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Again, he opened his mouth only to say nothing for several breaths. Finally, he whispered, “It was wrong. We shouldn’t…we shouldn’t have been rewarded for your lie. I shouldn’t have been rewarded for what I did to my father.”
Her heart clenched at that. She remembered what he’d said in her father’s study, how he’d taken the blame for his father’s death. She’d heard the details of what had happened during the battle. Had she been less wrapped up in her own schemes, she might have reassessed the timing of her plan. She bit her lip and took a few steps closer. Her hands begged to reach for him, but she was too afraid he’d evade her touch. “It wasn’t your fault.”
He averted his gaze. “You weren’t there.”
“I didn’t have to be.” She stepped closer again, and this time she did reach for him. Her hands shook as she pressed them to his chest. His heart thumped against her palms. Despite their years of animosity that had resulted from her parents’ trickery, touching him now felt like coming home. Like she hadn’t spent three years thinking he’d abandoned her. “I know you, Larylis. You are the most intelligent man I’ve met. You do nothing without analyzing the alternatives first. You make no choice without weighing it against histories, facts, and probabilities. You are selfless and are constantly trying to make those around you happy and comfortable. You think too little of yourself, but I see you. I know about the difficult choice you made, and I know you made the only one you could.”
He looked down at her, a flash of surprise in his eyes. Then his expression fell, and he looked away from her again. “I can’t help but wonder if it was the wrong decision.”
“You can’t go back.” She lifted a hand from his chest and placed it on his cheek. “Wecan’t go back. I’m sorry for what I did and for all the pain I’ve caused. I’m sorry for the rift I may have driven between you and your brother, but…”
She gently turned his cheek until his eyes met hers. Lifting her chin, she spoke with fierce truth. “I don’t regret it. I’d do it again a hundred times if it meant no one would keep us apart again.”
His eyes widened. Mareleau wasn’t sure if they held awe or terror. She didn’t care. This was the real her. If he was to be her husband, he should know she wasn’t a pretty flower. She was a dragon. She would consume the world and burn it to ash to get what she wanted.
Right now, what she wanted was him.
She stepped closer until her chest brushed his. He stiffened but kept his eyes trained on hers. “Tell me this is wrong,” she dared him, angling her head back. “Tell me you don’t want this. Say the word and I’ll step away from you. We can be husband and wife in name only. You can punish me for my lies and punish yourself for your own perceived crimes.”
He said nothing.
She ran her thumb along his jaw, feeling the slightest hint of stubble beneath the pad of her finger. “Tell me, Larylis.”
His breaths turned sharp and shallow, his wide chest pulsing against her breasts. She refused to widen the space between them, refused to give an inch unless he told her to. His moss-green eyes swam with a hunger that sang through her blood, echoing the desire thrumming in her core.
Finally, he slid an arm around her, his palm skating over the laces of her corset. His other hand covered hers—the one still pressed against his cheek. It sparked a memory from the last time they’d stood this close, the last time he’d placed his hand over hers. They’d been in the drawing room, and she’d been working to frantically undress him when he’d stilled her hands and pulled away.
Her heart lurched as she expected him to do the same now. She held her breath, bracing herself for his rejection—
His lips came down to hers, soft and slow and hungry. She gasped with surprise, with relief, and wound her arms around his neck. They were a tangle of limbs as they moved away from the window. She opened her mouth to deepen the kiss, felt his tongue caress hers. Her legs trembled from the desire that coursed through her, gathering in a burning warmth low in her belly. She gave more and more of her weight over to him, let him lift her beneath her thighs and carry her the rest of the way to the bed. Her back met the plush mattress, the velvet blankets soft against her bare shoulders.
She tugged Larylis closer, searching for buttons to pry loose. He pulled away from her long enough to shrug free from his shirt. She lifted herself on her forearms, desperate not to let the distance between them grow too vast. When he returned to her, his hands moved to her back. With one hand, he untied the laces of her corset. With the other, he unhooked the front closures. Once she was free, he threw the garment on the floor. Her petticoats went next, leaving only her cotton shift to cover her naked flesh.
He paused and pulled back, eyes roving the length of her. The desire filling his gaze was so heady, it emboldened her. With slow motions, she reached for the top of her shift and slowly slid it down her shoulders. Inch by slow inch, she let the cotton skate down her skin, baring her breasts, her torso, her stomach. Finally, she slid it over her hips until she was fully naked before him.
He assessed her again, then leaned in to claim her lips. She pulled back and shook her head. “It’s your turn.”
His lips quirked into a crooked grin—the first smile she’d seen from him all day—and it was the most beautiful sight she’d ever witnessed. Her hands moved to the buttons of his trousers. He trailed kisses down her neck, over her collarbone, over the crest of each breast, as she freed him from his pants. Then, slowly, he lay beside her on the bed, his hands roving her side, her hip, her upper thighs. His gaze turned suddenly timid, but his touch was fire, igniting everywhere their skin met. She bit her lip as his hand curved around her bottom.
“Larylis.” His name came out with a tremor. “I need you. So badly, I need you closer.” She meant it in more ways than one. She wanted his body in this moment more than she’d ever wanted anything. But she wanted his heart too. His mind. His love. The coldness that had stood between them today was too sharp to endure again. They’d already been pulled apart for three years. Now they would be separated again in a matter of days. She’d be stuck at Ridine Castle for at least two weeks, and that didn’t include the travel time to get there. She needed to know a chasm wouldn’t grow between them in her absence. “I need you to love me.”
He drew his hand back up the length of her body, over her thighs, her stomach, her breast, her neck, until he cradled her cheek. Locking his eyes with hers, he said, “With everything that I am, I love you.”
She pulled him down to her and lost herself in his lips, his limbs, his touch. Their hearts met. Their bodies tangled. Amidst the web of lies she’d spun, through the cracks rent by the ferocity of her affection, love dug roots and bloomed.
8
Dinner had been over for two hours, and still Teryn waited. He stood in the courtyard just beyond the doors that led from the palace to the garden, ensuring he wouldn’t miss anyone who entered. No matter how many times footsteps resounded on the stone steps, not a single pair belonged toher.
His heart had sunk with the sun, and now that night had fully fallen, he wasn’t sure he dared hope any longer. He glanced away from the palace doors to the windows of the upper levels. Music streamed from the open balcony of the ballroom, where a celebratory dance was being held. The newlyweds had already been escorted to their wedding chamber, but it seemed the festivities being held in their honor were ongoing. Teryn scanned other balconies, most of them dark, seeking Cora’s room. He knew he could go to her, but there was a reason he’d asked her to see him in the garden tonight. Yet the longer he stayed out here, the more pathetic he found his reason to be.
He released a heavy breath. “Was it really so foolish of an idea to think I could romance her?”
The only answer he received was a sharp peck on his cheek. With a grin, he glanced at Berol, his peregrine falcon. She was perched upon the leather pad he wore over one shoulder, strapped across his dinner jacket. He dared not go outside without it, for Berol refused to let him out of her sight when he was outdoors lately. The falcon had found him the day he’d arrived at Verlot Palace after leaving Centerpointe Rock. Teryn’s relief at seeing her both alive and having forgiven him for yelling at her to go away during the battle had nearly been enough to bring tears to his eyes. He’d been willing to upset her at Centerpointe Rock if it meant keeping her safe, but her short absence had been almost as painful to endure as his physical wounds.
He gave her neck some scritches, which she returned in the form of more nibbles to his cheek.
The sound of a door opening caught his attention, followed by the swoosh of skirts and the patter of feet. Hope bloomed in Teryn’s chest as he angled himself toward whoever had come—
