Chapter 51 - Genevieve
Genevieve
After an exhausted Mari is tucked into her room, I guide Kieran through my room and outside into the evening air. It’s cool, with a delicate breeze that feels all the more worth savoring, knowing Kieran is free and we have a life ahead of us to share.
We walk through the gardens, arm in arm, saying so little, and yet the contentment I feel is something I want to enjoy for the rest of my days.
There’s a lightness between us, and though there’s much to be decided, I don’t want to step away from his side.
We need time alone to let our new reality sink in.
“Do you believe your mother will abdicate the throne? Shouldn’t you be there for the conversations?”
I cringe, knowing I’ve been avoiding what’s coming next, then shake my head. “If a monarch is being forced to abdicate, it shouldn’t come from the crown princess. It should be up to the people of Naseria. It’s best that I remain out of the conversation until the decision is made.”
Kieran raises an eyebrow. “Well, then. Can I bring you to your glasshouse? It’s been days, I presume, since you’ve entered it.”
“I can’t think of anything better than to go to my favorite place with my favorite person.”
We walk hand in hand, skin brushing skin, across the gardens, making our way toward the glasshouse.
Kieran cracks open the door, and I’m brought back to that moment weeks ago when he knew exactly where to find me.
It’s always been my private oasis, and while his presence here once felt like an intrusion, I now welcome him into my sanctum.
“How well do you remember your plants, Kieran Greenbluff?”
He gives a light chuckle, his fingers gliding across a leaf. “More than you’d believe.” With enthusiasm, he starts listing the names of the different plants, from common tropicals to rare breeds. When he reaches the Begonia Gen, his face tightens into a frown.
“What’s on your mind?” I ask.
“My father’s the one who helped me cultivate this plant for you. His imprint is on so many things here, and yet he was tossed aside in the end. There was no reason to send him away with me. None. I always wondered why that letter insisted we both leave. Now I know.”
I know what he means too. The real reason his father left with him. “She knew he wouldn’t survive, didn’t she? My mother must have known enough about the conditions to understand it was a death sentence for an older man. But if he stayed here, you would have come back—and she couldn’t have that.”
Kieran lets out a harsh sigh, turning toward me. “I blamed you. I blamed you for so long, filled myself with such hatred, and it was all for nothing. All that wasted energy hating you, and now I don’t think I even have it in me to pass that hatred on to your mother. She doesn’t even deserve it.”
I bring my hands to his strong body, kneading the tight cords of muscle in his arms and shoulders, feeling the tension release beneath my touch.
“It’s not going to be easy to move on. None of what happened to you or your father was fair, but it’s over now.
” “It will always hurt,” he says, a sorrow lingering in his eyes that’s been there since his return.
I can’t take that pain away, nor should I.
“It always will,” I whisper, working my fingers into the tightness along his neck. “But now we get to rebuild our lives into something beautiful. I want to take care of you, Kieran. Just like I always wanted when we were children.”
He gives me a sad smile. “You already have. You saved me today, Gen. Saved me from your mother’s final plan for me.”
“But now I plan to make you mine.” I take his hands in mine, look into his green eyes, and say the words I’ve wanted to say for days. “I love you, Kieran Greenbluff. Will you be my husband? My king consort?”
Kieran looks at me in surprise, lifting one hand to my cheek. “You want me as your husband?”
“Yes, of course. I should have asked you nine years ago. Please forgive me.”
He leans down, bringing his lips to mine in a sweet, savoring kiss, like we have all the time in the world. “I would be honored to be your husband, Genevieve Ashcroft.”
I grin against his lips, and he lets out a soft, joyful sound. “I hoped you would say yes. As it happens, I still have a date in two days’ time and a dress to wear.”
His strong body anchors against me, filling me with the sense of him—his spicy scent and clean-shaven skin. “We’ve lost enough time. I’d have it no other way.”
“Then it’s a date,” I murmur, leaning deeper into him, the tips of my breasts peaking from the nearness of his heated skin.
He’s the only man who can nullify my curse, who’s always made me feel loved, appreciated, and cared for.
I loved him as deeply as a young woman knew how, mourned him like I’d lost a piece of my own heart, and now I can spend the rest of my days loving him with all the fervor and gratitude I have to offer.
“It’s a date,” he agrees, pulling me closer. I wrap my arm around him, bumping a plant on the shelf and sending it teetering, but Kieran’s quick reflexes catch it before it can crash to the stone floor.
“Will I be Kieran Ashcroft then? Morris Ashcroft?”
I look at him thoughtfully, knowing what taking the Ashcroft name must mean to him. “You’d go by Ashcroft? After everything my family has put you through? You don’t have to do that. I’ll call you whatever you’d like.”
He peppers kisses along my skin, and the heat of him is so consuming, so overwhelming, it feels as if my skin will catch fire.
“Princess, if I’m yours, I want your name branded on my soul.
The title I care nothing for. But your name—I want it to be mine.
My own means so little to me now, anyway, after all the changes. ”
He leans down, sucking gently at my throat, my neck, and lower to my chest. My breath catches, deepening into a gasp as I say, “I could never adjust to calling you Morris. King Kieran Ashcroft it is, then.”
He rumbles against my skin. “Yes, despite my best efforts, you’ve done a terrible job of calling me Morris—or Mr. Blackwell.”
I let out a laugh, knowing how utterly I’ve failed at hiding his true identity. “You’ve always been Kieran. I couldn’t change that if I wanted.”
There isn’t the same desperation between us as before.
Kieran huffs a soft laugh against my hair before gingerly undoing my coiffure, loose tangles of waves falling across my shoulders and down my back.
“Princess, I’ve always wanted to have you in your glasshouse.
Now that I’m to be your king, will you give me that piece of you? ”
His hands settle at my hips, waiting for me to grant permission to take me in my most guarded place. “Yes. I’ve dreamed of making love to you here since before I should have been thinking such things.”
The moan against my skin makes me burn with desire as his hands travel to the rows of buttons down my spine. “You’re like a gift, Gen. A gift only for me to enjoy.”
“I’m forever your gift now, Kieran,” I whisper as I reach for his cravat, untying the binding at his throat just as he finishes the long row of buttons on my gown.
He takes his time undressing my many layers, and in between I do the same, until we’re bared to each other, nothing but the steam to shield us from the world outside.
But in here, in my safe haven, it feels as though the world no longer matters—like the two of us could sustain ourselves on slow, deliberate lovemaking and let everything else slip from memory.
Kieran lifts me onto the shelf, and I part my thighs for him. He fills the space between us with his firm, rigid body before he begins to slowly, reverently press kisses across my skin, tilting me back until I’m flat on my spine and splayed open before him.
“I thought I lost you again, Kieran. I couldn’t—” He hushes me with his mouth, a moan replacing the words left unspoken. There’s no space here for the uncertainty we nearly faced today. For how close I was to losing him once again, and I understand why he doesn’t want me to remind him of that fear.
It will take a long time for us to forgive ourselves for the ways we’ve hurt each other, for how we almost let it happen again.
But for now, we can allow ourselves the elation of knowing we’ve made it—that despite all the years apart, all the childhood doubts that we belonged together, we are once again wrapped in each other’s embrace.
This time I swear I will never let him go.
“You’re mine, Gen. You’ll be mine forever. I won’t let anyone take you from me,” he murmurs against my thigh, his tongue tracing a trail upward. I feel myself rocking closer, urging him to put his lips on my center, but he ignores my growing urgency.
“Yes, love, I’m yours, and you’re mine,” I say. He rewards me with a swipe of his tongue across my center.
“Always,” I breathe, and he answers with another lick that sends me spiraling into euphoric pleasure. “You’re mine,” I echo, the words tumbling out again and again until I’m breathless, teetering on the edge of my release.
Just as I’m about to fall, Kieran pulls away.
“You’re mine,” he growls, voice thick with possessiveness, as he lines his hard cock against my center and slams home in one fierce thrust. His thick length stretches me, the sweet ache of taking him while I’m already so close threatening to unravel me completely.
Our movements together are fluid, full of promise, and leave me certain I’ll never be without Kieran’s love again.
“I’m yours, forever, Kieran. Always.” I gasp as the orgasm crashes through me. My walls clench around his cock, dragging a guttural sound from his throat. He loses control completely, hips slamming deep one last time, pulsing hot inside me as he follows me over the edge.
Afterward, our heated skin feels melded together, and I meet Kieran’s steady gaze.
“You never needed to ruin me, you know. I’ve always been yours, Kieran,” I say.
“Princess,” he murmurs, his hands at my back as he gently lifts me from the shelf, keeping me steady on my feet. “I’ve been ruined for anyone but you since I was eight.”
He wraps his body around mine, and I can still feel the possessive claiming in his movements. I’m where I belong—finally home, in the arms of the man I’ve spent a lifetime loving.