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Surrounded by all my men, full of accomplishment and glory, I sighed in contentment. For the first time in a long time, I felt like everything would be alright.
29
Braz
Iopened the coop and said, “Come on, girls. Time to wake up.” A smile spread over my face as the many palace chickens clucked and began making their way out into the yard. I threw feed on the ground, spreading it out so all the chickens had a chance to eat some, then I walked to the back of the coop to collect the eggs for this morning’s breakfast.
“I thought I’d find you here,” Florin said as he came around the corner and yawned. “Did you really have to pick a job that has you climbing out of our warm bed so early in the morn?”
“I didn’t mean to wake you, shortcake.” He waved me off, and I sent him a small smile. “I’ve missed having chickens.”
His gaze softened. “I know you have, big guy. I’m glad they have you to care for them while we’re here.” He cleared his throat. “Theon and I sometimes talk about finding a house on a small farm away from everything, and he always says we can live anywhere I want as long as we can have chickens for Braz.”
My eyes widened. “He does?”
“Yes. He loves you very much and wants you to be happy… as do I.”
My heart leapt in my chest, and my throat clogged with emotion for a long moment. “I… I feel the same.”
The expression he gave me was fond. “I know you do.”
Clearing my throat, I placed another egg in my basket. “I wonder how long we’ll be here.”
Florin stretched his arms over his head. “I’m not sure. Wey’s been pretty close-lipped about Kasper’s plans.”
Grabbing another egg, I set it in the basket and faced him. “I think they’re nervous about an attack from Enos or Zyon.”
He hummed in agreement.
We’d only been in Tisak for three weeks and were still settling in and making sure there were no mage-loyals in the kingdom. But already, Kasper, Wey, Theon, and all the other advisors and leaders of the Resistance were planning how to free the slaves in the other two kingdoms. When I’d first heard of the plan to take Tisak, the largest and most central kingdom, I hadn’t thought it was a good idea. Why not start smaller and on one of the outer kingdoms where we’d only have to worry about being attacked from one side?
But then I realized exactly why thiswasa great plan. With us occupying Tisak, Enos and Zyon could no longer trade, could no longer communicate with one another, and most importantly, they couldn’t bring both their armed forces together to attack us. We’d cut them off from their supplies, and hopefully, in time, that would work to our advantage.
Florin sat on a bench nearby—there were many benches spread throughout the palace grounds—smiling at me. “Will you sit with me?”
I felt my lips quirk up as I nodded and placed the last egg in the basket before heading over to him. The bench dipped from my weight, and Florin smiled up at me as he leaned into my side. Setting the basket on the ground, I wrapped my arm around his shoulders and kissed the top of his head without thinking.
It made his smile grow, and in a swift and graceful move, Florin kneeled on the bench and swung one leg over to straddle my thigh. He was still shorter than me by quite a lot, but it put him at a higher level so he could easily meet my gaze.
His lavender eyes flicked between mine, then followed his fingertips as he ran them over my brow, my cheeks, and my tusks. My breath caught in my throat as I stared at him, but my arms moved of their own accord, coming up to splay my hands on his back, holding him close.
A small smile lit up his whole face, and he whispered, “You’re beautiful, you know.”
I sucked in a breath.
“I’ve always thought so.”
Before I had a chance to formulate any kind of sentence or even a single word, Florin leaned in and pressed his soft lips to mine. A gasp came out of me before I moaned and leaned in to press back. I felt him smile against my lips as he draped his arms over my shoulders, rubbed the shaved sides of my head, and played with my braided-back mohawk. I wrapped my arms tighter around him so he was flat against my chest as our tongues gently slid together.
When we broke the kiss, I smiled at him, cupped his cheek, and whispered, “Wow.”
He let out a small laugh that was free and filled with delight—it made my stomach swoop pleasantly. “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that.”
“I would’ve welcomed it. I’ve wanted to kiss you for months.”
His grin softened, and he leaned forward to rest our foreheads together. “Well, now we can both stop dancing around it. You’re welcome to kiss me anytime you want.”
“In that case…” I kissed him again, and he laughed against me, but I pulled back after only a moment. “And you’re welcome to kiss me anytime you want.”
