Chapter 38
I turn to go, and Sterling’s hand wraps around my wrist.
“All I’ve ever wanted is for you to be safe.”
Everything I’ve ever known tilts and falls away when Sterling gathers my face in his palms and kisses me. I gasp. The brush of his beard on my cheek is real. The softness of lips against mine isn’t imagined.
“What—”
He grabs my hand. Candlelight shimmers in his gaze. “There’s no time to explain, but you have to know I’ll follow you anywhere.”
We run.
It’s easier than I thought it might be. I hide in shadows and behind coves, and no one questions Sterling commanding orders. We get to the stables. There, this stallion, Rogue, greets us, butting his head against mine.
“Just one. It’ll be safer.”
Sterling doesn’t waste time fitting a saddle, using his long legs to project him onto Rogue’s back and reaching down to pull me up behind him. We take flight, galloping out of the stables, through the orchards and into the forest as fast as we’re able.
We make it to the cottage before sunrise. It’s empty, but there is wood by the fire and freshly picked food in the pantry. We can’t stay long.
Sterling starts a fire, the long line of his back giving away nothing.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” I press my fingers to my lips. “All this time, we could have …”
“We couldn’t,” he says, turning. His face is marred with sadness. “There were bigger concerns, and after, I wanted to talk to you. I wanted to tell you everything, but I waited too long, and you accepted the proposal. I couldn’t jeopardize your chance at happiness.”
I grab his hands and pull him to me. “How could I ever be happy without you? If this is how you felt, why wouldn’t you come with me?”
“And torture myself every day, watching as you gave your heart to someone else?”
“Never.” I pull him down into a kiss. “I cannot give away what is already yours.”
He wraps me in his arms, lifting me easily. He fits perfectly between my thighs, hard and hot, and I’ve never needed anyone like this before. These clothes need to be gone. I have half a mind to shred them myself, claw my way under and finally get my hands on him. My lips.
“Please,” I plead. “I need you.”
Something cold and solid touches my back, and—oh, it’s the wall. Good. Sterling presses me against it, and the friction is delicious. I rock against him, tasting his answering groan.
“I wish I could put into words what I feel for you,” he says, kissing the hinge of my jaw.
“You’ve reignited a fire inside me that I thought long extinguished.
I’ve been consumed with want, aching every time you step into sight.
My heart wails every time you leave, then fills my dreams with you as punishment.
Now that I have you, I’m going to make up for every lost moment.
I’m going to strip away every thread that stands between us and relish every inch of you until you are screaming my name, and then I’m going to do it again. ”
Oh God, yes.
There is a knock at the door.
We freeze. My heart stills in my chest. It’s far too polite to be my brother, but who else knows we’re here? Could it be a passing farmer, checking in? Or a guard from the castle? Perhaps our tracks aren’t as lost as Sterling thought.
The knock comes again.
“I’d much rather not wait here all night, but I can.”
Lucky.
He sounds more playful than mad, but Sterling looks like he’s seen a ghost. He lets me down and steps back.
“How did you find us?” he asks, his voice strangled.
There’s a long pause, and with much less humor, Lucky says, “Miss Finnegan made mention of this earlier today. I thought it best to check my hunch before I said anything to Louis.”
I’m gutted. In the rush, I completely forgot that I’d told Lucky about the cottage.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper, but Sterling shakes his head and opens the door.
“Lucky.”
“Hello, Sterling.”
They stand feet apart. All at once, I know why Sterling refused to meet him. Refused to join me. The breadth of a shared history hangs in the air between them, thick and vicious and raw.
Outside, the sun peeks over the horizon, splitting and shimmering through the trees, painting the forest floor in a bright glow.
“Come inside at least,” I say, pulling a blanket tighter over my shoulders. “And then one of you is going to tell me everything. No more secrets.”
The sky is light by the time the story is complete. They met as boys, grew together into men, then friends, then more. They ate, trained, slept, and dreamed in unison, but it didn’t last.
Sterling sighs and seats himself on the bed. “When the world split, many of us were asked to leave, to help protect and train the other realms, and I accepted. We fought, and I left. We haven’t seen each other since.”
“Did you know he was here when you asked for my hand?”
Lucky reaches for me, his tone earnest. “No. When you said his name yesterday, I was blindsided. My intentions to you were—and still are—honorable.”
I squeeze his hand. Running from my problems isn’t going to work and helps no one. I have a responsibility to meet, no matter where my heart lies, but surely, this makes things easier?
My fear was always leaving Sterling behind or being locked in an uncaring and unkind marriage. It’s clear neither needs to be the case.
Oh, how foolish we’ve all been, tormenting ourselves against the sharp edges of our heartbreak when the solution is staring us all in the face.
Intertwining my fingers in Lucky’s, I turn to the man who continues to brood beside us, his frown directed at the exact point where our hands meet. “We need to go back.”
Sterling’s expression falls, but I’m not letting him go so easily. Not now. Not ever again. I know what is in his heart, can see it clearer without the haze of my own fears. I will never leave him, nor will I let him walk away from Lucky a second time.
“Come with us,” I say, surer than I have ever been that he must. There is no other option. “We’ll have the wedding, as promised, and return together to Chance. As my guard, you would be permitted to live in the house. You could see us both.”
“Mia, what are you saying?”
I drop Lucky’s hand and kneel before Sterling, holding his face in my hands, the same way he did with me last night. “I’m saying, stay with us.”
Sterling looks over my shoulder with such naked hope on his face that it almost hurts. Waiting for Lucky’s response.
“Please,” Lucky says, his voice hoarse. “I don’t think I could lose you twice. My heart wouldn’t survive it.”
Blue eyes drop back down to mine, brimming with a storm of emotion. “This doesn’t change how I feel about you.”
“I know.”
He makes his decision, telegraphing it as easily as his strikes, and when he leans forward, I’m already there. Ready to meet him. Ready for anything and everything that comes next.
When we part, he rises, reaching for Lucky and crushing him in a kiss. I wait for jealousy to hit, but all I see is love, and it is beautiful. There is more than one way to find happiness, and bearing witness to their passion fills my heart.
Lucky pulls away, still gripping at Sterling’s tunic with clenched fists. In inches, as though it pains him to look away, he faces me. Steps closer, breathing fast, his expression broken open. Joy spills out and over the top, and it’s difficult not to bask in it.
I’m smiling as he cups my cheek.
“There’s no possible way to thank you, Mia. Except perhaps this.”
His kiss is gentle, almost chaste, but my body reacts all the same.
Tingles spread through me from top to toe, cascading until I’m trembling with the need for more.
I don’t ask, pressing up for another and another, which Lucky grants, deepening each kiss until the heat in my belly is licking at my skin.
When we part, he sounds as breathless as I feel.
“If we don’t mean to miss your wedding, we should leave.”
I reach for Sterling, finding his gaze dark and hungry. “As long as it’s together.”
“Always.”
THE END
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