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“I’m just a peasant who finds himself at court. You want pretty words, sweetheart, hmm?” His thumb feathered over my lips, tugging the bottom one away slightly before it dipped inside, swiping along the wet, warm flesh. “If that’s what you need, you have to find yourself a well-spoken prince. I just so happen to know one.”
My heart pounded the back of my throat. “I don’t want him.”
“Yes, you do. You can always refuse to act on the urge of your bond, but you can’t deny the urge itself. But be that as it may, I’m not someone who murmurs honeyed endearments, Galantia,” he rasped as he lifted his head, letting our breaths mingle. “I’d much rather show you.”
“But I need to—”
His full lips captured mine in a heart-rending kiss that stalled my pulse, infusing my blood with such desire, I shook uncontrollably in the ungiving clasp of his arm. His fingers tangled in my hair, trembling with the same desperate intensity as his breath against my mouth. I opened for him, allowing his tongue to lap at the inside of my mouth, stoking flames of longing deep in my belly. Gods, I’d wanted this kiss for so long. So long!
The world melted away under the searing intensity of his kiss, stripped of all pretenses. His lips moved over mine with a tenderness that was achingly sweet, a quiet affirmation of something more. The heat of his mouth, the way he held me so close against his warm body, told me more about his feelings than words ever could.
This was no meaningless gesture, no fleeting carnal craving. It was a silent vow, a pledge that seeped into my veins and echoed in my heartbeat. His fingers tightened in my hair, holding me close, and a soft moan escaped me as I clung to him, lost in the potent mix of hope, desire, and an emotion that felt suspiciously like love.
“There,” Sebian breathed as he pulled back, staring up at me from glistening eyes, hard breaths fanning over his parted lips. “How was that, hmm?”
A smile curled my lips as I cupped his cheek, running a nail over his stubble. “Scratchy.”
“Is it?” His chuckle banned all earlier sorrow from his tone. “Malyr flies much faster than I do. I had to decide: shave or keep up with him. I’ll get rid of it tonight, hmm?”
I nodded. “Please do.”
“That kiss was long overdue, and there will be a lot more in the future, if you’ll have me. But just for the record, because I’m not going to risk your doubt again over three fucking words,” he tugged the back of my head, pulling my mouth back to his as he rasped, “I love you.”
Another kiss, almost savage in its intensity. I gasped into his mouth, my heart pounding in my chest like a wild drum. His taste, his scent, the raw emotion vibrating between our lips—it was like an inferno that consumed me, burning away all doubt and fear.
He loves me.
Truly loves me.
A deep clearing of one’s throat sounded behind us, followed by Asker’s baritone. “Prince Malyr needs Lady Galantia by the north-eastern cliff.”
Sebian sighed and glanced around, but made no attempt at shifting me off him. “She’s recovering.”
“He is aware, but this is an urgent matter,” he said. “We made a discovery.”
ChapterSeventeen
Galantia
Present Day, Tidestone
After Asker left, I quickly dressed. Sebian led me outside into the quiet chill of the balcony, but it took me less than three steps before they slowly faltered.
“Not a single catapult tower remained standing.” My gaze wandered along the outer wall, parts of it crumbled, a shaky hand pressing to my stomach when my attention landed on a small, lonely shoe down in the inner bailey. A child’s shoe. “Did Malyr spare anyone?”
Sebian gave me a pinched look. “You know the answer to that, sweetheart.”
Yes, I knew. Benevolence wasn’t a part of Malyr’s personality.
My breathing turned flat as if my lungs refused to pull down the scent of bloodshed that tainted the air. Maids who had brushed my hair, girls who had brought kindling for fire, stewarts who had cleaned my chamber pot. Unless they’d escaped, all these people were now lying somewhere in heaps of bloody limbs and pale faces. Maybe black faces.
“How many died?”
“Too many. At the same time, not even a fraction of what Asker feared he might lose of our army, so there’s that.” Sebian took my gloved hand, slowly leading me down the spindling stone stairs so my feet wouldn’t get caught in the train of my brown, fox-lined winter dress. “Two hundred and sixty something Ravens, most of them ripped from the sky by nets or arrows during the first wave of the attack.”
We emerged from the stairs, stepping into the inner bailey. “I meant how many humans.”
He took me in for a moment, inhaling a long breath before he said, “Again, too many.”
