Forever Fae (15 page)

Chapter 13

Calista

I am a few minutes late, but I can see him lying on the ground under the willow tree.  My heart starts the erratic beating again and my palms begin to sweat.  Why am I so nervous?  I stop where I’m at to gain my composure. I have never been this crazy over a guy before.  Please let this be real. He looks over and sees me heading his way.  He gets up and opens a place through the leaves so I can walk through. 

I say a little nervously, “Thank you and I’m sorry I
am
late.  I got held up a bit.” I fiddle with my hands when I am nervous.  It is a rare occasion that I get nervous, but something in his eyes has me wary.

He gives a small laugh and shakes his head. 

“Yeah, I know how busy you were
,
Princess. In fact, I saw through your window how busy you were.”  I stare at him wide-eyed and I’m frozen solid where I stand.

So that’s why he looks the way he does.  This is not what I need right now.  I ruin Merrick’s heart and now I am going to ruin Ryder’s
heart
.  Why didn’t I just stay in my room? Oh yeah, I know why, because I just met a stranger who happens to be a
p
rince
.
H
e
may be the one destined to be with me and I am already falling in love with him even though it could only be partly because of the
p
rophecy
.  I also want to know what he saw in his vision and what he thinks about it.

His tone has me a little defensive because if he saw the truth of what happened between me and Merrick he wouldn’t be acting like this.

“What exactly did you see?” I
ask
.

He looks at me, tension rolling off him in waves.

“I saw enough.  I saw
so much
that I almost crashed through your window to kick your
g
uardian’s
ass.  If it wasn’t for Elvena, I might have caused some serious damage.”  This is not going good at all.  At the mention of Elvena, I need to hear about that first.

“Wait, Elvena was here
?
 
What did she say?” I ask incredulous.  I wonder why Elvena was outside with Ryder.  I also want to change the subject from Merrick.

He takes a deep breath and looks at the ground.  He seems to be trying to calm
himself
.

“She watched us tonight at the ceremony.  Your father told her of our vision and she had secretly been watching us together.  She stopped me from coming into your room after I saw Merrick kissing you. 
I don’t understand why I feel this strongly about him touching you, but I didn’t like it.” He pauses and looks up at me. “
Elvena took my hand,
did some weird mojo stuff and
watched the vision through my mind.  She had some pretty interesting things to tell me after that.”

I close my eyes and turn away from him.  My face is probably beet red from embarrassment.  Elvena saw the vision of me and another man almost getting it on in the meadow.  I wonder what interesting things she had to say.  How am I going to face her in the morning? 
I
stare
at the lake to keep my eyes averted from his.  I don’t want him to see how he affects me. 

With my back still turned
to him
, I ask
“What was your vision about?  Do you think
we saw the same things?”

He walks up behind me and wraps his arms around my waist.
“Yes, we did see the same things.  The vision was of me and you, Calista.”

I
kn
o
w
deep down
his
vision was of
us
, but things were different
between us
in the vision.  I don’t know what
is going to
happen to make it that way.  I turn around so I’m resting up against his chest with his arms folded around me.  It’s nice to be able to feel his hard muscles and
the
tight
ness of
his chest.  I know my skin probably burns him as he touches me, but he doesn’t seem affected by it, just like the coldness of his doesn’t bother me.

“What does the vision mean?  If it’s me and you in it, where are we and why does the land feel different?” I whisper against his chest. 

My head fits perfectly in the crook of h
is neck and I breathe him in deeply. 
He
still
smells like a winter snow
and pine
, but
there’s
something else. 
It wasn’t
exactly the scent of him in my vision, but very close.
  It’s strange that his scent
ha
d
changed.  I look up at him still waiting
for a response
.

He sigh
s,
“Elvena wouldn’t give me any answers.  She says that you and I would be able to figure it out together.”

He pulls me back a little so he can look at my face and into
my eyes. 

He continues,
“She also said that your heart belongs to me,
and it always will. After I saw you with Merrick she told me I needed to trust you.”  I smile
,
thinking of Elvena.  She has never in her life doubted me or my decisions and I love her for it.

I saw you with Merrick and I know you care about him, but I need to know what you feel for me.  If what I saw in the vision is real, we have a deeper connection t
han I could have ever imagined,” he says softly while rolling wisps of my hair through his fingers.

“Ryder, I don’t know how or why it is happening so fast, but my heart does
feel like it
belong
s to you
.
W
hen
I saw you tonight
, I felt it.  The connection is there and I see it now, but what if it isn’t real?”  I pull away from him to walk closer to the crystal blue water of the lake. 

He looks at me bewildered. 

“Why wouldn’t it be real?  It feels real to me,” he says while making his way toward me.  He’s coming closer to me and all I want to do is run into his arms and feel his body surround mine.  That’s what my body is telling me, but how do I find out if that’s what my heart truly feels
?
 

I shrug and say flatly, “I just think we might feel this way because of the
p
rophecy.”  He wraps me in his arms again and tilts my chin up to look in his eyes. 
He
is
worried and I can see the tension around the lines of
his mouth. 

He shakes his head and lets out an exasperated breath
.

“Why are you trying to fight this, Calista?  Whatever we feel is between me and you.  No
p
rophecy
or any amount of magic is going to change the way I feel in my heart.”  He cups my face with both hands and brings his face closer to mine
.
Our
foreheads are touching. 

He breathes lightly in my face and whispers softly, “My heart tells me this is real, and if we can’t believe in our own hearts, then what can we believe in?”

We stand frozen in place and the only sounds I hear are the rippling of the water in the lake and our erratic breathing.  Just his touch makes me yearn for more, but do I trust what’s in my heart?

He lowers his hand to rest over my heart and moves his lips closer like he’s about to kiss me.  I close my eyes expecting his kiss, but instead he says something that answers all my questions. 

He whispers lovingly, “I trust my heart, Calista, and you need to do the same.  The heart won’t steer us down the wrong path.  A wise lady told me not to
o
long ago that I would find the answers through you.  How about we find them together?”

I let his words
sink in and then I do what I have wanted to do ever since I saw him.  I
lean into him
,
press my lips to his and let our feelings take over.  Th
e kiss begins slow and
then
gracefully moves into a sensual rhythm like our dance earlier that night where our bodies took over.
  Ryde
r’s arms tighten around my waist and he pulls me closer
.
I can feel his heart beating against my own chest.

He breaks from th
e kiss breathing hard and whispers, “I believe I might be falling for you, Princess.”

He doesn’t give me a chance to respond because h
is lips find mine again in a deeper
and harder
embrace
.
A
moan escapes my lips. 
I can tell
they
are swollen from his feverish kisses, but I welcome the feeling with open arms. I run my hands down his back
and move them
around slowly
to his chest.  His heart is beating fast and mine is beating to
the same tune.
I feel lightheaded wi
th the intensity of our kisses and if
he
wasn’t holding onto me I’m sure I would have fallen to the ground.   I can feel
him
slowly moving to the ground and he pulls me with him to lie on a pile of soft, green leaves.
  He lies down half on top of me and half to the side
,
just like our vision. The weight of his body feels so good beside mine, but I want more. 
The intense feeling of longing spirals through my body and all I want is to be closer to him, as close as any two people can get. I grip his shirt and pull it over his head
.
I run my hands over his smooth, muscled arms and they flex and ripple underneath my touch.  I feel protected with his arms around me.

He moves his body to position himself between my legs and I can feel the heat of his arousal pressed against my body. 
I wrap my legs around his waist to pull him closer
.
He
groans into my mouth and tugs on my bottom lip. 

Ryder kisses his way to my ear and whispers, “You’re killing me here.  I’m starting to feel like I’m going to have
no control when I’m around you.”

I grip my legs tighter and breathlessly add, “Well
,
then don’t.”

His breathing picks up and he begins to move his body against mine.  I moan in pleasure because the sweet taste of orgasm is making its way to the surface.

His hand travels down across my breasts and down to the edge of my shirt.
He gently lifts
it
and trails his nice warm hand up my s
tomach to one of my breasts and massages it gently.  My eyes flash open and my body freezes.
  Wait
.
H
e
has warm hands and his body is warm.  That’s not right.  I stop kissing him a
nd gently push him back so he can see my face.
  He looks at me qu
estioningly and rises so I can sit.

That is when things
beg
i
n
to change.  It all
happen
s
at once and bot
h
of us
s
i
t
there shocked and wide-eyed as we stare at each other.  His body is
warm and the chill that usually
inhabit
s
him
is gone.  His skin has
ta
ken on a golden glow.  It isn’t
the
sun
-
kissed glow that the Summer C
ourt fae have, but somew
here in the middle between his Winter
Court
heritage and the Summer
Court
.  I look down at my skin and see that I have
the same skin tone
,
to
o.  My normally tanned skin has
become
pale
r
in comparison to what it was.  What is happening to us?  He reac
hes down to grab my hand and I notice our skin feels the same as well.  I am no longer hot to the touch like I was
before
, but I still feel warm.
 

Mystified,
I say, “Why is this happening to us?  This is the way we look and feel in the vision.
”  I stare at my body in amazement, but it quickly turns into anxiety because this development is going to cause some major issues.  I groan and lay my head in my hands.
 

“
What is everyone going to say to us tomorrow when they see?”

Ryder shrugs
apologetically and says, “I don’t think there’s anything we can do about it now.  Obviously t
his is the way it is supposed to be. 
All I can say is that it’s happening for a reason.  I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough.”