Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
His fingers play at my hair. He’s already sat up in bed, watching me rest. “One would think after last night you’d know plainly how well recovered I am.” My voice is thick with sleep and likely not nearly as sultry as my aim.
He leans down as his lips press a trail across my exposed shoulder.
I shrug at the rough scrape of his beard, careful to not pull away.
I cherish his nearness. His caress moves down my arm, clutching me at the waist and pulling me up into him.
The thrumming of his heart pressed close against my back lets me know I’m home.
His breath as he nuzzles into my wild mane of hair is primal, and I feel his body responding to me.
My scent. My heat. The way our bodies always seem to reach for each other, just like our hearts.
“Shall I prove it once more?” I bite my lip at the way he moves, cinching our bodies more closely together, arching in a way that can mean nothing other than an enthusiastic yes.
His kisses grow more passionate now. No longer sweet devotion. There is a need. A hunger. One I plan to sate before the day begins.
The defiant side of me takes the lead, straddling him. My long golden hair cascades just enough to cover my breasts. He brushes it aside, exposing every inch of skin he wishes to take, to hold.
The passion consumes us both. I have never felt more alive. I feel like a warrior goddess riding into battle, claiming all that I am. All that I want. Vale. He is mine as surely as I am his.
When his head rolls back, pressing into the pillow at our shared release, it’s a victory I proudly call my own. With each rise and fall of my chest, raggedly drawing in air, I feel the flame within me. Alive, burning, mine. I have given myself to him and in that found myself anew.
It’s an odd shift. As we lay in each other’s arms, sweat still clinging to our bodies, I look down at the ring bejeweled on my hand, and it’s remarkable.
Not the ring, though it is the most exquisite thing I’ve ever seen.
No, it’s the way my heart holds more curiosity than doubt that strikes me.
“How will this work exactly?” Yes, I feel a slight pit in my stomach as I ask, but it pales in comparison to my newfound strength.
I finally have something worth fighting for.
Something more than survival. A future greater than even my wildest dreams.
“What’s that, love?” He’s still in the aftermath of our lovemaking, but I continue.
“You, an immortal king, and I, a mortal, an outsider…. How will this work? Eryndor left it all to be with his love. Will we ever be accepted?”
He rests his chin atop my head, both arms wrapped around me, my hands now over his, locked in the vows we’ve made.
“Much has changed in the century or so since Eryndor left,” he speaks softly against my ear.
“I may not have been king long, not by our standards, but in my time I have strived to open Caerhollan. My father endeavored to bring the kingdoms back together, work I have continued in my reign. Not just that, but also in opening the hearts of my people.”
I feel the way his shoulders fall, sinking us further into the bed, into each other.
“It’s slow work. Many are set in their ways, many too hurt by the past. But there’s hope.
I see it in their faces, I hear it in their words.
And you, my dear,” he reaches a hand to my chin, tilting me to face him.
“…are my every hope come true.” He presses a tender kiss to my forehead.
“From what Ace tells me, you’re already making quite an impression on court.” His wry smile stirs a mix of pride and nerves within me.
“Charming a few ladies at tea is a far cry from winning over a kingdom. Even more so when it comes to the expectations on their king.”
“You are more powerful than you know, my flame.” His eyes hold my own, speaking truths I struggle to accept.
“The dinner before I left, the prominent members of court…” Shaking his head, tilted away, then a long, drawn-out exhale.
His confession. “I already knew I wanted to spend my life with you. That night showed me even more, Mira; you are ready for this. To be my wife… my queen.”
I must look like a startled woodland deer, my eyes wide, utterly frozen in place. Flame or not, this is a shock. “Qu-queen?” I blink; surely I misheard him. Being accepted as the woman by his side for however many years the gods might bless me with is one thing, but this… Heat rises in my chest.
“There is no rush, my dear. We will take things in your time.”
Resting my head on his chest, unable to look directly at him, my eyes scan the room searching for answers that lie only within me.
“When I said I would marry you right now, it wasn’t just words. I love you. I want to spend my life with you. My fleeting mortal life,” I say with a laugh at the end. If I cannot find a thread of humor in this, there is no way I’ll survive.
“So I ask now, in earnest… How will this work?”
There in the quiet of early morning light, we plan.
Nothing concrete, but solid enough I can feel even slightly readied for what awaits us.
There will be a banquet tonight. It needn’t be a grand affair, but a gathering to mark the new season and Vale’s return.
He will not announce anything directly but will start planting seeds of the future. For Caerhollan. For us.
I asked if we might have a more private reception amongst those we trust the most. It feels impossible to keep something like this a secret. That’s when he confessed once more, “They already know.”
His chest is hard as steel as I shove him playfully.
“I’m sorry,” he lets out with a rumbling laugh.
“As second in line, I asked Ace for his blessing. And Soria…. You know how keen-eyed she is. I reached for my pocket when we sat by fire, fiddling like a fool. The healers had done their work, and all we had to do was wait while you rested. She saw it, of course. I confided in her that night.”
Wrapped in his arms, hearing how much planning and thought he had already put into this, how intentional it all was, gives me peace.
I would follow him to the ends of the earth if he asked me to.
I will stand at his side through this. The banquet tonight, an announcement not long after.
I would do my best to endear myself as best I could along the way.
He means every word. Every vow. And I do too. I will stand beside him through what comes next.
Shirt hanging loosely across his broad chest, he steps toward me, then past, to the vanity table.
Brushing his fingers through the various pins and accessories Soria chooses to adorn me with, he picks up a piece of jewelry.
Removing a pendant from the chain, he brings it to me.
Acting as one, we take the ring from my hand and thread the chain through.
As he clasps it around my neck, my hands rise.
There, next to his heart, the talisman faintly glows.
I press one palm over it, another at the promise now placed across my own breath.
“For now,” he whispers, his hand over mine.
Then, taking me fully in his arms, “Forevermore.”
We seal our promise with a kiss. And with that, each set about our days.