Warped (Maurissa Guibord)

chair. "It was an accident. But just consider the possibility that it wasn't . That there is a reason you were able to release me." He angled his head to look at her.
    "Okay," Tessa whispered helplessly. "Give me a reason." Will pulled her close and kissed her.

Chapter 39

Sweet. The taste of honey from Will's mouth. The smell of fire and flowers. The feel of his hands holding her. Touching her. Tessa lost herself in the kiss. Everything she had, everything she was, she offered to Will. Nothing mattered but tonight, she told herself. The fierce need to be close to him, to love him, drove everything else out of her head. Her purpose in life was to kiss Will de Chaucy. It was a calling, she decided.
    They slipped to the floor, pulling down fur pelts and cushions to make a soft, if haphazard, bed against the cold stone. The warmth of the fire seemed nothing to Tessa compared to the heat of her own skin. Somehow, the bodice strings of her gown were loose. She threw her head back as Will traced kisses down her throat and eased the velvet from her shoulders.
    She loved him. As impossible as it was, she loved Will de Chaucy, and at that moment, she could believe in anything. She would believe in anything. Karma, destiny, fate or invisible leprechauns.
    She loved him. She had to tell him everything.
    Tessa drew back from Will's arms. "Wait. Please. I have to tell you something more," she said, and brushed back her tousled hair. "You were right. It was me. I was the girl who trapped you."
    "I don't understand," Will said, his voice ragged. He pulled her closer, taking her hand in his own and putting her palm to his chest.
    "It was another life, but it was me," Tessa said slowly. "And lately I've been remembering what happened. And Gray Lily says if I--"
    Will's face was flushed, and Tessa could feel the wild beat of his heart in her hand. But he went very still and his gaze slid away from hers. "If you what?" he asked in a low voice.
    "If I--" Tessa's mouth had suddenly gone dry. "If I bring you to her, help to capture you as the unicorn, she'll give me my life back." She raised her eyes to his. "And my father's life."
    Will let go of her and stood. "Why did you not tell me this before?" he said.
    Tessa shook her head. "I don't know. I was confused. I didn't think it mattered, because I would never do that, Will." She gathered the gown over her bare shoulders. She was suddenly cold. She turned away from Will, stepping closer to the fire, which had burned down; the coals glowed a dull and angry red.
    Will shot out a hand and gripped her arm. "So. What is it you plan to do now?" he asked.
    "What do you mean?"
    "You have to trap the unicorn to save your father. That's why you came here." He placed himself directly in front of her, raised his hands briefly and let them drop. She wasn't sure if it was a gesture of challenge or defeat.
    "No. You don't understand," Tessa said faintly. "I don't know what to do. I just wanted to find you."
    They stood facing each other as the silence grew. Will looked at her as if she were a stranger. As if there were worlds between them. Just as there always had been, Tessa thought.
    "You wanted to find me," he repeated to himself. "And so of course, you have. I am a complete fool," he went on, shaking his head. "It was as I thought. You are here only to trap me once more."
    Will's lips curled in a faint, mocking smile. His eyes swept over her and down to the rumpled furs where they had been lying only moments before. "You are still the virgin in the wood. Virtue dangled as bait."
    Tessa stared at him. "What?"
    "No more lies, Tessa!" he shouted. He gave a suspicious glance around the darkened room. "Where is she? Where is Gray Lily?"
    Tessa shook her head. How could he believe that? When he kissed her, when he spoke to her, his lips grazing her ear, she could swear that he loved her. In fact, they had just been very close to making--
    The thought struck her like a freight train. She felt the world twist away.
    She put a hand to her throat. "You never trusted me," she whispered, barely breathing the words. "You told me before that I was the one who trapped you. You even used the same words. The virgin in the wood."
    "Yes," he said, his eyes unreadable.
    She stared at him, replaying in her head every word, every glance, every kiss. "You never trusted me," she repeated. "Not even after ..." Not even after I fell in love with you , she said to herself. She thought of all the times when he had distanced