Chapter 94: Bless Him

DESI

“He woke,” I finally mumbled into my cup. Shame washed over me and I set the mug down on the coffee table. I didn’t deserve to be warm.

Cornelius, perceptive beyond his humanity, picked up my mug and pressed it into my hand, placing my fingers around the ceramic surface. “We know. Now stop beating yourself up.” When I glanced up at him, startled, his kind eyes regarded me. “You may have cried out a time or two in your sleep.” His smile took on a different flavor, one of great tenderness that tugged painfully on my heart. Tears pricked the back of my eyes but I blinked them away. He tucked my unruly hair behind my ear. “He talked in his sleep, too.”

I flinched, but Cornelius kept his hand on me, grounding me, calming me.

“He said he loved you.”

He loves me.