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“You win!” he exclaimed, and they both laughed. “Aaand I’m hard as a rock. This is so inappropriate right now. Thank you for that.”
“Victory is sweet,” she said with a wistful sigh. “You had no problems getting down?”
“From the Rookery?”
Ana nodded.
“They delivered me as safely as they’d taken me,” he said. “But you, how did you...”
Ana tilted her head, looking straight up. “I don’t remember anything until you found me in the barn. And I would be surprised if I ever do. I’m not even sure I want to.”
“But it worked?”
“I... felt myself being ripped away from that place, like cutting rot away from a festering wound. Piece by piece it excised me, and the last thing I remember is thinking, it’s done. Never again will he haunt their spires.” Ana closed her eyes. “How is the Rookery? Did it all...”
“Parts are gone, but it’s mostly still intact.”
Ana sighed in gratitude. She’d feared the cost of her ward had been the destruction of the very place she’d been trying to protect. “Has Elyria been down since?”
“She spent half a day with your father behind closed doors,” Tyreste said. “I tried to speak to her, but she cut me off with that icy stare she’s so good at.”
“I know it.” Ana’s smile didn’t reach her eyes. “I have something that belongs to her people, and I would like the chance to return it.”
Tyr knew what she was talking about but didn’t want to reignite her pain. “I’m sure she’ll be back. Your father, when he visits you, speaks of alliances. Of the important role you’ll play in the formation of a renewed agreement.”
“He’s been here?” Her eyes lit up, hopeful.
“He’s so much better, Ana,” Tyr replied with an exhalation of relief. It was good to be delivering joyous news, amid so much uncertainty. “He reminds me of the man I met when I moved here.”
Ana’s eyes welled with tears. She sucked her lower lip in. “You can’t know the joy that brings me.”
Tyr kissed the underside of her chin. “I think I do.”
Ana’s eyes fluttered closed. “Maybe you do.” She yawned. “I know I’ve slept for a long time, but I feel like I could keep on sleeping forever.”
“There’s no reason to rush it,” he said to assure her. “We have all the time in the world.”
“No, we don’t,” she said, suddenly solemn. She turned her head on the pillow toward him. “Life is far too short not to claim the future we want. And now... now that the worst is behind us, I’m desperate to live, Tyreste. To reallylive,while I still can.”
His mouth watered with the words on the tip of his tongue. He’d memorized them in different orders, enough that they’d all begun to blur.Marry me. Be my wife. Allow me the honor of making you as happy as you’ve always made me.
“That said, I love you, and I want to be your wife,” she blurted, her eyes wide and searching. “If you’ll have me.”
Tyreste burrowed his face against her neck, pulling a string of giggles from her. “Dammit, woman! You stole my moment!” His racing heart pulsed behind his eyes, sending spots into his vision. All the time he’d spent worrying over the right words, when she’d managed them on a whim.
“What? You were going to askme?”
Tyr balked. “You’re really so surprised that I’d want to marry you?”
“Well... yes.” Ana slid and propped herself up against the headboard. “I’m a mess. Any man who takes me on also takes on the stewardship of Witchwood Cross, which is no small responsibility. Our child, of course, sweetens the deal, but I don’t particularly enjoy the idea of being chosen for that reason alone—”
Tyreste climbed up and silenced her with a hungered kiss. “Stop talking, Ana.”
“But—”
“Love,” he said, burying his tongue in her mouth and enjoying the little whimper that followed. “I’ve already spoken to your father. He gave his blessing.”
Ana reared back in mock offense. “And you didn’t tell me?”
