Chapter 20
AUREN
After I help Vivienne set up her tent, she begins arranging her bedding, shaking out a blanket with all the outrage of a queen affronted by inferior textiles.
The firelight paints her hair in molten copper. Her chin is lifted, her mouth drawn into that sharp little line she uses when she’s feigning indignation.
She complains about the forest, the weather, the food, the tea... and yet, she hasn’t told me to go away.
I pull the bundle of canvas from Vaelen’s saddle and pass it to Thalric. “I’ll set up a tent for you. You can have mine.”
He inclines his head. “I would not take shelter from you and your bride. I can remain outside.”
Bride. I love the sound of that word.
“Vivienne has her own tent,” I reply, driving the first stake into the earth. “And I don’t mind sleeping outside on my bedroll.”
Thalric frowns. “I thought you were married.”
“It’s the early days, my friend. She refuses to share a bed with me.” A grin tugs at my lips. “For now.”
“Try never,” Vivienne retorts.
I don’t look at her. If I do, I will smile. If I smile, she will glare harder. And if she glares harder… I will enjoy it far more than I should.
“She says that,” I add mildly, adjusting the rope, “but she did fall asleep on my shoulder this morning.”
I wink at her.
“You’re insufferable,” she huffs.
Thalric’s mouth parts slightly, as if he’s unsure whether to laugh. “I… errr… how exactly did you two come to be wed?”
“It’s a long story.” One that begins with a throne room and a stubborn princess who mistook me for a soldier and ends, if I have anything to say about it, with her ruling beside me as my queen. “She’s still adjusting to marital bliss.”
Thalric snorts out a laugh. “Pardon my expression, but she seems a bit… fiery, that one.”
I glance at her again and hear her muttering about incorrigible Elves under her breath.
“That’s what I love about her.” A soft sigh escapes me as I gaze at my lovely bride. “She’s fierce as a snowcat, with a tongue sharp as a blade. She’s not quite in love with me yet, but she will be before we reach home.”
Thalric arches a brow. “You seem sure of yourself.”
“I am.” Because I’ve heard her heart rate quicken when I steady her on Vaelen’s back, and seen the way she almost smiles before remembering she’s meant to be indignant. She looks at me when she thinks I’m not looking.
“She’s agreed to give me a month,” I add. “If she’s not pleased with me by then, we’ll annul the marriage.”
Thalric’s wings shift slightly. “How did you come to such an arrangement in the first place?”
“It’s… a bit complicated.”
Before I can elaborate, her voice cuts across the clearing. “This is intolerable, Auren. You can’t really expect me to sleep outdoors like this again. This blanket is itchy and uncomfortable. It’s terrible for my skin.”
She stands with her hands on her hips, scowling at me. Gods, she has completely captured my heart.
“I’ll buy you a softer one at the next town, me’lira,” I call back, unable to hide the fondness in my voice.
A wistful sigh leaves my lips as I watch her storm back into the tent. “I hope our children inherit her fire,” I murmur.
“You care for her,” Thalric says.
Across the way, Vivienne adjusts the furs in her tent, muttering about barbarism and improper living conditions, oblivious to our conversation.
“That magnificent creature stole my heart the first time I saw her spitting venom at the dozens of suitors who had come for her hand.”
When I saw her in the ballroom, every male there regarded her as a problem to be managed. But I saw someone who had decided, very deliberately, that she wouldn’t allow anything to break her spirit. I recognized that, and I respected it.
I shake my head. “Fools, the lot of them to let her slip through their fingers.” A smile curves my mouth. “But not me. I knew she was the one from the moment I laid eyes on her.”
I simply did not expect how quickly she would become… everything.
Thalric looks at me as though I’ve grown a second head, before turning his attention back to the fire.
Vaelen settles near the edge of the clearing, tail flicking lazily as he watches Vivienne give Aurora a few of our blankets for their tent.
She glances toward me then, and our eyes meet. I’m so besotted with my wife that I cannot help but smile at her.
A lovely pink blush spreads across her cheeks and the bridge of her nose, and her lips twitch slightly.
She looks away immediately to hide it.
But I already saw it... and that is enough.