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I nodded again, reaching up to wipe away my tears. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me for caring. Doing so is the greatest privilege of my life.” He pulled me back into his arms and hugged me tightly. I wrapped my arms around him too, squeezing him.
“I’m really glad I found you,” I said quietly.
He squeezed my thigh twice. “As am I.”
A few minutes later, Zoran released me, and I reluctantly let go of him. “I still don’t feel like I have a sheet of rules or guidelines to follow,” I told him, brushing hair from my eyes. “We’ll go to bed together every night, but what else? Are we having sex? Kissing? Waiting until we’ve been together longer? Do we tell each other everything? I need to know how to do this right.”
His lips curved upward when I gestured between us, and he signed, “You’re doing it right by existing, Cier. I don’t think we need rulebooks. You treat me as you would a close friend, and when I seduce you, you say yes or no. There’s no pressure for anything more.”
My cheeks flushed. “Whenyou seduce me?”
He grinned wickedly. “Yes,when. I’ve already had a taste of you, and I want more.”
“And your instincts will get difficult if we don’t satisfy them, right?”
“They will. I won’t allow them to reach that point, though.”
Honestly, I believed him. I’d seen how little control he had in his bedroom, and if he’d been dealing with that shit since he started staying away from me, he had to have willpower of steel.
Hopefully he’d apply that to our relationship, too. It would make me feel more comfortable if he became a steady, certain force. Eventually, I’d develop my own certainty, but it wasn’t going to happen in a heartbeat.
“Okay. I think when youdoget around to seducing me, you should start with the most basic things. Maybe kissing? You’re apparently very experienced at that, but I’m clueless.”
He scowled. “Being attacked by a few females’ mouths over the years does not qualify asvery experienced. I was looking for a mate, not a woman to make out with.”
My curiosity piqued. “You were looking for a mate?”
“Of course I was. I was alone for a very long time. Though I’ve had the kings, being deaf has separated me from them. They sign for me, and I read lips, but I miss some of the jokes, and some of the conversations with more substance. It can be difficult to connect completely when I cannot communicate the same way they do. I’m grateful to hear your voice; it makes me feel closer to you.”
Realization hit me. “Did you listen to me when we were apart for all those months?”
He dipped his head in a nod and signed, “When I couldn’t fight it. I worried hearing you would push me to your side. I should’ve been listening closer though. Then I would’ve known you weren’t being accepted by my people, and heard my guard threaten you.”
“He didn’t hurt me that badly. It healed fast, anyway,” I said quickly, not wanting to reignite Zoran’s hatred for the guy. He’d seemed nice enough in the marketplace, and there was a good chance him spreading the word about me sparing his life was part of the reason the people were being so nice to me.
His expression grew dark. “The fact that you bled at all in my kingdom shows poorly on me as both your mate and your king. It won’t happen again.”
“Myking?” I tried to change the subject playfully, to distract him from his growing emotions.
“Yes, Cier. And I’ll remind you of that as many times as I must. But stop trying to convince me not to be angry with myself and my guard for what happened.”
I laughed. “I just can’t win with you.”
“Well you can’t win everything, and you did end up mated to a king.” He winked at me.
“Yet you can win everything, naturally,” I shot back.
“Naturally,” he agreed.
We grinned at each other, and I remembered why I had loved being his friend so much. Zoran and I just got along so damn well, when we weren’t pissed at each other.
Though I supposed if he really did start trying to seduce me, our anger would find its place too—and morph into passion, if all went well.
Chapter12
We decidedto spend the rest of the day catching up on sleep and missed meals, and head out looking for Crest in the morning. Zoran seemed perfectly content to stay in my little house, but honestly, I was curious about the castle. I’d only ever been in the throne room, and now, his bedroom too.
