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“Not when my kingdom is in danger.”
There was something that had been bothering me. I let my fingers play over marks on her throat. There were several of them, overlapping now, changing shape and twisting together.
“Interesting,” I murmured. The way they had begun to entwine fascinated me.
She laid her hand over mine. “You know that I need your help.”
“And you know my sword is yours already,” I said. “All you have to do is tell me where’d, and I’ll be there. So what else did you want to talk about?”
She smiled at me. “You are a wonder, King Caldren.”
“And yet not half as much able to keep up with you,” I returned.
“Maybe I just needed to see you. We’ve been apart… I haven’t liked it.”
The gentle understatement made me smile. “I haven’t liked it either. I was thinking…”
“Always dangerous.”
“Some of us have marked you.”
“Yes…”
“And… you marked some of them in return. But you haven’t marked me.”
“Would you want me to? Would you want people to know that you’re mine? The way the prey have acted toward predators, and predators toward prey… It might be a death sentence.”
“I’d risk death to be yours.”
Honor’s answering smile lit my heart. “You are a romantic, Caldren. And a true king.”
“I preferred being a simple tavern owner,” I told her dryly, but I couldn’t resist kissing her.
“You were only pretending. You were always a king.” She murmured the words into my throat the second before her lips teased against the skin. Gods, her gentle touch resting on my chest was enough to drive me mad.
I pulled away. Reluctantly.
Nora would get my troops ready to ride, so Honor and I could share a moment alone, but it wouldn’t last long. “I don’t know how much more time the two of us will get together.”
“I hate being apart. But we wouldn’t be apart forever. Eventually, our kingdom will be set to rights.”
“Or we’ll be buried together,” I suggested lightheartedly.
“Always an optimist,” she teased me, and then her lips were on mine again.
* * *
Honor
“Have you eaten?”Caldren asked me.
“Last night.”
“We have a long way to go.” He rested his hand on my lower back and drew me with him to the main room, which was empty now. The tables were abandoned. He dished me a plate from the sumptuous breakfast spread. The scent of bacon, fresh-baked bread and baked apples mixed tantalizingly.
“I’m impressed. Your army eats well.”
He flashed me a grin. “Courtesy of King Kallus. Not that he was happy to give us such a generous spread.”
