Caught in the Basilisk's Gaze (Monsters of Faery, #4)

by Mallory Dunlin

" Excuse me?!" I squawked, startled into it. "My options are fuck you or die?" "I know it's a significant ask, but you don't have to sound so horrified at the possibility," Vaduin said, clearly stung. "I'm very experienced, you're clearly attracted to me, and we're soulmates. The sex would probably be spectacular!"

I slept like a rock. I didn't even wake up when Vaduin got up to take a shower, so my first morning in the Court of Mercy started when Vaduin set a tray of breakfast over my lap and sang me awake, a child's song about the rising sun.

~*~*rise n shine*~*~

"I feel like a ghost," he said in a low voice, sounding defeated. "A thing made of battlefield ash and remembered screams. I don't know how to be anything else anymore." "Then don't be." I ran my fingers along the edge of his sharp-tipped ear, then started rubbing it, a weary smile touching my mouth as he relaxed despite himself. "If you're a ghost, haunt me. Let me hold you when your nightmares leave you screaming. Water the ash with tears and watch the wildflowers bloom with me." I rested my face against his, and he didn't pull away. "I always loved ghost stories. I can love yours, too."