The other patrons of the cafe didn't even bother looking up from their books and coffees while the two brothers wrestled playfully on the floor. I guessed that it probably wasn't the strangest thing that they'd seen in the underworld.
Colt finally popped up from the floor and straightened his shirt.
"Come, sit! I feel like it's been forever." Colt's smile was inviting.
"Actually, we really have to–" I started to ease him out of the idea, but Finn shut me down.
"We'd love to."
I looked at him out of the corner of my eye.
Since when did he start to like tea and reading?
I shrugged, figuring that we had a few minutes to spare. The world was going to shit anyway, what were a few extra minutes?
Colt stole a third chair from a nearby table and dragged it to his. Finn and I both took a seat while Colt disappeared to the counter and returned with two drinks.
"Tea for you Scar, and coffee for you Finn." There was excitement in his voice.
"How long has it been?" The question blurted from his mouth before we even had time to finish a sip of our drink. "I feel like it's been forever." He sighed longingly.
Finn and I exchanged glances.
"It's been four days." I said with a brow raised.
Colt's mouth hung open.
"It's been almost four years here."
I half gasped mid drink, sending some of my tea down the wrong pipe. I choked on my drink, my lungs erupting in a fit of coughing.
"I'm sorry, what?" My eyes bulged from my skull.
Colt nodded. "It's been a few days since I first bumped into you here. I was starting to get afraid that you weren't going to come back."
The look on his face broke my heart into a million tiny pieces.
"It was only a few hours ago."
"Time works differently here I guess." His voice quivered. "I thought it was going to be a lifetime before I ever saw any of you again, if that." He reached across the table and placed his hand over mine.
The thought of him being stuck in this city for four years with no one almost broke me. The thought of him wondering when we were going to join him stung even more, though.
The look in his eyes reminded me of a lost puppy, big and round.
I clenched my teeth.
"We're here now. And I'm not leaving without you. That's a promise."
Colt smiled brightly and blinked back tears.
I couldn't imagine having a connection like he had with Finn, a twin connection, only to have it ripped away and live for years without it. It made the sting of what had happened hurt even worse than it had when we first lost him, and it hurt a hell of a lot then.
"But first, we need your help." Finn added, reminding me of why we'd gone there in the first place.
"Right. Are you down for saving the world from destruction? For old time’s sake?"
Colt jumped up before I could even finish my sentence.
"Oh, thank god. I've already read every book in this shop three times over. I thought I was going to go mad without a little adventure."
A smile graced my lips. I loved that no matter what the challenge was, Colt was ready to follow me into the flames.
I LEAD FINN AND COLT back into the castle, slipping inside. I didn't quite understand the politics of the underworld, but I guessed that they probably weren't ready for their lost princess to return. Not until I'd retrieved my parents and stopped the spell that the governors cast.
I wasn't ready to emerge from the shadows just yet. I preferred to tackle one problem at a time.
"Let me get this straight. Your real father is actually the King? The one who'd been missing for hundreds of years?"
"That would be the one." I closed the door behind us tightly and refastened the lock.
"And your mother is a supernatural hunter who somehow trapped one of the most powerful demons in this realm in her head?"
"Right again."
"And now we have to go into her head to get them both out before it's too late and the entire surface world burns to a crisp?"
I took a step toward Colt and brushed my hand against the warm skin of his cheek. I brought my lips to his, melting into the kiss. His lips were as soft as always.
"You were always so smart. " I smiled.
A shocked look spread across his face, and the reality of what I'd done hit me.
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry." My cheeks burned red. "It's been four years. Have you moved on? It was wrong of me to just go in like that. It's okay if you have. I wouldn't blame–"
Colt grabbed me by the waist and pulled me in, pressing his lips against mine. His hands squeezed my hips tightly, and his body pressed against mine.
"How could I move on from someone as amazing as Scarlett the Great?" He said when he pulled away. "Destroyer of governors and savior of men." He said the line so dramatically, like he'd read it from a book.
His eyes darted from my lips, to my eyes, back to my lips.
"I'm just going to give you guys a second." Finn laughed awkwardly before disappearing back up the staircase and down the hallway leaving Colt and I in silence.
We stood in the large, open, entryway, but I'd never felt closer to him in my life. I didn't care where we were, or if we had privacy anymore. I didn't even care that it had only been a matter of days for me. For him it had been years.
It had been four years since Colt had felt my touch against his skin. Four years since I was able to make him feel the bliss of my love. Four years since he'd felt the connection that we'd had.
And I wasn't about to let another minute pass.
I grabbed the back of his head and tangled my fingers in his soft golden locks before pulling his face back to mine and engulfing myself in a long passionate kiss.
Inside I felt the ache of needing him. The ache of loneliness that only his body could fill. The itch that only he could scratch, and I was about to have him scratch it, and scratch it, and scratch it again.
Our lips brushed against one another in the soft embrace of the kiss, and I inhaled his sweet scent. His hands traveled down, and he grasped my ass firmly. My tongue slid between my lips and danced with his, flicking back and forth.
"God, I missed this so much." I said underneath my breath when I came up for air.
"I've missed it more." Colt looked at me with a hunger in his eyes that was stronger than any that I'd seen before.
He grabbed me by the ass and hoisted me in the air. I wrapped my arms around the back of his neck and locked my ankles behind him latching on as we kissed. He stumbled to the nearest door and shoved it open.
I pulled away just long enough to realize that it led to a large garage with a bunch of vintage, probably expensive, cars.
Colt made his way to the nearest car and set me down on the hood. I turned my attention back to his lips, kissing him again.
His hands roamed every part of my body, like he couldn't get enough of the feel of me. Like he wanted to make sure I was real.
I felt his hand slip underneath my shirt and his fingertips graze across my bare skin, sending a shiver deep inside me. The energy was inside him too, the energy that my demon was desperately hungry for, and she didn't have any patience.
Colt laid a kiss behind my ear, his warm breath rolling over my skin, before he turned to whisper in my ear.