Betrothed

His heart, once pulsing with love for her, was now nothing but an imitation of the real thing, a dried-up mockery re-plumped with rage.

Overwhelmed with the intensity of my feelings, I had to remind myself to breathe.
After a long moment of staring I managed to speak. I was startled when I heard the words leave my mouth. I was speaking his language. ‘Who are you?’ I asked.
‘I am Leif,’ he said, inclining his head. ‘I am yours.’ Then he looked up and smiled again, a sunburst on an already perfect day. ‘But you know this, Marla

‘Not like this, Marla. Not because you’re sad. I want to love you when you’re happy. I want to love you when everything has been put right and you are standing beside me in Faera where you belong.’
The man of my dreams was certainly a gentleman.
‘Can you make it happen, Leif?’
‘I know I can,’ he said, his face determined

Your mother was no longer pure in my father’s eyes so when she offered to relinquish her husband and return to him, he refused her. And as punishment for choosing your father, he decided that if he couldn’t have Finelle, then Finelle couldn’t have her child.’
I could feel the blood leave my face. ‘You’re talking about me?’
Leif dropped my hands and put his arms around me. ‘Marla, you were not yet conceived. My father spoke of a child not yet in existence. His decree forbade your mother her pregnancy.’
‘Her pregnancy? Which pregnancy, the first, the second . . . ?’
‘Fae women have only one.’
‘So your father wants me dead,’ I whispered. I wanted to throw up.
Leif was on his feet. He scooped me into his arms and held me against him. ‘Marla, I will fix it, I will make it all right.’

. My father spoke of a child not yet in existence. His decree forbade your mother her pregnancy.’
‘Her pregnancy? Which pregnancy, the first, the second . . . ?’
‘Fae women have only one.’
‘So your father wants me dead,’ I whispered. I wanted to throw up.
Leif was on his feet. He scooped me into his arms and held me against him. ‘Marla, I will fix it, I will make it all right.

Why was that most terrible?’
‘What you think you know of the Fae is nothing more than the stuff of human imagination, Marla. We are not the mild, sweet creatures you might think us to be. The Fae—males in particular and especially those of the royal

line—are fiercely protective and loyal. But we can also be savage and wild and, above all else, proud

‘I have much to tell you but I think first you need to know more about me.’ He paused for a moment. ‘I am not common Fae, Marla.’ Was there even such a thing? The words ‘common’ and ‘Fae’ simply did not belong in the same breath. I waited for him to continue. ‘I am prince—the youngest in the royal bloodline.’ He seemed to become more upright as the words left his mouth, his chin lifting a little

‘Why does it matter?’
‘There is a change that takes place when we reach immortality. But if we are outside of Faera at that time, it cannot occur. Marla, if you are not here with me for your eighteenth birthday, you will lose your immortality and be forced to live out your days in the human world. We will be lost to each other

“we”, do you mean me too?’
‘Of course . . . Marla, we are one.’
‘Then what are we and what is this place? Is it heaven?’
‘We are Fae