Forty-Six - Felix
In the end, I had to return home by myself. Isa needed more time to prepare herself for a permanent shift, and I couldn’t stay in Leort after one more night. I had argued that she could return with me, then deal with the rest later, but she insisted that it was better this way. If she took a day or two up front, she wouldn’t have to travel back into town again. Not until she wanted to.
Hopefully, since I had issued Sofia—and Leo, whom I met over supper—an invitation to visit at any time, Isa wouldn’t want to go back to Leort much at all. If her trips were infrequent, I could always go with her.
When I felt her cross the boundary, I didn’t bother to pretend I had any patience. I met her halfway down the hill and she threw herself into my arms. A flick of my wrist sent her bags into the castle. She startled when a stable hand came to take the mare I had sent into town for her.
She laughed. “I’m not used to seeing people here.”
“There aren’t as many as before, but still enough that I am constantly surprised, too.”
We walked hand in hand into the castle, and I led her upstairs.
“Am I in the same room as before, or have my quarters been shifted to upstairs with the staff?” she asked, eyes glittering with amusement.
“Neither. Because I want no one to doubt my ultimate intentions toward you, I’ve assigned you the northeast tower suite.” I watched her struggle for words, then added. “Of course, in practice, I’d prefer if you shared my rooms.”
“Felix?” She pursed her lips together. “Do the tower suites traditionally have names associated with them?”
“Indeed, they do. The northwest tower, naturally, is the Duke’s Tower.”
“And the northeast?”
“The Duchess’s.”
She swallowed.
I grinned. “There’s no rush. I simply wanted to make sure we understood each other. I’d hate for you to overlook something obvious.”
“I don’t think even I could miss a proposal. If you do it right.”
“I have every intention of doing it right. But I didn’t want you to wonder if one was coming. Once I am certain your answer won’t be that it is too soon, that is.”
Isa’s expression told me I had made the right decision. She wanted the reassurance of my intentions, but not the awkwardness of a proposal she would reject at this point. The challenge would be determining how long I needed to wait. I knew what I wanted, and that wouldn’t change even if I had to wait years.
I hoped she didn’t make me wait years.
Time to shift the tone of the conversation. I wrapped my hand around the doorknob leading to my—our—suite. “I did a little redecorating in anticipation of your arrival. Hopefully, you’ll like it.”
I pushed opened the door, then stepped aside, letting Isa walk in first. She took two steps in, then spun around to face me. “No.”
I followed her into the sitting room and closed the door. “You said the clocks grew on you.”
“There are eight clocks in here, Felix. No one wants eight clocks in a single room.”
“Nine,” I corrected with a smirk.
She spun back around. Counting the clocks once more, she shook her head. Then she pointed at the mahogany pendulum clock on the wall. “That one can stay. The rest need to disappear, or I’m leaving.”
I sent the extra clocks into a storage room, still smiling. “I was only trying to give you reasons to appreciate moving out to Rose Castle.”
She slid her hands into my hair and pulled me down for a kiss. “I have the only reason I need.” She stepped back, and her eyes sparkled. “A job.”
I tugged her back against me. “A job which doesn’t start until tomorrow. I’ll have to do something else to keep you satisfied tonight.”
She hummed, and my clothes were suddenly in a pile on the floor. “I have a few ideas.”
A quick tug on the node’s power and her clothes joined mine. I ran my hands down her back to cup her ass. “I love the way your mind works.”
She pressed a kiss to my chest, right over my heart. When she spoke, it was so quiet, I wasn’t sure she meant for me to hear. “I missed you.”
Hearing her say those words filled me with warmth. I kissed her, my desire softening from a fierce ache to an overwhelming need to hold Isa close. She wasn’t the type to admit any vulnerabilities, and she’d see the admission as just that.
I didn’t hesitate to share my own thoughts about the last few days. “I missed you, too. Every minute apart from you is torture. I love you, Isabel Cardh.”
“I love you, Felix Truthholder.”