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Chapter Eleven
“I do love this horse,” I said, patting the neck of my champagne beauty. One of Arne’s arms was wrapped around my waist. His chuckle bounced both of us. Hearing his laughter warmed me head to toe. I looked over my shoulder at my mate. His cheeks were flushed, and his eyes glistened with happiness.
“And he loves his mistress.”
I patted Arne’s hand. “I want you to lead the solar team. You are to be the Agent of Sustainability for the kingdom. We will have a formal announcement later in the week, but I wanted to tell you personally. That is, if you desire the position.”
His breaths stopped tickling the side of my neck. Even the horse stopped moving. I ticked my chin upward to make sure the sky was still moving, since everything was so still around me. “What?”
He cleared his throat and then wrapped both arms around my waist. His head rested on my shoulders and he squeezed the living daylights out of me. “You make me so happy. I am honored to serve in that position for you, my queen, and for the kingdom.”
I turned a little to face him. “I just gave you the tallest order in the lands. You will work from dawn until dusk until everything is complete, and that’s considering no mistakes or mishaps and you’re thanking me? Honestly, I thought you might kick up a bit of an argument, Arne.”
“An argument? This is the position of a lifetime, Janis. I’m honored.”
He was still squeezing, but I soaked up every minute of it. “It might mean less time with your mate.”
His teeth nipped at my earlobe, not hard but enough to cause my body to shudder with the force of it. “I will always make time for my mate, no matter what. I can’t tell you how excited I am to begin. I might smile for the rest of the day.”
We rode the span of the kingdom. With every inch we covered, the guilt and second-guessing swirled in my belly. “Did I make a mistake, Arne?”
“A mistake with what, Janis?”
“A mistake in spending all of that money. Look at these houses. Most of them could use a roof. Their plowing equipment is outdated and falling to pieces. There are more immediate needs in this kingdom, and I’ve overlooked them. What have I done?”
“I think you did well, Janis. But let’s make note of all of these more immediate needs. Perhaps there is a way we could solve all of them.”
Arne carried a small notebook with him at all times, and I used it to make a list of things I saw, things that it looked like I had neglected as a ruler of these people. We needed more livestock, even I could see that. And newer equipment for plowing and sowing our crops. Barns needed repairs and stables, well, truth be told, some just needed to be demolished and built anew.
By the time I was done, my mind was bogged down with too many needed things and whether or not we had the budget to do this, now that I’d made such a large purchase.
Arne stopped the horse and I came out of my self-depreciating bubble to find that we were in a clearing with wolf flowers all around us. Shades of blue and yellows, dotted by purples filled the area as the sun beat down on them, nourishing them.
My mate descended from the horse before offering me a hand to get down as well. “What does this part of the kingdom need?” I asked as he smiled at me.
“Nothing. But I need you.”
