Chapter Twenty-Nine
‘There is no need to answer now,’ Robbie said, shifting away from me and reaching into my fridge for a cold can of Dr Pepper. ‘It is late, and you have been through much. A sugary drink will be good for you, and then we can go to sleep.’
He cracked the can open and handed it to me. I took it numbly, my mind whirling. The threat to his men to keep this quiet told me there was more to this than Robbie was letting on.
In this realm, there was always more going on. The Other realm took ‘appearances can be deceptive’ to a whole new level.
As I watched Robbie move around my space like he belonged, I pictured our future lives together.
It’s not like I hadn’t already considered it.
Somehow, in the course of a few months, I’d fallen headlong in love with the man.
Thoughts of him popped up at the most inconvenient of times.
And when we were together, there was a pull between us like we were nothing more than two attracting magnets.
I loved him.
I hadn’t said the words to myself, too afraid to label the feeling bursting from my heart, but I couldn’t deny it, not when I needed to make a huge decision.
I loved him, and if I turned down the title, turned him down, it would damage things between us. I could see it in the tension in his shoulders.
We didn’t know everything about each other, far from it, yet what I knew I loved. And I was certain I knew the fundamentals of who he was.
He was watching me as I sipped from the can. He was still being so damned careful, eyes wary.
‘Sit down, Robbie,’ I snapped.
He sat.
‘I go,’ Loki said awkwardly. ‘I wash wings. Bye.’ He flew to the open window and hopped out and away.
I reached out to Loki through our bond. Don’t go far. Don’t forget what Amber said about your wings needing rest.
I remember, Pigdog, he said, but his little voice was warm and full of love. Enjoy this moment. He gently disengaged our minds and left me to one sexy ogre.
I took a sip of the fizzy drink, grateful for the spicy sweetness. A yawn cracked my jaw. It was late. It would be entirely too easy to put this off to another day, but I could see anxiety in Robbie, unlike anything I’d seen from him before.
‘Tell me the whole of it,’ I said. ‘Then I can make an informed decision.’ I sipped at the can again, grateful for the caffeine in its depths that was helping my brain persevere after a long, tough day.
Robbie licked his lips and I couldn’t help but follow the path of his tongue. ‘The title is reserved for the wife of the High King. It is like being called consort or similar. It would give you standing just below mine within the ogres. Permanently.’
‘There are some who would not like that,’ I noted mildly.
‘Indeed. You would face challenges of your own. Possibly to the death.’ Just saying those words made his jaw tight and his eyes stormy. His fists opened and closed as if he wished he could fight all of the imaginary challengers then and there.
‘If you and I were to mate at a later date, would I automatically be granted that title?’ I asked.
‘No, it’s a one-time offer. You accept it now, or you turn it down and it is never extended again.
I could kill Maktel for putting us in this position,’ he hissed, rubbing his forehead.
‘Without the title, you would always be an outsider, part of the den but with no place. But with this title, you would belong. It would make you … it would be as if you were adopted into the den. No matter what happened to me, even if I were killed, you would always remain accepted as an ogre for the rest of your life.’
‘If you’re killed,’ I said tightly, trying not to rush back to the image of him in chains as I’d seen Maktel and Hanlon, ‘then I’d be following suit shortly thereafter, honorary ogre or no.’
‘Don’t say that,’ he whispered. ‘I can’t bear it.’
‘It’s the truth. I’d avenge you in a blaze of glory.’ I shrugged. It would be foolish, yet I was certain that was exactly what I would do. In the heat of the moment, I’d kill anyone who had hurt him to the best of my ability. To my last breath.
He closed his eyes and let out a soft breath. ‘Ah Kaerasta.’
‘What does that word mean?’ I had asked before, but he had sidestepped the question.
‘It means … sweetheart. Beloved.’
I smiled. ‘That’s nice.’ I tried to cast my mind back to remember when he first uttered that word at me, but I drew a blank. A while, certainly. He’d come to me ready for a mate, half in love with the idea of me, and I truly hoped he’d fallen the rest of the way now that he knew me.
I took a deep breath and blurted, ‘Iloveyou.’
It came out in one long word instead of three distinct ones, but the joy that instantly washed over his whole being was worth the momentary embarrassment.
He took my can of Dr P and set it down, and then he all but lunged for me.
His hands tangled in my hair as he pulled me as close as humanly possible.
He pressed his lips to mine, and as I gasped at his fervour, his tongue swept in.
He didn’t kiss me so much as claim me, swallowing my startled sound with a groan that rumbled straight through my bones.
His hands slid to cradle my jaw, thumbs brushing my cheeks as though memorising the shape of the moment.
‘Say it again,’ he murmured against my lips, breath warm, voice barely holding itself together.
Heat flooded my face. ‘No,’ I whispered, not sure I could get the words out a second time without combusting. And it was definitely his turn to say those three little words. Or one big word, in my case.
He huffed a laugh that was mostly disbelief and entirely adoration. ‘Stacy Wise,’ he growled, tugging me closer until my toes lifted off the floor for a heartbeat. ‘You think I’m letting you get away with saying that once? I need it a million times over.’
I suspected he did. He who’d been so starved of family and love. Goddamn it, I’d give him everything. ‘Iloveyou,’ I blurted again and he beamed.
Still, he didn’t repeat it back to me, and I tried to bury my face in his shoulder, but he caught my chin gently, forcing my gaze up to his. His silver eyes were molten. Reverent. Hungry. A little undone. I didn’t think I’d ever seen a seven-foot-tall ogre look so close to falling apart.
‘I love you,’ he said to me, voice whisper-quiet. Sure, he managed to say it in three words. Gods, but he had said it. To me. He loved me.
Tears welled in my eyes from happiness and relief that he felt the same as I did.
‘I died half a dozen times when I got the call that you’d been taken,’ Robbie admitted. ‘When Loki said he couldn’t feel you … I was terrified. More scared than I’ve ever been in my whole life. And I’ve been through some shit.’
I cupped his face and stroked his cheek with my thumb. ‘I’m sorry you had to go through that.’
‘I left the den,’ he admitted, ‘without even looking to see if the flames were banked. Without even knowing where I was going, just knowing I had to move. To find you. I knew then that I can’t ever be without you, Stacy. This is it for me. You are it.’
Robbie closed his eyes as though the confession was too much to face. When he opened them again, I could see the world inside them had shifted in a way that made my breath stutter.
‘Kaerasta,’ he repeated, voice thick. ‘My beloved.’
He drew in a shaky breath, and then he slid off the sofa and sank to one knee before me.
My stomach swooped.
He looked at me with mercury eyes I saw in my dreams. ‘I know this is fast. I know it’s a lot.
But I want that title for you. The honour, protection and inclusion it will bring.
I don’t want you to live life on my periphery, but in the heart and centre.
You are fierce. You are strong. You are everything I could have ever wanted, and so, so much more.Hersmóeir.
It is right. It feels right. You feel right. Stacy, will you marry me? Please?’
The answer bubbled out of me without conscious thought, because if I thought, the answer would be different. ‘Yes,’ I said illogically with all of my heart. ‘Yes.’
Tears filled his eyes. ‘Takk fyrir,’ he said, voice wobbling. ‘For seeing me. For choosing me.’
Emotion hit my chest like a punch. Wasn’t that what any of us ever wanted? To be seen, accepted, and loved as we were?
I sank to my knees and cupped his face. For a moment we simply breathed together, noses brushing, foreheads touching.
‘Stacy,’ he breathed. ‘My kaerlíka. My heart.’
I pressed my lips to his in a gentle kiss, my own eyes hot, and my heart so damned full it felt like it might burst. Talk about a day of two halves, from kidnapping to proposal. He’d really turned my day around.
‘Tell Maktel and Hanlon I accept the title,’ I said fiercely. ‘I’m keeping you now. Forever. No take-backsies.’
His grin was wicked and soft all at once as he lifted me off my feet with ease. ‘You’d have to fight to get rid of me.’
‘That’s one fight I’ll pass on, love,’ I said, looping my arms around his neck. ‘Any other and I’ll be ready.’
A shudder passed through him at the term of endearment, and he kissed me with urgency.
‘Sweetheart,’ he purred, carrying me toward the bedroom with determined purpose, ‘let’s see how ready you are.’
Well now, this day really had turned around.