Of Werewolves and Curses by Emma Hamm
Chapter 24
The breeze shifted with them and tangled in the sweat at the base of her neck. Finally, Freya felt like she could breathe again.
Eldridge held her hand in his, tangled their fingers together and tugged her this way and that. Sometimes he tried to throw her off balance and she’d immediately bubble with laughter.
They didn’t talk for a while. Instead, they enjoyed each other’s company in silence under the stars. And what a lovely silence it was.
A thousand twinkling lights danced above them. The waves crashed on the shore, white foam lingering on the sandy beach that cushioned her toes. She’d so rarely been to the beach growing up. As an adult, she didn’t have time to wander the sand like this. Let alone find someone handsome to walk with while the moon lit their path.
Eldridge lifted her hand and pressed a kiss to her palm. “It’s been a long time since we had a few moments to ourselves.”
“It really has.” She danced away from a wave that got a little too close to her legs. It would have soaked the hem of her dress, and Freya wanted it to be preserved for a few moments longer. After all, this was a rare moment when she felt beautiful. “I’ve enjoyed being here, though. Sure, there’s been some struggles and frustrating things that have happened, but I like it in the Summer Court.”
“Everyone does,” he said with a scoff. “That’s why I spent my summers here as a boy.”
She frowned, a question popping out of her lips before she could stop it. “I meant to ask. If you’re from a certain court, how do you have seasons here? You keep saying you spent summers here, but there are no summers in the Autumn Court. Are there?”
Eldridge quirked a brow and the small smile on his face was one of complete and utter mischief. “I was wondering how long it would take for you to pick up on that. No, we don’t necessarily have seasons. But we still like to pretend we do. I’d spend four months here every year, and then rotate to the next. The children of royals can choose to do so.”
The children of royals.
She forgot that not only was he the Goblin King, but that he had been a noble his entire life. Sure, it wasn’t the same as being the king of the all the faerie courts. But royal blood ran through his veins.
To her, he was just Eldridge. A rather unconventional and strange man who had found her at a time in her life when she needed someone to force change upon her. And he had. Even though she had fought him tooth and nail every single step of the way.
Biting her lip, she ruefully smiled. “Well, there’s the answer to that, then.”
“Freya.” Eldridge tugged her to a stop, still holding her hand in his as if she were made of glass. “I know things between us have been strained since we came to the Summer Court. I thought we were getting along well, but then something happened while we were here. Care to explain what that was?”
Oh goodness, there were a hundred things she could tell him.
That she was jealous because he’d given Cora a lot of attention. But in contrast, she’d also given Leo more attention than he deserved. She supposed Eldridge could have gotten jealous about all that, but he hadn’t. Likely because he trusted her more, and he was very secure in their relationship.
She’d also lied about finding her father. She should have told Eldridge the moment she found him in the trees and that the reason she wanted Leo and Cora together wasn’t entirely to save the Summer Court.
Or perhaps that the trees had told her to do all this, and not that she had pieced together the entire story on her own without their help.
Maybe she should start with the fact that she was feeling insecure and then the rest could come out on its own?
Freya released her hold on his hand and ran her fingers through her soft curls. “Listen, there’s so much that I need to tell you. I haven’t been entirely truthful this whole time. I know that Leo and Cora getting together again is very important for this Summer Court, but I... I... I’m afraid that in doing so you’ll be reminded just how much you love the faerie courts. And how little I compare to the beauty here and all around us.”
His eyes grew wider with every word she said, and Eldridge seemed to fall apart right in front of her. His shoulders curved forward, softening in a movement that she hated to see but also loved. It was times like these when she knew he wouldn’t berate her for her thoughts. Instead, he would listen to what had made her so uncomfortable.
“My darling,” he muttered, reaching for her hands again so he could hold them in his own. “Is all of this because you saw Cora’s beauty and you feared that I wouldn’t want you anymore? Because you aren’t a faerie?”
In the simplest way of saying it, yes. That was correct, even though she hadn’t voiced the fear to herself. She worried that he was going to wake up someday and realize she wasn’t the faerie partner he’d always seen for himself.
But this was too close to peeling open her many layers and revealing the horrible wound in her heart. The wound that had always whispered she wasn’t as good as others. The wound that made her aggressive and push people away so that she was safe from their love. Just in case they wanted to take that love away.
She recognized when she was doing it, but Freya had never stopped herself from shoving people out of important positions in her life. Esther was the only one she loved with her whole heart, even though sometimes she was controlling over her sister as well. Because Esther was family. She couldn’t leave.
Until she did.
Sighing, Freya changed the subject to something even worse. Something that she knew would turn Eldridge’s mind away from this conversation and to another. “I found my father,” she blurted, deliberately ignoring the question he’d asked her. “I didn’t tell you, and I feel awful for it. But the trees have been keeping him, healing him, in return for getting Leo to do the right thing and take control of the court.”
Eldridge’s eyes widened even farther, if that was possible. “Your father?”
“Yes. Nearly the very first day we were here. I didn’t tell you because the timing didn’t feel right, and he wasn’t in his right mind, anyway. I thought you wouldn’t let me go back to the forest if you knew a wild werewolf was being kept in a prison there. But he’s better now. I spoke with him.” She pressed a hand to her stomach that rolled with the truth. If she kept talking, it would keep spewing out of her.
She stopped talking. She stood silently in the sands, watching the many expressions play across Eldridge’s face.
First disbelief. He couldn’t understand how she’d kept all this from him, and she had known that would take a while for him to accept. Then frustration, likely because it would have made everything easier if he’d known this from the start. Freya winced to see betrayal on his face when that was the last thing she’d wanted him to feel.
But she’d known he would. Of course he would feel like she was keeping him out of things. Hadn’t that been why she’d been so angry at him and Arrow this entire trip? They made decisions without her. And here she was, making decisions without him.
Eldridge licked his lips and took a deep breath. “You should have told me he was here. I could have helped.”
“I know,” she replied. “I know you could have, but it didn’t feel right. My gut screamed to wait. That you needed to do this without knowing where my father was. I don’t know why.”
A low growl rumbled through his throat, but he eventually shook his head and seemed to dismiss the conversation. “We’ll talk about that later once we finish this quest for the forest and put the Summer Court to rights. After that, we will pull apart why you decided you had to do this all on your own. Again.”
Well, she already knew the answer to that. Freya was a control freak and when things were out of her control, then she didn’t know what to do. Her heart pounded in her chest and her mind raced at all the possible endings if she wasn’t the person controlling every step of the way.
And if he loved her as he said he did, then Eldridge would have to get used to that.
Then she remembered the worst lie she’d been telling him this whole time. The lie that had broken her very soul every time she saw him.
The timing wasn’t right. She shouldn’t have even thought about it, but the stars were shining overhead and the moon glittered in the sky. And Eldridge looked so handsome standing there in the sands, ready to forgive her for the grievous mistakes she’d made.
“I love you,” she whispered. The words ripped out of her soul and flew into the air like an arrow seeking its target. “I don’t know why it’s been so hard to say, but I do. Every part of me aches for your presence. I love you with every waking breath and with every sigh of sleep. I dream of you, and I can’t imagine living in any other way than worshipping the very ground you walk on. It has plagued me that I haven’t told you sooner, but then we were here and you were so focused on...”
“Cora.” Eldridge stepped closer, tugging her close with their hands raised between them. Love burned in his gaze. “I have waited so long to hear you say those words.”
“Sorry if they feel a little strange,” she replied, looking down at their clasped hands and knowing she would never feel more loved than this moment. “I know it’s been difficult for you to be in the Summer Court, and I haven’t made it easier on you. But I do love you. I promise, from now until the day I die that I will say those words every single morning and every single night.”
“I’ll hold you to that.” He leaned down, closer and closer to her lips. “You are the other half of my soul, Freya. My heart beats for you and you alone. I hope, in time, you will believe that.”
“I do.” Really, she did. She believed he loved her and that the world stopped spinning when he looked at her. “Should I say it again?”
Eldridge stole a kiss, his lips lingering on the corner of hers. “Yes.”
“I love you,” she whispered against his mouth.
He moved and pressed a chaste kiss to the other corner.
“I love you.”
With a slow glide, he eased his mouth to hers and devoured her lips. Soft velvet and a tongue that tasted of sweet faerie wine turned her senses to madness. She couldn’t think of anything but him. Her entire being shifted toward him, wanting more than anything to be one with him. The Goblin King. Her strange villain in a story that had turned him into a hero.
When she pulled away, Freya blinked up at him with heavy-lidded eyes. “I really do, though. I love you.”
“I know you do.” He kissed her forehead. “There’s still something I need to talk to you about, though. Before we continue this conversation or get lost in each other’s bodies. I need you to know something, to hear these words and think about them.”
Her stomach clenched. Words that she had to think about before they went any further? What could the Goblin King possibly have to say?
Before he could even speak, a scream rolled down the beach like a thunderstorm. The deep, echoing call was one of pain so biting that it would kill the person who cried out for help. A man’s scream.
She released her hold on Eldridge and peered around him. All the elves had frozen, staring down the beach before a few of them screamed as well.
“Leo?” she asked, looking back at Eldridge.
“This can wait.” Again, he kissed her forehead before turning with her hand in his. “Run.”
Together they ran down the beach. She could only hope the Summer Lord was still alive when they arrived.
