Free Moon's Flower: Book 6 (Kingdom Series) by Marie Hall Page B

the gauzy ivory.
    “My gods,” he breathed, “you are so beautiful.”
    Her entire body seemed to quiver at his words, and then she was pulling him into her embrace. “I’m going to take us someplace quiet and sheltered, you must hang on to me, okay?”
    Wrapping a fat curl of her hair around his finger, he beamed. “Forever, Calanthe.”
    ~*~
    Calanthe tried to quiet the frantic beating of her heart, but it was a pointless endeavor. She didn’t look at him as she sailed through the crystal caves. A brilliant blue glow grew from just a mere pinprick of light to a sea of color the closer she drew to her treasured and most private sanctuary in the glen.
    Her magic made it so that holding on to Jericho was like holding onto a feather. She marveled in the wonder of his warm hand gliding along her neck and jaw. Her stomach twisted in a marvelously stomach churning way.
    And when they arrived, Jericho breathed an audible sigh. The blue glow came from the crystals growing out of the rock face. Landing on what appeared to be an endless sea of inky black water, she watched his face as he studied the cave.
    Glowworms tunneled overhead, leaving a shimmering trail of sparkling white along the ceiling, giving the effect that they were not only outdoors, but sailing through a blanket of stars deep in space.
    He tapped on the water beneath them. “Fascinating,” he whispered. “It looks like it goes down for miles, and yet it’s barely higher than my ankle.”
    She smiled. “I found it not long after my birth, when I was but a wee fairy child.” Blushing at the hint of the accent that always crept out when she was nervous, she wrung her hands together.
    “It’s beautiful. You’re beautiful, Calanthe. I want you to know that. To truly understand that you are, you mean…”
    Deep in her heart, she had the sense that tonight, for whatever reason, would be all they had. It was in the way he touched her, the quiet yearning and desperation imprinted in his dark brown eyes. But she also felt his truth.
    She’d always been good at that. Even though she was young—she was still a baby by fairy standards—he saw her as a woman and it made her want him all the more.
    “Ssh.” She pressed her finger to his lips. “Let there be no sadness and no expectations this night. We are together, and that is all that matters.”
    And though this place was only lit by the glow of crystal, she had no problem making out his expression. The sadness that tinged his features and tightened his lips.
    “Did you know this cave has a name?” she asked.
    “No.”
    “It does. It’s known as the Cave of Song.” She looked up, at the tiny hole that dug from the ceiling up through the top of the cave. “It’s because of that hole, the way sound plays through it. If you sing, it sings back.”
    “Can you make it sing for me?” he asked.
    Unlike June, Calanthe had never really considered herself much of a singer. But the beauty of the cave, was that it didn’t take much. Just a single note. Forming her lips into a tiny “o” she hummed a melody.
    The almost quiet whisper traveled from her lips, toward the hole and then it was more than a thread of sound. The melody bounced back to them—vibrant and rich, full of resonance and made her skin tingle as her ear canals danced.
    His eyes widened as the sound continued to morph and grow. It became a haunting, lyrical wind song, wrapping itself around her head and making her dizzy with joy.
    “Do you like it?” she asked.
    “I’ve never heard anything so beautiful,” he laughed. “Does it ever stop?”
    “Thank you, cave, that was lovely,” she clipped her head and suddenly all the sound stopped. The silence was deafening.
    “I’ve got magic too,” he said, “do you want to see it?”
    Tonight Jericho looked so youthful. So different than the man she’d met a month ago. He was bursting with life, with verve and she found his energy infectious and contagious. “Yes, of course!” She