AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She tipped her head to the side. “But what goal would lying to you bring me? The only thing I have to gain here is you, and I don’t know you. I don’t know if you’re a good person or bad. I have no idea if you’re wealthy or poor or what kind of family you come from or morals you have. I just left a life of complete luxury where everyone loved me and listened to my thoughts and ideas and respected me. I was happy there, but I gave it all up in an instant to be with you. Why would I do that unless I was telling you the truth and knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are my future?”
“I…” I gulped, feeling a fear I’d never felt before. “I don’t know,” I admitted quietly. But I could not accept this. If I accepted it, it would mean this girl was mine. My future. My family. My responsibility. It would be my duty to protect her and not bring her to my father.
So I couldn’t accept what she was saying.
She read my expression—or maybe she really could feel my swirling emotions—because she sighed. “Okay, fine.” She turned toward her horse to dig into one of her satchels. “You’ve at least heard of true love’s kiss, have you not?”
I nodded, even as I said, “Of course, but that’s just a myth.”
“Is it?” Her voice was soft and amused as she rotated back to me, holding up a small blade.
“Wha—” I sprang forward to stop her, for surely, she meant to stab me and try to escape.
But she surprised the shit out of me when she said, “Heal me,” just before she sliced open the back of her own forearm.
“What the hell?” I exploded, snatching the dagger from her hand. “Are you insane?”
“Oh God,” she choked out, slapping her hand over the cut and sucking in a breath. “That stings. That really burns. I didn’t realize it’d hurt so badly.”
“Of course, it bloody hurts,” I yelled, tucking the knife into my belt and grabbing her arm to see for myself just how deeply she’d gone. “You just filleted your arm open. What did you think it was going to feel like?”
“I didn’t. I was too busy knowing you could heal—what’re you doing?”
“Let me see it.” I tugged her closer, even as I dug my free hand into my own satchel of supplies. “I have some healer’s rags we can use to bind it and stop the bleeding.”
“We don’t need to bind it,” she argued, hissing when I gently lifted her hand from the wound, exposing it to open air. “You just need to kiss me and make it go away already.”
“A kiss isn’t going to heal something this deep, princess.” Jesus, she’d made a tidy little mess of herself. If we didn’t get this cleaned soon, it could become infected.
“Of course, you can fix it. I’ve seen true love’s kiss bring people back from the dead.”
I rolled my eyes. “In some farce of a theatrical performance, no doubt.”
“In real life!” A growl rose from her throat as I pressed my own fingers against the cut to stop the flow of blood. “Lord have mercy, are you always so stubborn and bullheaded?”
“I’m telling you,” I started logically. “A kiss is not—”
She was done arguing with me, though. Reaching out, she grabbed the leather strap I had situated diagonally across my chest, the one that held my war staff in its sheath on my back. Clutching it hard, she used the strap to jerk me forward.
Unprepared for the move, I went stumbling into her until my mouth brutally slammed against hers. Rasping out a sound of surprise, I grabbed her shoulder to steady us both, fully prepared to pull directly away. But she opened her mouth, and her tongue sought entrance.
And just like that, I fell victim to her allure. I let her in and plundered right back, tasting honey and heaven.
Before I realized what I was doing, I gripped a handful of her luscious long hair in one hand and backed her toward the wall. Except the wall was actually Caramel, and once Nicolette backed into the horse, it whinnied in protest and shifted away, which unsettled our balance and caused us to break the kiss in order to catch each other.
Meanwhile, the cut still under the protection of my thumb moved as if stretching or—something. I’m not sure what it did, but it startled the hell out of me.
“What the…?” I lifted my fingers and blinked, only to find the cut gone. “But that’s not—”
It just wasn’t possible.
I wiped the blood from her flesh, thinking to reveal the wound somewhere, except it was truly and honestly gone. Not even a scar remained. I looked up at Nicolette, trying to make sense of what was happening here, because none of this was logical.
All she could do was smile at me and whisper, “True love’s kiss.”
10
Nicolette
