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She took a breath and a firm grip on her hopeful heart. “Why?”
“Why?” he nearly shouted, throwing up his hands. “To prove to you that I want to marry you, of course! I had to hike to Annfwn, talk someone into lending me a boat, then sailed all over to find theHákyrling, so I could—”
“Wait.” She held up a hand, though he’d stopped immediately. “You hiked through the Wild Lands in a blizzard, drunk off your ass and—”
“I wasn’tthatdrunk,” he interrupted.
“That’s not what I heard.”
“I exaggerated. Standard technique for extracting maximum coin from chumps. They always bet more if they think you’re out of your wits.”
“Are you calling my stepfather a chump?” she asked in a dangerous tone.
Jak grinned easily. “You know the saying about walking and talking like a duck.”
She stomped her foot. Nearly hurled the ring at the wall, except she liked it too much. Wanted it, far far too much. “Why, Jak? Why would you go do such a foolish thing?”
“Not foolish,” he said very seriously. “When it comes to you, I’m not taking the risk of you having the least doubt about me. About us.” He dipped his chin at the fist she clutched around the precious ring. “Now you have solid evidence, something to hold and to look at every day, to remind you that I absolutelydowant to be married to you. That I’ll take on any challenge, endureany trial—even an obnoxiously huge wedding that makes you miserable—and I’ll do those things with joy, as long as it means that I can be with you forever.”
“I didn’t need this,” she said, opening her hand to gaze at the incredible jewel.
“You did.” He took it from her and slid it onto her finger. With his touch on her skin, the force of his love flowed into her, overwhelming and perfect, unbreakable. “The moment I saw it, I thought of you. It’s like you—unique, precious, and full of shadows that hold dazzling light. I always meant to give it to you. My mistake was that I didn’t go get it sooner.”
“No.” She shook her head, aware she was weeping. “I love it, but I love you more. The mistake was mine. I’d rather have had you with me all these weeks than believing that you’d left me and didn’t—” She cut herself off, abruptly aware of his spike of temper, his dark eyes glinting as they narrowed.
“But you knew I’d come back,” he said in a low, level tone that held that dangerous edge again.
She gazed at him, her back still pressed against the wall, unsure of how to dig herself out of this one.
“Didn’t you?” he pressed, releasing her hand and the physical contact, but once again bracing his hands against the stones on either side of her head. “Because I promised you that I would always be with you, no matter what, andyou—you promised to believe me.”
“But youdidleave,” she protested.
“I didn’t leave because you told me to go—no power on earth could make me leave you and it fucking pisses me off no end that you could believe I did.”
“I only believed it because…” She had to swallow. “I sent you away.”
He stared at her, his incredulity rising to swirl with his outrage and frustration. “My star,” he ground out, “have you any idea how many times you’ve tried to send me away?”
“No,” she breathed, the ring heavy on her finger, accusing her with its unaccustomed weight.
“Guess,” he invited silkily.
“Jak,” she replied, her voice shaking with nerves, “I really don’t know. Many times.”
“Many,manytimes,” he agreed, eyes flashing as he leaned in, still not touching her, but crowding her in every other way. “Here’s an easier question for you to answer. How many times did it work? That is, out of all those times you sent me away, for how many of them did I manage tostayaway from you?”
Relief began to warm its way through the icy dread at her core and a smile wobbled its way over her lips. “Never.”
“Never,” he echoed firmly. “And that will always be true. Stella, you are the star I sail by. You are the radiant star that illuminates my universe. I will always,always, always return to you. One day you’ll believe in that.”
He had a point, she supposed. Still. “You could have left a note.”
“I didn’t think I needed to,” he retorted, then added, in a surly tone, “I may have been alittledrunk.”
With a soft laugh, she reached up to caress his cheek over his beard, the hair silky despite its longer, scraggly appearance. The black diamond glinted in dark counterpoint, as gimlet bright as his eyes. Emotion flooded her, fully her own, a love so overwhelming she knew she’d never be able to walk away from him either.
He jerked his cheek away from her touch, and she paused, questioning. “I’m rather angry with you that you doubted me,” he explained. “I don’t want to batter you with it.”
