She giggled. “It wasn’t.”
“But I’ll claim it,” he murmured, “in the way I want it most.”
Her breath caught. In the way he wanted it most…
“You are binding yourself to me—in every way, for all of time.”
The words broke from him raw, stripped of their usual armor of hardness. Vulnerable. Fierce. For her alone.
Her heart surged, fierce as her love for this man. She met his wary eyes without flinching. “I love you, Malric. I want to marry you. To be your wife, your marchioness, your queen. Not because you claim me—but because I claim you. I am yours, Malric. In every way thereisto belong.”
A muscle ticked in Malric’s jaw before he bowed his head, pressing his brow reverently to hers.
“We shall commit ourselves to one another on this day then,” he murmured, gently smoothing her skirts into place.
He lifted her into his arms and, with his elbow, pressed the door latch.
Sunlight streamed in, briefly blinding.
Malric set Addien down on her feet. She blinked, dazed, thrown off-balance, poised at the top of the world. The earth unfurled in every direction; the stretch of green, rolling hills and pastures as vast as only the blue dome of sky overhead. Its silence so complete, so full, that the errant dusting of wind served as life’s only sound. A beauty so great Addien couldn’t bring herself to breathe for fear the fairy tale land before her was made of sugar and would be taken away on even the slightest exhale.
“It is your place, Addien,” Malric said, from behind her. “It is for you.”
With the sun high in the afternoon sky, a figure in a black ankle-length cassock moved to the edge of the hill.
Then it occurred to her…
Her breath hitched. “We are marrying.”
“Yes.”
He was determined to keep her awed. Malric could have a man of the cloth, a license, and a wedding planned in less than a day in England.
Reverently, Malric took Addien’s hands in each of his and raised them to his mouth. She trembled from his touch. He bestowed a kiss upon each knuckle. The top of each hand. And then her palms. Each kiss a gift. Each left her breathless.
“Are you ready to spend the rest of your days with me, Addien?” he whispered against her skin, still hot from the press of his lips.
Overwhelmed by the depth of her love, Addien nodded unevenly. “I am, Malric.”
His return grin oozed the same masculine pride he wore with the same ease he did his own skin.
“Then let us go join lives as one, my heart.”
And there, at this edge of heaven, where there was no war or world on fire with darkness and evil, Addien and Malric came together in love and promised themselves to one another forever.
The End
