46. Ezra
Ezra
Six Months Later | Urnaz, Tehara
Eshe’s legs were wrapped around my face as she threw my back against the arena’s sands.
Fuck, that hurt. I felt old, and Eshe didn’t hesitate to remind me of that.
“Say that again?” she hissed as she stumbled back onto the ground near me.
“I said that your right leg needs more work if this is going to work. I can immediately tell you’re slower when you lunge with that leg.
You need both.” I spat some sand and blood out of my mouth.
My ribs were bruised, and I was getting tired of this training.
Deep down, I didn’t enjoy my training. I forced myself to do so through sheer will and dedication.
But Eshe always got what she wanted.
The Atrove was quick to agree with the new law, allowing Atrovians to have families, but Eshe becoming one of us?
That was a whole other story. Eshe refused to be a part of it, demanding that she didn’t want to be without me and held the fact that she saved my life over my head one too many times.
What the Atrove did agree upon was that Eshe needed the same training we all got and completed it with flying colors.
The problem: the training she was given in Mongah with Garamgai was different. Very different from ours. Still worked, but wasn’t going to pass any standards by the Atrove.
Regardless, I was the perfect trainer for her as the leader of the Atrove. I wasn’t going to let any other man do so either.
“I have been exercising it relentlessly. It’s going to take time.
” She jumped to her feet. She gave me a lending hand, and I accepted it only to receive her fist pummeling into my core.
I doubled over just before I flung her body against my chest. Her panting against me was a turn-on I learned pretty quickly.
“You’re so fucking small I could break you in half,” I grunted in her ear, her jasmine scent wafting through the air.
“Don’t tempt me with a good time. You already did last night.” She smirked.
I nipped the bottom of her ear, remembering clearly how I did just that.
“Are you nervous about tomorrow?” she asked as she turned around in my arms, facing me.
I frowned. “Why would I be nervous?”
“A life forever with me? Sounds like a lot of work?” She gave a breathy chuckle, but there was a twinkle in her gray, moon-like eyes that left me in awe.
“That decision doesn’t start tomorrow, my little warrior. It started a long time ago, and I had already made it. What about you, hmm? Any second thoughts about our wedding?”
She smiled and shook her head slightly. “I’d never have second thoughts about you.”
“That’s what I like to hear.” I nipped her crinkled-up nose while she bit my lip.
We both let out a small laugh before picking up our supplies.
God, I had fun with her. She was the only person I wanted to spend my time with, the person I wanted to see to start my day and end my day with her in my arms. Any time something was worth mentioning, I thought of her. I wanted to be around her every moment.
The sun was just rising for the day, and we had some preparations to get through before our wedding tomorrow.
“Sad to see your harem go?” She raised an eyebrow at me.
I let out a laugh. “I forgot it was there, but I’m glad I don’t need to hide the fact that I have no use for it. Though I did find them all suitable husbands. They were more than happy with their new arrangement.”
“Good, they deserve that. They deserve some love.” Eshe winked at me.
I gave her a chuckle. “They do.” I placed my arm over her shoulder and pulled her to my side, kissing the top of her head as we walked out the gate of our private arena.
“You mentioned a long time ago that there were three moments you had lost control. One of them was when Kavid was taking me back. When were the other two?” she asked, her hand tucked into mine as we walked through the palace.
My chest tightened uncomfortably, but I gazed ahead.
“The first was when you came barreling into my consciousness and chose Casimir over me. I couldn’t control the feeling that erupted from within me.
I couldn’t control who you chose. I couldn’t control that it would be me.
I went mad.” Just thinking about it caused me a short moment of blinding insanity.
“And the second was the night of the explosion. When you were lost to me.”
She squeezed my hand, and I pulled her into my arms. I kissed the top of her head, grateful that she was here and alive.
“Picking Casimir was the only way I felt control over you—or so I thought at sixteen.”
I laughed. “Makes sense. I no longer had it. It was yours.”
As soon as we reached our private quarters, I grabbed my daily dose of poison and swung it to the back of my throat. I swallowed the sweet taste.
“Is there really a risk each time you do it?” Eshe asked from behind my shoulder.
I shrugged. “A small one.”
Her hand wrapped around the vial of venom, and she placed a drop into a small cup of water.
I stopped her.
“No, I need to,” she said, pulling the cup back. “I’m going to be Atrovian. Isn’t it more dangerous if I don’t build up immunity to the venom?”
My mind clashed. I hated it, but she was right. I couldn’t stop her from being an Atrovian. I couldn’t stop her from wanting to protect herself from the most dangerous weapon in the desert.
I dropped my hand with a heavy sigh. “One drop.”
My heart stopped beating the entire length she downed the cup, her eyes never leaving mine. God, I was so stressed being with this woman, but it was worth it. It was worth every worried thought I had, because having her here with me was better than not having her.
She left her cup behind and wrapped her hands around my neck. Our foreheads met.
“I’ll be okay,” she whispered. I closed my eyes and breathed in her scent, calming myself. I took another breath.
I said what had been on my mind for a few months. “We need to consider what the future would look like if we choose to have children.”
“What do you mean?” She pulled back slightly.
“How the venom would affect the child.”
Her brow furrowed. “I never thought of it. I guess it’s something we should keep in mind, especially because I do want one.”
“Oh, really?” My lips twitched.
She slapped my arm. “Don’t be like that. Of course, I want a little us.”
I snatched her back into my embrace. “Well then, we have to be careful about this—about what we’re putting into our bodies, especially once you’re pregnant.”
“I agree. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to it…” she whispered. “But we have time.”
“Yes, we do,” I said with a kiss, gently pushing her backward onto our bed.
“And not tonight,” she said with shaky authority.
I yanked her dress above her head, my eyes roaming over the length of her naked body.
I shrugged. “Sure.”
“That’s not affirmative.”
“Okay.”
“Ezra!”
“Yes, yes, not tonight,” I said with a laugh, knowing the extent of my teasing had come to an end. I kissed her neck and her earlobe. “We will decide together when the time is right.”
The next evening in the palace’s courtyard, Eshe’s perfect hands were in mine as we listened to the priest’s ceremonial words in the presence of our friends and family—minus Kavid.
She wore a thin, cream-colored linen dress that dipped far too low between her breasts.
She wore gold necklaces stacked upon each other, and they sparkled against the soft setting sun.
I kept my eyes on hers, but she tempted me with thoughts of using those necklaces, to tug them, twist them, and entwine them with a fist full of her hair wrapped around my wrist, and then capture her mouth.
Months ago, I would have wanted to cover her up for my own self-preservation, but now I was free, and she was mine.
My eyes slid to the priest, wondering again why this was all necessary.
Eshe and I didn’t care as much—hence the linen dress and not a large, expensive dress—but Mother insisted on at least a ceremony, and Casimir sided with her.
Eshe must have noticed my impatience and squeezed my hand, guiding my attention back to her.
My heart tumbled over. She took my breath away.
I was irrevocably in love with her.
I stared into her silver eyes. Never seeing anything quite like hers before. In fact, they seemed to be brighter than ever before.
Like the moon.
The priest continued to me, “May your kiss claim her soul.”
Fucking finally.
I leaned forward, my heart pounding. Though I’d kissed her thousands of times, it suddenly felt as if it were the first.
With her warm lips on mine, I parted them gently, and our tongues met. Grasping a handful of linen from her back, I pulled her body against mine. A small crowd of cheers and clapping faded into the background.
“I love you, Eshe,” I said.
Within seconds, our friends and family crowded us with smiles and laughter, covering us in a blanket of jasmine white flowers. Eshe gave me a knowing smile, and I pulled her back into my arms.
My woman.