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“Not Xandra.” Cassia sighed against him, holding him close.
Lio ran his hands down her back. “You know your first time was mine, too. What part of ‘Xandra and I never made love’ says ‘we have a future together’?”
“I attributed that to your stellar sense of propriety.”
“Yes, I was very proper before I went to Tenebra.” He cupped her buttocks in his hands.
She laughed and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I thought it was you who corrupted me, Sir Heretic. I begin to see I helped you off your pedestal in return.”
“I spent my whole life trying to do everything right. Then I met you, and I realized all that truly matters is doing the right thing.”
“The way you do everything is right for me, Lio.”
“You and I are right, my rose. Xandra and I weren’t and never would be.”
“She’s powerful and beautiful and kind. How could I not be jealous?”
Lio’s expression was grave. “Xandra is indeed a lovely person. But she is missing one essential aspect that I cannot live without.”
Cassia searched his gaze, waiting for his answer.
He kissed her nose. “Freckles. I must have freckles. Lots of them.”
She laughed and enjoyed his next kiss. Wondrous. By some magic, she, Cassia, was the person Lio could not live without.
He needed her, just as she needed him.
“All is clear between us now?” he asked.
“Hmm. Do you have any other secret connections to the royal family you wish to confess?”
His mouth quirked. “Annassa Soteira delivered me.”
“As she does for all bloodborn, yes.”
“I see my friends have been free with my secrets tonight. But not the darkest one.” He paused dramatically. “Kia and I once destroyed one of Aunt Kona’s legal scrolls during a failed magical experiment. Please, do not give us up to her. I still fear her retribution.”
They laughed together. She traced the unshaven stubble that framed his flawless mouth.
He rested his forehead upon hers. “So you feel completely reassured that no other lady is cause for concern?”
“I do,” she marveled. “Although I needed more reassurance than I probably should have. I suppose…it is a recent discovery of mine…that there are times when life does not wound us. I still forget easily, and slide back into my old habit of hardening myself against the ills I am accustomed to expect.”
“Cassia.” His voice and his arms were so gentle. “No ills shall befall you here.”
“You have to understand, in the world I’m used to, good things like you don’t happen to people like me. Those with rank and family like yours don’t choose the concubine’s bastard over the princess. I’m sorry. I’m still so Tenebran in some ways.”
“You know rank and birth don’t matter in Orthros.”
“But it does matter that Xandra is the Queens’ daughter. The Eighth Princess and Firstgift Komnenos seem so perfect.”
“I don’t want perfection. I want you.”
“Lio. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me.”
She kissed him again. His hands tightened, holding her body against his. She stroked his braid, his oath to her. He had promised he would say all that needed to be said after their long time apart, but acknowledged it would take time. How well she understood. She had her own store of unsaid words.
Was it too soon to say them? If she waited, would it be too late?
