My throat tightens anew as I consider how he healed my wounds so gently, then gave me water and food. And he didn’t rush me. Using his wings to keep me shielded from the snow and wind, he waited patiently as I ate and drank my fill.
He’s not used to expressing tenderness, displaying patience, or showing compassion. I know this. I’ve sensed the darkness in him. I’ve also sensed the loneliness, a loneliness so deep it sometimes feels endless, and I suspect there is a story behind it.
We’re still getting to know one another, I remind myself.
Suddenly, the answer becomes clear to me.
I will agree to mate with Merak.
Not today, and probably not tomorrow.
But I will. Eventually.
Despite all the fears I once harbored, and the few that remain, I know it with startling certainty. The realization, the answer to my dilemma, settles over me so abruptly and completely that I find myself blinking back tears of relief.
I want Merak. I truly do. Not only his touch, not only the bond, but I wanthim. Perhaps his possessive nature shouldalarm me more, but I find it doesn’t. I want the male who wraps his wings around me when I’m cold and kisses my knuckles as though I’m precious… the male who buys me books and seems content to watch me read by the fire. The male who has promised never to hurt me. The male who’s going to make sure I see my family again.
But what is the rush?
We are mates, and once we consummate our union, my lifespan will match his. We will live for thousands of years.
Thousands.
The thought still feels impossible.
Surely there is time for us to get to know one another better first. Time for me to learn the secrets hidden beneath his darkness. Time for him to tell me about the loneliness he carries and the sorrows behind the haunted look that often fills his eyes. Even time for him to learn more about me.
Though we don’t know one another yet, not truly, he still seems completely enthralled by me. Sometimes, however, I worry that he’ll realize I’m the strange girl from Braemar that no other male wanted.
I push this worry aside and remind myself of all the times he’s pointed out landmarks on a map and described them to me, and all the times he’s brought me a new book from the library in the suite, claiming it holds information about trade routes or the history of the realm that I might find interesting.
Well, he seems to like my strangeness. He likes the parts of me that no one else ever has. The parts of me that others usually mock.
Thousands of years.
Gods.
That is how long we will have together.
A smile tugs at my lips.
Yes, I will mate with Merak. But will he become discouraged when I tell him I want to wait for us to become better acquainted?
My face heats as I remember the intimacies we shared earlier in the day… the pleasure he brought me. And the pleasure I brought him. A heated quiver rushes through me.
Well, I suppose sharing moments like that could be considered part of us getting to know one another better before he fully claims me. It’s not as though I will be asking him to keep his hands to himself until I’m ready for the final act that will seal the bond between us.
Feeling oddly lighter, I kneel beside the clothing boxes and begin sorting through them, trying to figure out what might realistically fit in his rucksack. But when I reach for the bag itself, intending to estimate how much room remains, I pause.
Then I stare.
My mouth falls open.
Dozens of small treasures and trinkets rest inside the rucksack. A painted wooden bird. Hair ribbons. A glass sphere filled with glittering snow. Tiny carved animals. Ornate buttons. A hand mirror decorated with white gemstones. A pouch filled with peppermints… and another filled with candied nuts.
I blink. Once. Twice.
What in the realm...?
