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She gave him a lazy smile, her body languid and well loved. “Not at all. I feel amazing.”
Lips curving, he leaned down to place soft kisses on her lips. She kissed him back, loving every second of his big body covering hers, his scent, his soft lips, leaving hot trails down her neck…then lower.
“You’re not done with me yet, are you?”
He gave a dark chuckle. “Not by a long shot.”
After making her orgasm several more times, he gathered her in his arms and tucked her into bed. Crawling in behind her, he looped his strong arm around her and pulled her into his muscled chest. “Still donna believe I have you in my arms. Does this mean you forgive me?”
* * *
“I shouldn’t,” she replied.
His lips twitched in amusement. “No, you shouldn’t. You should make me pay for all that I’ve done. I should have believed in you.”
“You should have,” she easily agreed, earning her a guilty look from him. “But I can understand why you didn’t. That night was full of chaos and death. You’d been traumatized. You lost everything.”
“I’m only now coming to understand that you did too.” he replied, cupping her cheek. “Will you let me make it up to you . . . for the rest of our lives?”
She blinked up at him, stunned. “What are you saying, exactly?”
“I’ve spent too much time away from you. Missing you so much I feared eternal misery. I may have been a surly prick, but these last few days with you have been the happiest I’ve experienced since . . . well, forever, and it has made me realize I never want us to part again.”
Her heart swelled. “But you haven’t heard the truth about what happened that night.”
He was quiet for a moment. “I know you didn’t kill Lizbet. I think a part of me always knew. You couldn’t kill a flea. You’re remarkably kind. Gentle. Even though it was necessary, hurting Lockheed distressed you.”
He was right. Lockheed didn’t deserve her pity, but seeing him unconscious like that had reminded her of the shock of finding Lizbet on the ground bleeding out.
“You could never have hurt Lizbet,” Khalstorm continued. “But I’d convinced myself . . . well, so much had happened that night. I did see you follow Lizbet into my room, and your face was . . . sinister.
She cocked her head. Sinister? What was he talking about? She hadn’t followed Lizbet anywhere. She’d sifted to his room looking for him and found…
“When I entered a few moments later, you were standing there, looming over her lifeless body holding a knife.”
Confused by what she had stumbled upon, adrenaline surging, instinct took over. She had ripped the knife from Lizbet’s chest, preparing to use magic to heal her, just as he had burst through the door. Envisioning the scene from his perspective, and considering what he’d already endured that night, the chaos, the loss, to what other conclusion could he have jumped?
Still, his story didn’t make sense. “You couldn’t have seen mefollowher into the room because I sifted there from the garden.”
He gave her a befuddled look. “I clearly saw you.
I had just turned a corner and was at the end of the hall. Lizbet didn’t notice me there. She entered the room first, then you just after. But before you did, you turned and smirked at me. I’d never seen you make such a dark expression. It sent a chill through me.”
She shook her head. “That can’t be. I was never in that hall that night. At that time, I wasn’t even aware of what was happening inside the castle. I’d swiped a bottle of wine from the kitchen and had been in the garden most of the night by myself drinking… hadn’t exactly been in the mood to celebrate your upcoming nuptials,” she explained. “I was trying to let go of you in my heart, but…after my third glass, I’d decided to find you and tell you how I felt about you. Convince you to run away with me…but”—she closed her eyes against her distress—“Lizbet was lying there with her throat slit and a knife plunged in her chest. I was shocked and more than a little confused, but then I went into autopilot. I pulled the blade from her chest and was about to conjure healing magic.” She paused. The memory was still painful, the conflicting emotions. This was her rival. The woman destined for the man she loved. Nonetheless, the idea ofnothelping her never entered her mind. “That’s when you entered. You saw me, holding the knife, Lizbet dead, and your expression became so menacing. I knew what you thought had happened. In a split second I’d lost your love and trust. I became your enemy.”
“I should have let you explain yourself.”
“You’d just witnessed your mother and father killed. Seeing your fiancé like that only moments later…it would have broken anyone.”
“I lunged at you,” he grated sorrowfully. “I’d pulled my sword on you. I would have…If you hadn’t sifted away…I’d might have done something unforgivable.” Pain laced his words and he met her gaze. “I could have killed you.”
“I know,” she agreed, her voice surprisingly steady and without emotion. “So I sifted away . . . into the clutches of Rathmort and my mother. The sad truth is the thing I’m most guilty of is that I knew they’d been up to something nefarious. I couldn’t have guessed what, though. I believed my mother only wanted to seduce the king…to garner favors from him. I thought she and Rathmort wanted to ally with the kingdom and eventually move our coven to the white forest with the King’s blessing. Inevercould have imagined the horrors they had in store that night. I swear, I would have tried to stop them. I would have warned you. Khalstorm, Iswearit.”
He held her tighter. “I believe you.”
“Earlier that evening, my mother had asked me to lure Lizbet away, to somewhere secluded. My intuition went haywire and, for the first time in my life, I’d refused her. When Rathmort found out, he was furious. And so, that earned me a permanent stay in Garnath’s dungeon.”
“As I was hauled off to the dungeons of Windguard for the murder of Lizbet.”
