CHAPTER 29
PEACE AND PLANS
Ask any sailor where to start over. They’ll point south. More than thirty islands and a belief in second chances.
– Common Vallennan saying
The warm morning sunlight streamed through the broken beams overhead, settling across the pile of cloaks and tangled limbs in the hay.
Kara stirred.
She hadn’t moved an inch in the night. Her entire body was tucked against Sebastian’s side – there wasn’t a breath of space between them. Legs intertwined. Her hand resting on his bare chest like it belonged there.
She blinked groggily, squinting in the sunlight.
It took a few seconds for her to realise where she was.
Who she was lying on. And how completely pressed against him she was.
Her lips were practically touching his throat.
Heat radiated off him – his arm hooked around her waist – protective, possessive, even in sleep.
She didn’t move. She lay there, breathing him in. Letting the reality settle.
I’m with Sebastian Thorne.
He loves me.
He’s alive. Safe.
Mine.
She tilted her head up, hoping to catch a glimpse of him asleep, unguarded for once. But she found him already awake, watching her intently. Her cheeks flushed.
“Hi,” she said.
“Good morning.” He traced a thumb across her cheekbone, gentle and tender.
“Did you sleep?” she asked.
“Some,” he replied. “How are you feeling?”
The question was simple but weighted. They both knew what he was really asking.
Did I have nightmares? Am I still terrified?
“Better,” she said. “With you here.”
His hold on her tightened. Gods, she loved lying in his arms. They stayed like that for a long time, their magic whispering in their veins. Revelling in just being together.
Then his stomach growled.
She laughed. “When did you last eat?”
He thought about it. “Uh... in Fatàn?”
“Sebastian!”
“I was busy,” he said defensively. “Escaping, rescuing you, bleeding internally. The usual.”
“I thought crimson makes you hungry.”
“It does. But that didn’t exactly matter at the time.”
She tried to pull away, to insist she go and forage for something, but his arm tightened around her waist. She meant to glare at him, but a laugh escaped instead. For a man who had practically starved himself, he looked far too good.
“You know, you have got to stop being this attractive. It’s rude,” she muttered.
“That’s not what you said last night,” Sebastian said as he dragged his gaze down the length of her, utterly shameless.
Her cheeks heated. He caught it instantly.
“You’re blushing,” he said, all smug satisfaction. “Remembering how you begged me not to stop kissing you?”
“Sebastian,” she warned.
“You said my name exactly like that, actually. Except I’d made you a little more breathless.”
“Gods,” she groaned, burying herself in his shoulder.
He laughed contentedly, and dropped a sweet kiss onto the top of her head. “I liked it.”
Kara smiled into his skin, but eventually sat up with a stretch, disentangling herself reluctantly. “I’m starving,” she mumbled.
Sebastian nodded and pushed smoothly to his feet. His dark hair was tousled, wild from sleep, but if anything, it made him look more handsome. He was only wearing worn black trousers which slung low on his hips – bare-chested.
Oh, that’s really not fair.
She couldn’t help it – years of training had carved him into something too good not to look at. She gazed at his sculpted torso, now fully healed and perfect, tracked the lines of muscle, strong shoulders–
Sebastian turned and watched her. “You’re staring.”
She jumped, caught in the act.
Well, that’s embarrassing.
“I hate you,” she muttered sulkily.
“No, you don’t,” he chuckled.
He caught her hand and pulled her to her feet – right into his chest. Her palms landed against his skin. He was warm. Solid. He locked his arms around her lower back, holding her in place. When he dipped his head down to her, his breath was warm and tingling against her ear.
“You’re doing it for me too, you know,” he said roughly. “If you keep looking at me like that, I’m going to forget how to behave myself.”
He kissed her neck, and her whole body shivered. Her breath came faster, embarrassingly so.
His hand threaded into her hair. “You’re mine now, Hale. And I’m yours. You can look all you want.”
Two can play at this game, Thorne.
She didn’t warn him. She leaned forward – and dropped a single kiss on his collarbone.
He inhaled sharply.
Then another. Right below his jaw. His neck. His chest.
“Kara,” he said, and she was pleased to hear he sounded hoarse. Affected.
“Just admiring the view.” She kissed the ridge of muscle above his stomach. “Since I’ve been given permission.”
He groaned quietly, but didn’t make any move to stop her.
“Not so smug now, are we?”
“I take it back,” he said weakly. “No looking. Banned. Illegal.”
She looked up at him, victorious. “Too bad I’m a convicted criminal.”
He stared down at her, evidently lost for words and trying so hard to hold it together.
“Enough,” he growled. “Come here.”
Then his mouth was on hers, fierce and claiming as he pulled her back down to the hay.
She met him hungrily, her whole body coming alive under the feel of him.
Every nerve on fire as she pulled him closer, her magic sparking where he touched her.
She wanted to forget everything but him.
Her hands traced his bare skin, making him groan against her lips.
His hands were on her waist – his fingers at the laces of her dress–
He froze.
Sebastian pulled back, breathing hard. “Kara, if we don’t stop now...” He sounded torn. “I don’t want to push you further than you’re ready for.”
His words brought her back to herself – clearing the haze of need just enough. He watched her closely.
“You’re still recovering,” he said, adamant now.
The words hit deeper than he could possibly know. He was right. It was too soon after–
Don’t think about that. About him. Not now.
She held his gaze for a long moment, trying to communicate without words what it meant to her. The fact that he always let her choose – it was one of the many reasons she loved him. She kissed his cheek, whispering, “Thank you.”
He frowned. “You never have to thank me for that.”
Sebastian gathered her closer, arms protective now as he planted gentle kisses in her hair. She tucked herself against his chest, and stayed there as the hunger between them softened into something steadier, deeper.
But an hour later, she was alone.
He’d insisted, murmured it into her hair whilst she was still lying in his arms: “You keep hidden here. Rest. Falcroft village isn’t far – I’ll get food from there. I’ll be fine.”
He’d kissed her forehead, a silent promise to return, and disappeared in a blink.
Overprotective.
And infuriatingly hard to argue with when he was right.
She was still recovering from the blood loss and was bone-deep tired from her days under nightshade in that cell.
The kind of tired that settled into the muscles and wouldn’t lift, even with her magic.
But she hated being away from him. Hated how empty, how quiet the barn felt without him.
She jumped at every little sound as she lay in the patchy sunlight that slanted through the broken roof.
Sebastian’s crimson cloak was tucked around her shoulders, and she breathed in the smell of him that clung to the fabric to ground herself.
Leather and pine and something that was just...
him. She was trying not to count the minutes – and failing.
The waiting was torture. It allowed her mind to fill with things she didn’t want to think about.
Like what if he didn’t come back, what if soldiers had picked up their trail?
And worst of all – what if last night was all they’d get?
At least he knows I love him.
Kara forced herself to take a breath.
She wouldn’t fall apart. Not yet.
And just when the ache of missing him started to twist into fear–
Footsteps. Quiet. Familiar.
She sat up fast, heart thudding.
He stepped inside, windswept and flushed from his run back, a cloth bag in hand. And wrapped, she noticed, in a new black hooded travelling cloak. He’d remembered her advice – less conspicuous than crimson. When he smiled at her – tired, relieved – she could finally breathe again.
“Told you I’d be fine,” he said, but his smile didn’t reach his eyes.
“What happened?” she asked.
“Nothing.”
“Sebastian.”
He sighed. “A patrol came through the village. I waited them out. Had to make sure they didn’t come this way–”
She inhaled sharply. “You could have been captured–”
“But I wasn’t.”
“How close was it?”
He didn’t meet her eye. “Close enough.” At the look on her face, he hurried on. “It’s fine, Kara. They didn’t see me. And they’re gone now.”
She crossed the barn and kissed him. Hard. It was full of that same heat she was starting to crave more than air.
He made a small, surprised sound – then grinned into it.
“Oh,” he said, clearly pleased. “Did you miss me?”
She narrowed her eyes playfully. “Shut up.” She looked curiously at the bag. “What did you bring me?”
He pulled out water, bread, meat – a lot of it – then hesitated.
“I also got a dress for you. Thought you couldn’t exactly travel in that one.”
He glanced down at the ripped, blood-soaked green fabric she still wore, and her gaze followed. She blinked. Right. She’d been wearing the same ruined dress for days and hadn’t even thought about it – not really.
But he had.
He reached back into the bag and pulled out a pale blue cotton dress and a thick navy travelling cloak. He held them both out awkwardly, not meeting her gaze.
Is he worried I won’t like it?
She took them from him gratefully, brushing her fingers over the fabric. Soft. Clean. Sebastian had chosen it for her – of course she’d love it.
“Thank you,” she said, her throat tight.
She turned and started changing without a second thought. She didn’t care about modesty around him now – after the cell, the blood, the night spent tangled in each other – but as her dress hit the floor, he went still.