Page 105 of A Fragile Enchantment

His incredulous stare felt like the press of a blade against her skin. It flustered her horribly, especially when she couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

“I owe you yet another apology,” she blurted out. “Your wedding was a disaster, and you nearly died. This is all my fault.”

“I’m still alive, for better or worse,” he said dismissively. “And is it really my wedding if it didn’t happen? I can’t say I had any hopes of it being pleasant to begin with.”

She stopped walking and rounded on him. “But Iamsorry.”

She hated how wretched she sounded. But she couldn’t understand how he could forgive her so easily when she hardly knew how to forgive herself. She’d gone behind his backagain.She might have been trying to protect him and Rosa both, but she’d done it on her terms.

“I have humiliated you and your family in front of the entire court. And now, everyone knows what has happened between us.You and I will be embroiled in a scandal. I will be the fallen woman who ruined you. A demon, hardly fit to be seen in public with you. A—”

“All right. I think you’re getting carried away now.” He scowled at her. “If you recall,Iwas the one who set the king off. All you did was hand me a cloak.”

She sniffled. “I’m sorry.”

“I know. You’ve said so at least three times now.” He sighed impatiently but took one of her hands in his. Her whole body warmed at his touch. “I can’t blame you for doing what you had to to get through to me. So I’m sorry, too.”

Niamh blinked through her damp eyelashes. “For what?”

“For pushing you away. What you said the other night… You’re right. Iama coward, and I can rarely find it within me to put my faith in people, even when they’ve proven themselves worthy of it.” In the light streaming through the thinning clouds, he looked so vulnerable. His smile was rueful, almost ashamed. “I’m all thorns.”

“I don’t know about that. I think you’re more like a weed.”

He made a sound she wasn’t sure was a laugh. “Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

“Yes! Weeds are… tenacious. They survive against the odds, wherever they land, no matter how many times you cut them down. And sometimes they can be quite beautiful.” Kit watched her with ever-growing amusement. Gods, she was humiliating herself. She needed to stop babbling immediately. “That is how I think of you.”

“Who would have thought? A tailoranda poet.”

“Oh, you’re terrible!” she cried. “I’m trying to be romantic. Let’s see you do better.”

He frowned, clearly unable to back down from even the most ridiculous challenge. “You’re like… a flower. Too delicate for this world.”

“What, you think I don’t belong here?”

“That’s not what I said.” His shoulders curled inward with discomfort. “I… I don’t know what I’m saying. It’s impossible when it comes to you.”

“Excuse me?” Niamh glared up at him. “You’re not so easy to deal with yourself, you know!”

He barreled onward. “Nothing makes sense anymore. My life should have crumbled again, but somehow, I’m still here. I’m still alive. All because of you.”

Wherewashe going with this? She’d rarely known him to ramble. “That is… good. Right? You sound angry.”

“I’m not angry,” he said, although he reallydidsound it. “When it comes to you, my thoughts go in circles. None of my words come out right. I can’t explain it. I feel… insane. It’s like you’ve cast a spell on me. Some kind of psychic hold, or—”

“That’s horrible!”

“No… Argh!” He glowered at her. “Don’t you get it by now, you fool? Are you really going to make me say it?”

“Saywhat?” Her face felt hot, her chest oddly tight. “I can’t read your mind.”

“Fine.Fine.Now listen carefully, because I’m not going to repeat myself.”

He took a deep breath. And when he held her gaze, she saw the truth of what he felt laid bare. What he’d felt, perhaps, from the moment he first saw her. Suddenly, she felt very dense indeed.

“I love you.”

“What?”