The Lightning-Struck Heart (72 page)

“You,” I breathed. “You
like
me.”

“Not hardly,” Justin said wearily.

“You seriously
like
me.”

“That’s not even remotely true.”

“We’re going to be best friends,” I said in awe.

He sighed. “I knew I should have chopped off your head.”

“Dimitri,” I demanded. “Lower your fairy ring this instant. I am having so many feelings right now and I need to project them onto the Prince.”

“If you do that,” Justin growled at Dimitri, “I will punch you in your tiny face.”

“He won’t,” I said. “I won’t let him. Lower the godsdamn ring.”

“Sorry,” Dimitri said to Justin. “Sam and I were almost married. That bond never goes away.”

“There is no bond,” I said, even as the rings lowered.

Justin took a step back away from me.

“I’m going to awkward hug the fuck out of you,” I warned him.

“You stay right where you are,” he said, holding up his hands.

“No. You just said we’re going to be friends forever and that you want to go get coffee with me and gossip about boys while eating pastries.”

“I didn’t say
any
of that!”

“It was implied!”

“There were no implications!”

“It’s okay,” I told him as he backed into a tree. I opened my arms wide as I stalked toward him. “I hear all the things you can’t say because you’re emotionally stunted and need me to bring out your softer side through the fiery depths of your man pain.”

And then I hugged Grand Prince Justin of Verania.

His arms stayed resolutely at his side as I laid my head on his shoulder, my nose near his neck. “This is nice,” I said.

“This is
not
nice,” he growled.

“It is,” I said. “You just don’t know it yet.”

“This is hugging against my will. This is assault.”

“If you hug me back, it’ll be over quicker. You smell like moonbeams and cookies.”

“Oh my gods,” Justin said.

“You’re
my
moonbeam cookie—”

His arms came up around me and held on tight. Really tight. To the point I was having trouble breathing.

“You’re too good at this,” I wheezed.

“Shut up,” he said.

“Do you want to talk about feelings now?”

“Sure. I feel like I want to murder you.”

“That’s good,” I said. “Getting it all out. I feel like I want to go get matching haircuts with you and tell people we’re brothers from another mother.”

“I feel like you two should kiss,” Dimitri said. “Because this shit is hot.”

“Is he masturbating?” I whispered to Justin.

“I don’t even want to look.”

“He ruins things,” I said.

“So do you,” Justin said. “Can we be done now?”

Not wanting to upset this delicate balance, I only held on for three more minutes.

By the time we left the Dark Woods, Justin had a promise from Dimitri to convene soon to discuss a new treaty with the Dark Woods Fairies and I had a new best friend, even if the new best friend denied it vehemently and said we were casual acquaintances at best.

“S
O
,” R
YAN
asked me a few nights later as we ate a quiet dinner in my room. “I have to ask you something.” He sounded a bit nervous.

I swallowed the salted pork calmly, put down my fork, wiped my mouth with a napkin, and said, “I can’t marry you just yet. I think we should date first for a while.”

His eyes went wide. “I wasn’t going to ask you to marry me!”

I grinned. “No shit, dude. Though I’m almost offended by how much you’re freaking out.”

“I’m not freaking out!”

“Um, your face is red and suddenly sweaty and you just bent your fork in half.”

“It was already like that when I got it,” he said, dropping the fork onto the table.

“Wow,” I said. “You’re a really fucking bad liar.”

“I am
not
a fu—”

I glared at him.

“—mothercracking bad liar,” he said instead. Because he had to think of the
children
.

“Pretty bad,” I said. “But I’ll marry you one day. It just won’t be today.”

The smile that formed then was as wide as I’d ever seen it. It was like getting hit in the face with a puppy made of ice cream and good dreams. “You will?”

“Yeah,” I said, sounding slightly strangled.

“You just bent your fork,” he said smugly.

“What? No, I didn’t. It came like this.”

“Uh-huh.”

“It did,” I said. “I watched them craft it. Your smile didn’t make my balls tingle at all.”

“That’s… I don’t know what that is.”

“Classy,” I said. “Classy is what it is. Just think. You get
allll
of this. For
years
.” I leered at him, sure it was more sexy than rapey.

He grimaced slightly. “I may not have thought this through as well as I should have.”

I tried to unbend my fork. “This is the worst proposal ever.”

“I’m not proposing!”

“I know,” I said. “I’m just saying if you were, this would be the worst proposal ever. First asking me to marry you and then insulting me.”

“Oh please,” he scoffed. “When I ask you to marry me, you’re going to be sobbing in joy because I’m awesome. And you still need to work on your leering. I was worried for a moment you’d put something in my drink and I’d wake up tomorrow sore and smelling like you but not remembering how it happened.”

“We may be spending too much time together,” I said. “Because that sounded way too much like something I would have said.”

“Better than you spending all your time with
Justin
.”

“Hey,” I said. “You leave him alone. He is a best friend in training.”

“Which is
weird
.”

“It’s not weird.” I gave him my fork so he could eat and started to unbend the other one.

“Sam, it’s kind of weird.”

“Okay,” I admitted. “Maybe a little bit. But since you left him at the altar—”

“For
you
.”

“—
at the altar
,” I said loudly, “he’s had a bit of a change of heart. He’s back on track in his relationship with the King, he doesn’t look angrily ill every time I walk in the room, and I think I almost convinced him the other day to let me send him on a date.”

“With
Todd
.”

“He has these awesome ears,” I said, as if he didn’t know. Because he
should
.
Everyone
should.

“I would not be sad if Todd lost his ears in an accident,” Ryan grumbled.

“Oh my gods!”

He looked slightly startled. “What!”

“You were
jealous
. The
whole
time!” It hit me, every now and then. These little epiphanies that burst through the gigantic cloud that was my obliviousness at the affections of Knight Commander Ryan Foxheart. Little moments that I remembered about our interactions before I knew he wanted to fuck me stupid that should have given it away, but didn’t because I was so convinced I never stood a chance.

“I was
not
jealous.”

“You were!” I crowed. “You wanted to
murder
him. I gave him a
hand job
in front of you! Well. Sort of.”

“To be fair,” Ryan said, “he looked like the type that I could easily murder.”

“You want my babies,” I said.

He sighed. “I chose this,” he said to no one in particular. “This was my choice.”

“You’re welcome. This is still the worst proposal ever.”

“Sam!”

I nodded. “I know. I don’t have any idea how we got here either. You were saying?”

“I don’t even remember now.”

I reached over and patted him on the hand. “You’ll think of it, boo. I have faith in you.”

A
ND
HE
did, that night, when we were curled around each other, sweat and spunk drying on our skin. It was actually really disgusting, but I couldn’t find it in me to give a fuck. Especially since Ryan’s legs were tangled in my own, his soft cock resting on my thigh. It spoke of intimacy, even if I was starting to get itchy.

I was drifting lazily when he said, “How do I do it?”

“Do what?” I asked, brushing my nose against his ear.

“Become your cornerstone.”

And that woke me right the fuck up. “What?”

“Your cornerstone, Sam. Is there some kind of ritual? Do we have to dance naked in the moonlight with Randall after he covers us in arcane symbols made from yak’s blood?”

“Sex makes you stupid,” I said fondly. “And awesome, but mostly stupid.”

“I’m serious, Sam. Okay. Not about the naked dancing with Randall.”

“I should hope not. If you were, I would begin to question a few things.”

He pinched my side. “Be serious.”

“Yeah.”

“So?”

“It’s….” I trailed off, unsure of how to explain it. I thought back to all the things Morgan had taught me, that Randall had hinted at. Of bonds made and the magic borne of it. “You know what a cornerstone is.”

“A foundation for which to build your magic.”

“It’s more than that. A cornerstone determines how the rest of the stones will be set. How the entire building will be constructed. It’s the most important piece and without it, there would be discord. Chaos. And magic is the same. Without the cornerstone in place, it’ll grow wildly. Out of control. Exponentially so until one day, it’s a disfigured thing with no rhyme or reason, slowly eating away at the user.”

“The Darks,” he said quietly, tracing a finger along my chest.

“Yeah,” I said. “They’re unstable. They don’t last, not for long. They’re not meant to. But they forsake the idea of cornerstones because to have one is to admit a need most aren’t comfortable with.”

“Which is?”

“You aren’t the reason I have magic,” I told him, kissing his forehead. “But you would be the reason it’s defined. And if what Morgan and Randall believe is true, if I am more powerful than anything else out there, then you’ll be the most important cornerstone to exist.”

“Whoa,” he said. “Holy crap. I’m
amazing
.”

“And of course that’s what you took from that,” I said. “But yeah. You are. Though I’d tone down the smugness. You already think you’re dashing and immaculate. Can’t have your self-esteem get
too
high.”

“They wrote that in the paper,” he said. “So you know it has to be true now.”

“Ugh,” I said. “I changed my mind now too. I’m going to take Justin’s place and go on a date with Todd. At least his ears are—”

And that’s all I got out because one moment I’m curled up against him, and the next I’m flat on my back, him propped up over me, the candlelight flickering on his face as he scowls down at me.

“Hey, boo,” I said.

“You’re not going to go on a date with Todd,” he snapped.

I rolled my eyes. “No shit.”

“Because you’re mine now.”

“That should not be as hot as it is.”

“Say it.”

“Oh my gods. Seriously. Like half a chub just from that alone.”

“Sam.”

“Yeah, yeah. No date with Todd.”

“Because you’re the prize that I won,” he said, smirking at me.

I groaned and shoved him away. “I can’t
believe
I even said that.”

“I can,” he said, leaning his head down and kissing me on the chin. “It seems like something you would say.”

“Asshole,” I said.

“Already put it there,” he said. “Twice.”

I gaped at him. “Did you just… what. I. Sweet molasses. I don’t. Did you just make a
sex pun
?”

Ryan frowned. “I don’t know if you understand what a pun is.”

“Marry me,” I demanded.

“Sure,” he said with a shrug. “I can do that.”

“What?”

“What.”

“You just agreed to marry me!”

“I know. You just asked me to.”

“But. I don’t. What the hell is going on?”

He rolled his eyes. “I don’t think you ever really know.”

“We’re still going to date first,” I decided. “You owe me so much for all the shit you’ve put me through.”

“Put
you
through? What about when you—”

“You waited until your wedding to someone else to announce your feelings for me.”

“Dammit,” he said. “I am never going to win an argument because of that.”

“Never.”

He collapsed down on top of me, miles and miles of naked skin pressed against my own. I could barely breathe. It was awesome.

We were quiet for a time, just the brush of lips and fingers.

Eventually, I said the only thing I could. The only thing that mattered. “You don’t have to do anything. To be the cornerstone. Or, rather, you don’t have to do anything more. I don’t need to love you for all the things you could be. I already love you for all the things you are. So no. There’s no special ceremony. No dancing naked covered in yak’s blood. Randall doesn’t need to approve and Morgan doesn’t need to agree. My magic already knows you like I do. It’s known you for years. One day, and one day soon, it’ll just happen because that’s what you are to me. And I was made for you, you know? I wished for this even before I knew what it was, and I am happy it’s you. And I’m going to spend the rest of my days showing you why.”

“Sam,” he said. He sounded as if he was in awe of me, and I knew I was in awe of him, so I kissed him then, relishing the feel of his lips against mine, knowing that this was it. My magic sang because like the stories of old, of whimsy and fancy-free, this was my ending.

My heart was lightning-struck and it beat for him.

This was it.

This was my happily ever after.

A
ND
IT
was.

For three days.

Because of
course
that was the way my life went.

After all, there was still finding Gary’s horn, finding Tiggy’s family, getting captured by more Dark wizards, taking the Trials, pissing off Randall when I turned his fingers into dicks, finishing my Grimoire, meeting my mother’s
roma
, learning just how bendy Knight Commander Ryan Foxheart was while fucking him in the most unusual places we dared to take our pants off in, discovering that, yes, I did quite like rimming, and last but not least, finding out in the middle of all of this that I was somehow the center of a thousands-year-old prophecy that named me as the sole owner of a destiny intertwined with the dragons of Verania who I would lead in a battle against some ridiculous Dark wizard who would most likely monologue at me until my ears bled.