Moon's Flower (Kingdom, #6)

Her sentiments exactly. “Jericho, you are right. I do not like the charge in the air, the feeling that is prickling at me. Something is not right. What are you doing here?”


Forcing herself to talk and think rationally was so far from what Calanthe wanted to do. But ever since hearing of June with The Blue and now Jericho so openly engaging her, she didn’t like the strange feeling twisting through her inside. Whispering that something was amiss, something so obvious she should sense it. Should automatically know it.

She looked up at the sky.

“There are no crows following me tonight. She knows, Calanthe.”

Her nostrils flared. “Who knows?”

“Siria. She knows and she’s said it’s alright.”

Taking a hesitant step back, Calanthe held up her hands. “You told her?”

“No, no, of course I didn’t. Well,” he grimaced, “I had every intention of doing so eventually. But not so soon, not right away. She said that two fairies visited her and told her of us.”

Her stomach threatened to revolt. “Oh gods,” she squeezed her eyes shut, pinching her brow, “was it June and Galeta?”

Was that why June was missing? Had her friend told? Before Jericho even nodded, hot tears gathered in the corners of her eyes.

“Yes. I assume it was,” he said softly. “What does this mean for us?”

The tears slipped then, because all the pieces were beginning to come together. “It means I am ruined.”

Bringing his palm to her cheek, he rested her body against his firm flesh so as to hug her. “That is why I came, we can fight this. We should fight this. There is no shame in love, Calanthe. Surely when your council sees that they will understand.”

“No,” she pulled away from him, “they will not. Jericho… I—”

“You are absolutely right,” another voice piped up then.

With a startled cry, Calanthe twirled about. But it was neither Galeta nor June staring back at them.

It was Miriam the Delighted. The seer of the glen and the fairy who’d told Calanthe about the seed in the first place. Her strange swirling lavender eyes chilled her to the marrow.

“Miriam, what are you doing here?” Calanthe cried, looking all around for more fairies to come crawling out of the woodworks.

Miriam tucked her speckled moth’s wings behind her back as she landed upon the head of a polka dotted toadstool. “You must understand that what is about to take place has been foreseen.”

“What does that mean?” Jericho growled and Miriam cut him off with a swish of her wrist.

“Listen to me and listen well, I set the game board, I know all its players. This is not the end, have faith and take heart for there is powerful magic at work.”

Miriam was a lovely creature, as were all fairies, but there was also something very creepy about her too. Something that made Calanthe wish to draw into herself. The pale skinned, ebony haired fairy’s eyes were beginning to bleed through with pure white. The spider silk dress clinging to her body began to glow as a rushing wind suddenly shot through the leaves, rustling branches and shaking ancient trees.

“Kiss him now,” Miriam said in a voice that’d grown ten times deeper.

“What?”

“Now!” The seers word boomed as a bolt of lightening crashed to the earth between them.

“Calanthe?” Jericho's eye were wide, mirroring her own.

Calling her magic, Calanthe jumped out of his hands and shifted to her human form. She didn’t have time to tuck in her wings or adjust her dress. Because there was magic in the air and to ignore Miriam was not an option.

Grabbing Jericho by the neck, she pulled him in for a kiss.

The moment their lips touched the air grew charged, not only with magic, but with energy so powerful it rippled and buzzed along their skin.

His hands were greedy as he curved them around the base of her spine, caressing the edges of her sensitive wings. Sighing into the kiss, molding her body as tight to his as humanly possible, Jericho took that opportunity to wrap his tongue around hers.

Sparks danced around them, the sky shook, the land rumbled. The world was alive and fire danced through her veins. Jericho’s moonglow spilled into her and she felt something light and airy begin to rip away from her very soul.

She knew immediately what it was and could not believe that it was actually happening to her. To them.

He loved her. He truly loved her. In all her years she’d heard of true love’s kiss, of the irrevocable mating of souls when a destined pair collided.

Shoving her hands against his chest, she pushed him against the tree trunk because she knew without knowing that they were running out of time and she wanted to take as much of him into her soul as possible.

Calanthe wanted all of him. And Jericho was just as greedy. His hand that’d been caressing her wing tip was now moving up her thigh, shoving the rose petals aside and his fingers… his gloriously skilled fingers had found her hidden treasure.