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“I don’t let them straighten it more than once a week. And even then, I insist they move nothing, or I would never find it again.”
“So, I shouldn’t touch anything,” I murmured.
“No. Please do touch. Explore. Rearrange.” His voice was soft as he caught my chin and guided my face up toward his. Without releasing it, he traced my bottom lip with his thumb. “I want this to be our room, yours and mine, a retreat from the world.” His focus settled on my mouth as his eyes changed, the blue deepening. “I am going to kiss you again,” he whispered against my mouth before doing just that.
The kiss in the foyer had been hasty—pleasant, but brief. This one was not. He explored my mouth and enticed me to do the same with his. By the time he finally lifted his head sometime later, I was breathless and trembling.
“I have to leave you here.” Regret roughened his tone. “The curse breaking means there is much to do, and I need to attend to many things.”
I nodded, still struggling to clear my pleasure-addled head. “Your people need you.”
He smiled slow and warm. “I will return when I can. Sleep. Then we can talk.” He smoothed my tousled hair back from my face. “Thank you for understanding.”
I scrunched up my nose at him. “I expected as much. After all, I married a king, and his people need him.”
“And I need you.” He kissed me on the tip of my nose with an impish grin. “Now rest.”
Then he was gone, only the barest of air movements betraying his disappearance into the shadows. In his wake, the lights dimmed once more and the curtains moved over the windows of their own accord, blocking out the sunrise. Whether he intended the light change as a way to encourage my compliance or because he wished to prevent me from reading instead of sleeping, it made no difference. Exhaustion drove me to the bedside, and I fell gratefully into the softness of blankets and pillows. Deep, dreamless sleep claimed me almost immediately.
Sometime later, Emrys returned and climbed into bed next to me. Gathering me close, he pulled the covers over both of us and settled into sleep. I drifted off a second time, cocooned in warmth and the comforting scent of night.
~~~~~
Emrys
I woke to the sweetest of sensations. My new wife pressed against my side. Her hand, small and delicate, rested palm down in the center of my chest, and her head nestled in the crook of my arm. My uncanny awareness of her heart rate offered me the reassurance that her heart was behaving as it should.
Merlon had explained in a quiet moment that morning that he hadn’t been able to heal her completely. He had stabilized her, and our joining would make the attacks few and far apart, but she needed an intensive healing session to set everything permanently straight. Something she might not wish to partake in, but I hoped she would learn to trust Merlon eventually. For such a gruff personality, he tended to grow on people.
That news, however, was the least of my worries. The curse remained. We had broken only the part binding me and my personal magic, according to the experts on curses. After spewing a great deal of jargon, they finally explained their new discovery of a second part of the curse. I still was cut off from the land magic, my birthright. The working theory was that the magus still held that part captive via his hold on my sister, Alora, but such was only an educated guess.
Instinctively aware of the rising sun beyond the closed curtains, I knew we needed to leave the bed. My freedom from the curse meant a year’s worth of work demanded my attention. My spymaster and his brother would arrive in a few hours to consult on our next steps, and I needed to be prepared enough to not appear an imbecile.
Still, Kate slept so peacefully, and I didn’t want to let her go. Once we rose, we would be driven in different directions. I needed to continue strategizing, and she would require orientation to her new role as queen. Gowns, shoes, the choosing of attendants, and much more awaited her.
As though disturbed by my growing tension, Kate stirred, nuzzling my side as she burrowed deeper into the covers. She still wore the dress from the day before. I hoped it meant she had fallen straight into bed as soon as I left her the morning before. I had done same after I returned arranging the hunt for the magus and my sister.
Kate stirred again. Murmuring something unintelligible, she fisted her hand in my shirt front. “No!” Shoving away from me, she scrambled back, almost throwing herself from the bed. She halted on her hands and knees, wild-eyed and frightened.
“Morning, wife,” I said calmly, despite the protective instincts demanding I reach for her. The rigidity of her whole body clearly communicated a touch of any kind would not be welcome at that moment.
Her dark eyes blinked and slowly focused on my face. Then she sagged into a heap on the bedding, burying her face in the blankets she had just flung away. “I am sorry.” Her voice was muffled against the bedding, but I could make out the words clearly. She lifted flushed features. “I yelled, didn’t I?”
I nodded.
She groaned softly. “If I woke you, I am so sorry.”
“Don’t be. I have been awake for some time. I feared my tension had disturbed your rest.” I eased up to a sitting position. “But it was a dream, wasn’t it?”
She nodded. A waterfall of hair escaped the doomed remnants of her pins and cascaded over her shoulders in a sheet of rumpled, warm chestnut. “A mishmash of being forced to marry LaRue and a doctor bleeding me while I was tied down to a table.” She shivered.
Reaching across the bed, I offered my open palm. She placed her hand in mine, and I used it to pull her across to my side. Kate melted against me, nuzzling against my shoulder.
“LaRue can’t have you,” I informed her before pressing the briefest of kisses to the top of her bent head. “You are my wife now, and I will see that no doctors harm you for the rest of your life.”
“What about healers?” She lifted her head, a wry twist to her mouth.
“I still hold onto the hope that my healer will grow on you. He says one intense healing session is all that it will take for you to be completely whole.”
