Moon's Flower (Kingdom, #6)

Nibbling onto the corner of her lip, Danika nodded. “Aye, he is free to enjoy his once a month hiatus. But as I’ve said, the price of our love was that he would forever remain The Man in the Moon, he cannot be freed of its power and I, unfortunately, am not free of my curse.”


“Then he might come for you!” The tiger lily bounced on her toes, her excitement so palpable that the flowers danced. In another year the little fairy would be extremely impressive, perhaps Danika could see about training her in the art of being a godmother soon.

In the end helping others to know love hadn’t been so bad at all. Part of the curse, the part she’d not spoken of, was not only that Calanthe would turn into Danika a matronly grandmother of a fairy, but that she was also cursed to become a godmother. A fate, she’d considered at the time, to be so much worse than death. To have to foster and build love for others while her heart was a shattered wreck had been cruel beyond imagining. Add to that, that Galeta thought it would be pure fun to make Danika charged with tasks of finding mates for the villains of their world. It’d seemed an impossible fate at the time, but over the decades she’d not only grown to enjoy her work, she loved her work, and Galeta’s curse had morphed from punishment, to pleasure. In some ways, the work had made Danika grow up and become a better fairy. Not that she would ever thank Galeta for what she’d done, the fairy hadn’t had her best interests at heart that was for sure.

“I hope he doesn’t,” Danika whispered it softly. “Look at me. I look nothing like the woman he fell in love with.”

Esmerelda glided forward then and grabbed hold of both of Danika’s hands. “I know that if Miriam could have been here now, she would tell you as I am, that you look lovely, Danika. Changed form or not. But you know you do not have to retain this form. You’ve shown your true face in the past.”

Brows dipping, Danika shook her head. “Aye, but I could never sustain the form long. And call me shallow if you must, but I could not stand the thought of him touching this old female flesh. Not when he’ll look just the same and as devastatingly handsome as before.”

“Did you not know, Calanthe, that tonight is a night of magic?” The man’s voice cutting suddenly through the night made Danika’s heart squeeze painfully.

She was afraid to move, to blink, or even to take in a breath, for fear that if she did what she thought she heard would vanish.

And then she was forcefully reminded of her fat rolls, the blond hair that appeared more gray nowadays, the wrinkled and lined skin. This body was not the one he’d fallen in love with.

Unlike in the story where Jericho had stayed and touched the petals of Calanthe all the night long, the truth was, he’d been banished before Galeta had cursed Danika to this form. He’d not seen her as she was now and the very thought of it made her break out in a sweat.

Her lips parted as she stood very, very still.

“Will you not turn to look at me?” He said in that shivery drawl of his that had never failed to make her knees turn weak.

Eyes darting to the three women still in front of her, Danika pleaded silently for their help. But Esmerelda merely planted a quick kiss on her brow, and this time when Genevieve took the tiger lily away, she knew they’d really returned back to the glen.

Which meant it was just her and her beautiful Jericho.

Alone.

In the woods.

So very, very alone…

She gulped.

The brush of wind against her back was her only warning, before a set of hands clamped down onto her shoulders. Strong, male hands. Glancing at them from the corners of her eyes, she noticed how firm they were. How smooth his skin still was.

“Jer…icho,” she breathed, stomach twisting and knotting with nerves.

“Won’t you look at me?”

A tear of shame leaked from her eye. “I… I can’t.”

He sighed and then before she knew it, she was being twirled and his eyes were the rich brown of molten chocolate, and they were greedily licking at her face. Devouring her, and she couldn’t understand why, couldn’t believe that he wasn’t disgusted by this old, withered frame Galeta had cursed her with.

His touched was tender as he trailed his thumb along the curve of her jaw. “I am so grateful The Blue did not curse you to remain a flower, because then I could never have watched what you have become. The love, our love, that you helped bring to others.”

Swallowing was impossibly difficult, deciding she either had to cry and let it go, or try to continue swallowing her emotions but making her face get all twisty and ugly in the process, she cried. Gave herself over to her emotions and threw her arms around his neck.

“How can you still love me? I am old, and so ugly. I could be your great-aunt.”