ACOMAF (Rhys's POV)

I Deserve To Know (Chapter 49- 51)

I woke up in precisely the same position I'd fallen asleep with my arms wrapped firmly around her. We hadn't moved once the entire night, two puzzle pieces that once snapped together were locked in place. And Feyre - Feyre was everything. I could still taste her on my lips, feel her in my skin. I could even still smell the scent of her in the remaining moisture lingering between her thighs where her muscles had come over me.

And deep peace abided within me because of it.

Mate...

Mate...

Mate...

The word pulsed a subtle rhythm in time with my breaths as I enjoyed the simple pleasure of holding her. She kept me safe the entire way through the night. The darkness never visited once. Feyre held eternal.

Where once I might have quivered at the thought, the idea of being so wholly connected to her lest I lose it, now it calmed me more than ever. It was finally time that I would have to tell her. I'd kept the secret for too long and I loved her too much to keep it again.

A quiet rustling alerted me to her waking. I opened my eyes right as Feyre shuffled around to face me and was filled so completely with the sense of her and - oh Feyre - darling, I love you.

I could have rested in that quiet pocket between heaven and hell content never to see the light of day again if the Cauldron would have let me. Tell her. I had to tell her.

We watched each other for a long while beneath the shelter of my wing before Feyre finally dared to break our perfect peace first. "Why did you make that bargain with me? Why demand a week from me every month?"

The reminder of the betrayal between us laid into me heavily and my eyes shuttered. The bargain. Still she thought it was the bargain and I began to wonder if I bedded her then and there if she would still fail to recognize the bond on her own. I said an awful half truth before I could rethink it.

"Because I wanted to make a statement to Amarantha; because I wanted to piss off Tamlin, and I needed to keep you alive in a way that wouldn't be seen as merciful."

"Oh."

The truth - the mate bond - hung on my lips unsung at Feyre's disappointed answer and I wondered if vaguely some part of her knew why.

"You know - you know there is nothing I wouldn't do for my people, for my family," I said. Nothing I wouldn't do for you .

She didn't say anything.

A distraction - fun. That was what last night had meant to her.

I unfurled my wings from around us beginning the debate of how I would tell her we were mates or if I would let our bodies continue to speak for me in my cowardice. Before I could let the guilt take hold and ruin our morning, I asked, "Bath or no bath?"

Feyre squinted in disdain. "I'd rather bathe in a stream." I felt the discomfort of the downstairs bathroom wash over her and chuckled. Feyre bathing in a river bed was a sight I would not deny either of us the pleasure of enjoying.

"Then let's get out of here."

Feyre didn't mention what had transpired between us as we flew the majority of the day over the forests of the steppes leading up to the majesty of the Illyrian Mountains, and I didn't press her on it. I was too nervous.

There were moments throughout the day I felt the words rise to my lips and promptly die to plummet back down my throat at one look from her as she paused her magic while we practiced. She showed me everything - fire, water, wings, wind, and ice. Magic flowed from her in droves to match my own. It was an effort just to stand and not collapse from how utterly stunning she was unleashing all of her capabilities for the earth around her to see.