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“What do you think forever means?” she asked him, that smile still on her face as if it would never leave.
Griffin knelt down, his hands spanning her hips in a possessive grip that made her feel something like giddy.
“Princess Melody,” he said, his voice deep and formal and the most beautiful thing she had ever heard, “I thought taking you as my wife was an act of charity, and it was. But it was not me who was bestowing that charity. It was you. I cannot compartmentalize myself with you. I cannot pretend. I want everything or nothing. And nothing will not do.”
“I love you,” she said. “And think, Griffin. We’ve only just started. We have our entire lives ahead of us.”
“And with you, I want it all.” He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her belly, its own kind of promise. “With you, I will risk anything. Family. Happiness. Love.”
Love. The word was like fire in her.
But the more she burned, the more it felt like pure joy, until she thought she might burst with it.
“Prince Griffin.” And Melody’s voice was thick, because these were vows. This was their real wedding, right here, where their true communion had begun. “With you, I can see. The life we will live. The family we will raise. The love that will grow stronger, day by day.”
“Year by year,” Griffin agreed, his voice rough with the same emotion that coursed through her veins.
“Because if it doesn’t...” Melody promised him softly, sinking down on her knees before him and smiling all the wider. “Trust me, my beloved Prince. Feet on your throat will be the least of your concerns.”
“I can’t wait,” Griffin said, and then he gathered her in his arms, took her to their bed, and got started on their real marriage, there and then.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
OVERTHEYEARS, Griffin learned many things about the woman he had imagined he was saving—only to discover that all along, he was the one who needed it more.
He had learned the safer she felt, and the more comfortable in his presence, the wilder and brighter the joy. Just as he had learned that she was in no way a morning person and should always be approached with caution and coffee.
Not in that order.
He moved her into his suite, not the least bit interested in the normal way things were done in marriages like theirs. The real truth was that there were no marriages like theirs. And while he and Melody could play any role the palace required, in this house, what they were first and foremost was in love.
Love, Griffin found, changed everything.
He found his way back to his brother, because he understood, now, the things that love could make a person do. He understood that Orion had thought he was helping, not hindering.
And he forgave not only his mother for leaving, but himself, too.
The joy got wilder and brighter all the time.
He and Orion, without consulting their brides, took it upon themselves to suggest—in no uncertain terms—that Aristotle Skyros remove himself from Idylla. For good.
“You cannot banish me,” the horrible man seethed at his King.
“And he will not, as he is a good and benevolent king,” Griffin replied, all idleness until he met the despised man’s gaze. “But I do not think you would like it should the rest of the royal family feel compelled to take matters into their own hands.”
Aristotle slunk off, never to be heard from again. It was impossible not to view his departure from the island—and his daughter’s lives—as a triumph of epic proportions. Especially when his wife remained behind.
And Griffin watched as time did what nothing else could have. He would not call it a true healing, necessarily. But when Calista started giving Apollonia grandchildren, a mother found her way back to the daughters she had abandoned.
“I will never trust her,” Calista said with a sniff after her first child was born, sitting in the private parlor where the four of them often gathered.
Melody shrugged. “I have always liked her more than you. She was kind enough.”
“Kind enoughis not kind.” Calista smiled down at the newborn Crown Prince while beside her, Orion looked besotted. The Queen gazed at her sister. “Though I will admit, even she blooms without Father around.”
“So would a desert,” Melody replied.
And later, when they were alone, Griffin showed Melody precisely what he thought aboutkind enough.By being first deliciously cruel.
