Kissing Danger ✔️

FORTY ONE

Word Count: 1633

~Aven

"I'm sorry about Poppy."

I can't help but smile at Stace's tone. As we walk around Avila's estate, beneath blossoming pink trees, atop a verdant lawn, I find myself not feeling so overcome by any kind of jealousy. I'm Stace's mate, and no blunt ex-lover of Stace can change that. Did he not want me unconditionally, he wouldn't have brought me here, wouldn't be trying so hard to keep me safe.

"It's okay. I understand time works differently here and you're probably far older than me," I note. He was likely with Poppy when he was younger, more foolish.

"Time works similar. I just have Angel blood in me, so I have a longer life span," he explains. I nod. So Eryk was right. It's hard to comprehend that it means being here, in this realm, will extend my lifespan greatly as well. I can't tell if that's a good thing, or not.

"Weird," I respond. "I'm sorry, it just feels weird meeting someone you were once with."

"I watched you past boyfriend attempt to seduce you, and there was nothing I could do about it," he jokes, nudging my side.

I laugh, thinking back to the moment he is referencing. He saved my life, after my boyfriend at the time tried to kiss me, and I slipped and fell into the river. It was Stace who saved me, not the boyfriend who at the time, was my entire world. The memory seems so far away now, from another life. It's strange to imagine that Stace was there, watching when I had no idea he even existed at the time.

"He failed epically. I mean, did you forget I fell into the raging river and nearly drown," I laugh. I wish I could go back to that boy and slap him, for not being the one to reach in and help me. He just ran away.

Stace stares out across the lawn, smiling. "Oh, I remember."

"And you could have revealed to me that we were mates then," I say, glancing at him. He had grabbed me with gloves, purposefully keeping the fact that we were mates. He should have let me see him...He should have grabbed me, or even told me then...But he didn't.

"I wanted you to live a normal life. I thought you were safe there," he responds softly. Even though I know he is right, it still hurts to think about.

He got to know his mate existed for years, while I often sat with Lei, wondering between each other what out mates would be like, whether we would have a happy life with them if we ever did come across them..

I pause, the balmy breeze shifting my hair over my shoulders. "Had I been safe, would you have ever came to me as my mate?"

"I grappled with that a lot, actually," he murmurs, catching a petal that floats down from one of the trees above us, examining it's delicate surface. It, like everything else I've seen in this zterritory, is beautiful. "I really cannot tell you the answer."

Even though he won't admit it, I know that means he wouldn't have. He would have let me live the entirety of his life without a mate, without him. In his mind, that would be keeping me safe. And yet the thought makes my heart ache. I've come to realise that I mourn my old life, but I don't want it back. Even as I struggle with my powers, and with missing my family and friends, I want to be here, with Stace.

"As long as I was safe, right?" Even though I don't want it to, there's a bite to my tone.

"Actually, I was hoping you would come across your powers at some point, which would give me a healthy reason to come to you," he says.

I look at him sideways, amused at how he thought he had to be the best kind of person before coming into my life. "As healthy a reason as the ruler of a Territory in a completely foreign land who is mated to a nobody can conjure?"