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“You’re always formidable.”
She leaned against the tree, placing space between them. Her hands slid from around his neck but lingered over his chest. “I never did thank you,” she said, eyes flashing toward the guards. “For keeping my secret. About my magic, about…well, a lot of things.”
He gave her a wry grin. “Yes, I seem to recall you being too busy yelling at me when last we spoke to properly thank me.”
She playfully swatted his chest, but he caught her fingers and brought them to his lips. Holding her gaze, he planted a kiss over the back of her bare, gloveless hand, right over the rounded curves of her knuckles. She bit her lower lip as if that could hide the grin splitting her face. And if it wasn’t the most beautiful godsdamned smile he’d ever seen. He didn’t think she’d ever looked at him like that, and now that he’d seen the expression, he was determined to inspire it a thousand times more.
Her face fell slightly, eyes darting toward the guards again. “We should probably get back before we lose our senses and give them another show.”
Losing his senses was exactly what Teryn wanted to do with her. Just the thought of how good she’d felt against him, against that tree, nearly had him pulling her into his arms all over again. But she was probably right. So instead of kissing her swollen lips and eliciting another one of those glorious moans of hers, he took her hand and placed it at the crook of his elbow. Angling his head toward the path, he said, “Shall we?”
* * *
They fellinto silence as they made their way back toward the castle. Berol soared overhead, sometimes swooping low enough that he could hear the beat of her wings. As much as Teryn wanted to fill the void with conversation, he was grateful for the quiet, for it allowed him to simply enjoy the feel of Cora’s company, of her slender hand warm against his forearm, of the pound of his heart dancing in rhythm with their steps. A pinch of fear crept up now and then, and he’d worry their silence was shifting into the awkward sort. But then he’d glance her way and she’d grin back.
Perhaps there was some awkwardness to their silence, but it was a good kind. One that marked new beginnings. Two people getting to know one another in an entirely new way.
In fact, all of this was new to Teryn. While he’d had his share of lovers, he’d never entertained anything serious. His marriage prospects had always been filtered through political advantage. Which, of course, had resulted in his engagement to Mareleau. Regardless, he’d always been resigned to his fate. After seeing what love had done to his parents and his kingdom, he’d been determined to accept his duty with a cold heart.
But meeting Cora…
She’d changed him in such a short time. He’d made mistakes with her, ones that taught him the dangers of blindly following what he thought was his duty and going against his heart.
Now his duty and his heart were aligned. Because Cora was both.
“What will you do now?” Cora asked, finally breaking their silence. Ridine’s towers peeked over the trees in the distance.
“Well, I…” Teryn frowned. “I don’t actually know. My mind has been so consumed with simply getting here and speaking with you about our engagement, I haven’t thought about what comes next now that the alliance is secure.”
She arched a teasing brow. “Oh, so the alliance is all you came here for?”
“You know I came for more than that,” he said. It was true, although he’d never expected their conversation would end in a kiss. He’d intended to tell Cora the truth. That regardless of her feelings, or lack thereof, his own ran deeper than politics. He hadn’t realized just how deep they ran until she’d refused to entertain such a notion at all. Until he was forced to spell it out—both to himself and her—that hewantedtheir union to be a romantic one. A passionate one.
Had she told him she wanted to keep things platonic between them, he’d have agreed. Grudgingly, yes, but respectfully. But gods, was he thrilled she’d accepted his affection. He wasn’t ready to call it love. Not yet—
“Will you stay?”
Teryn glanced at Cora and found her worrying a corner of her lip.
“Now that you’ve secured the…the alliance, will you return to Dermaine Palace, or will you…stay? For a while at least? Maybe until the peace pact is signed?”
He paused and turned toward her. “I’ll stay. For as long as I can.”
He hoped it would be long indeed and that Verdian and his brothers wouldn’t interfere. He hated that they had a stranglehold on Ridine Castle and the kingdom at large. OnCora’skingdom. He hated that they treated her and her brother like they were still prisoners. Perhaps now that the engagement was secure, they’d respect her title more.
“I’d like that,” she said.
A tendril of dark hair unraveled from her messy updo and fell onto her cheek, but before she could sweep it away, he gently took hold of it. He ran the silken lock between his fingers before tucking it behind her ear.
“My hair is probably a mess right now,” she said, cheeks flushing.
“I like when it’s a mess.” And for the love of all things, he liked it when she blushed. The fact that he could make this fierce, gorgeous little creature blush made his stomach tighten.
She averted her gaze with a poorly hidden smile, and they proceeded toward the castle once more.
* * *
By the timeTeryn returned Cora to the stairwell leading up to the tower room, she’d told him about the task she’d taken on. It gave him no small amount of terror to imagine her in that room surrounded by a dead mage’s possibly enchanted belongings. He knew better than to ask her to stop her work. All he could do was offer his help, which she’d predictably refused.
