxicating scent of flowers and the pureness of a spring rain. I squeeze my eyes shut to stop the tears that want to fall. Deep in my heart I want to believe I’ll get her back. She did everything to save me and now it is my time to do the same for her. Whatever it takes I will do it.
I kiss her tenderly on the hand and I lay it back gently on the bed to rest beside her lifeless body. I run my fingers through her lovely auburn red hair that’s fanned out across her golden satin sheets. It shines like the setting of the sun and it feels like silk as it glides across my skin. Her room is beautiful and not what I would have expected. I imagined a room full of purple and flowers, but that’s not what it is like in here at all. I guess I overdid it with the purple when I fixed her room at the winter cottage. I laugh at myself thinking just how ridiculous it must have looked to her. I’m sure we will have plenty of laughs about it when I get her back. Oh, how I long to have her back and in my arms. I miss her smile, her temper, and the way she would look at me with such fire and passion from those amazing amethyst eyes.
A knock on the door grabs my attention and I turn to see Ashur entering Meliantha’s bedroom. He and Finn had found me just as I was carrying Meliantha through the portal. Apparently, she had chosen to find me on her own after being separated from them. She blocked her mind from Ashur so he couldn’t track her, but he tried anyway and that is how he and Finn were able to find us. He told me about the altercation with the Tyvar, but Meliantha never had the chance to explain how she was able to leave. He also told me about venturing through the Redcap camp and hearing about the special blood they had received from a beautiful princess. He and Finn were then able to track her pretty quickly from there and to the portal where they found me carrying her lifeless body in my arms.
We were going to travel back to the Winter Court, but then decided that Meliantha would need the strength of her court to bring her back; therefore, we brought her to her home in the Summer Court. King Oberon and Queen Tatiana were still in the Winter Court at that time so we sent word saying that Meliantha was home, and in dire need of help. They immediately made it back along with the rest of the Summer fae.
Ever since I’ve been here, the Land of the Fae’s calling has been amazingly strong. It’s been hard to resist the pull, and I had been secretly hoping it would pull Meliantha out of her slumber. Lost in thought, I forgot Ashur was even in the room until he takes a seat on the other side of Melianatha’s bed. He takes her hand in his and caresses it lovingly. If I knew he didn’t have feelings for Elissa, I would be furious right now, but I know his bond with Meliantha makes him close to her in ways I wouldn’t understand.
Ashur looks at me and shakes his head.
“Why did she have to be so stubborn?” The sadness and guilt he feels can be felt all around him, and honestly, I feel the same way, too. If it wasn’t for me, Meliantha wouldn’t be lying here in a vegetative state. I know Ashur blames himself for not being there to help, but I don’t think there is anything he could have done. Meliantha was determined to save me no matter the consequences, and when she wakes I plan on expressing how idiotic her plan was.
“There’s nothing you could have done,” I answer him. He shrugs his shoulders with indifference and stares back at Meliantha. I’ll never know what it feels like to have a guardian bond, but I can feel how strong it is through Ashur’s emotions.
“I know,” he sighs. “She was so determined to get you back and I know that if I tried to stop her she would’ve tried harder to find you. So I did what any man would do that was left in Meliantha’s mercy...I let her go. It seems she did fine on her own trying to find you.”
I smile, but I know it doesn’t reach my eyes. “Yes, she did, and when she wakes up she’ll hear an earful about it from me too.”