“I knew you were beautiful. I knew you smelled good. I knew you filled out a gown very nicely. I knew you could cook. I knew your cheeks got pink and your eyes lit when you were excited. I knew in just weeks you made friends, you chattered brightly, you were interested in me, you smiled easily, you laughed readily, you would come to my defense when you thought I faced danger, you responded to my touch and,” he grinned, “you did that wildly.”
I rolled my eyes.
Frey kept talking so I rolled them back.
“And I left you alone in my cabin and you didn’t just survive, you thrived so I knew you were an uncommon woman, an uncommon woman who would match me. So I knew you, Finnie, and I bound you to me knowing I wanted to know you more and knowing I would like having a lifetime of that discovery.”
Oh my God, did he just say that?
I stared at him, my heart in my throat.
He said it.
Then, my voice husky, I started to threaten, “Frey Drakkar, if you make me cry –”
He cut me off. “But what I didn’t know until later was when the elves bound you to this world, they also bound you to me so when I returned from their realm, I knew where you were, I sensed you, I could find you, I went right to you, taking the dragons with me. I sent a messenger to bring my men to me so they would be safe from the dragon’s fire then, as you ran with your witches through the forest, I knew exactly where you were so the fire I aimed from my beasts never got near you.”
That was when I blinked and breathed, “Really?”
He grinned again and whispered, “Really.”
“Cool.” I whispered back, still on a breath and watched my husband’s grin get bigger.
Then his face grew soft and his warm eyes roamed my own as he muttered, “By the gods, I hope you never lose your wonder for all that is life, my wee Finnie.”
“Well, as long as I’m in a world with fire breathing dragons, magical elves, hot guys who are impervious to extreme heat and fantastic ships straight out of a movie that are named after me, I don’t think that’s gonna happen,” I told him and his head tilted to the side.
“Straight out of a what?”
I cupped his jaw, lifted my head and touched my mouth to his.
Then I dropped my head back down to the pillow and whispered, “I’ll explain later.”
The look in his eyes shifted, that shift corresponded to a tingle someplace really good and his hand slid from my jaw, down my neck, my chest and my side as he murmured, “You will?”
“Unh-hunh,” I agreed, pressing my body to his as my hands moved on him and his head dipped closer, his nose sliding along mine.
“When?” he asked quietly.
“Later,” I answered, hooking a leg around his hip.
His lips came so close I could feel his breath on mine but his eyes stayed open and held mine captive.
“So then, what are we going to do now?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” I said breathily. “Do you have any ideas?”
“A few,” he answered, his voice slightly gruff, his hand sliding back up my side to cup my breast.
I drew in a soft breath.
“I think I might like your ideas,” I told him.
“I know you will,” he told me.
“Sure of yourself?” I teased, his thumb slid across my nipple, my back arched and I drew in a breath that was not at all soft.
“Yes,” he answered, his eyes smiling but still lit with that lazy, sexy light.
One of my hands slid up the sleek skin of his back and into his hair. “You could tell me what it’s like in the elves’ realm,” I suggested.
“Later,” he whispered, his lips still close, his thumb now circling my nipple.
I bit my lip as the sensations curled through me and I waited, breathlessly, for his mouth to take mine.
When I didn’t get it, I prompted on a whisper, “Seriously, baby, are you going to kiss me, or what?”
My husband made me wait half a second while, super close, he looked deep in my eyes.
Then, just like Frey, he gave me what I wanted.
He kissed me.
* * * * *
Incidentally, I slept soundly that night and, except on a rare occasion, every night after.
* * * * *
One month later…
In the Queen’s Study, Rimee Keep, Snowdon.
I stood silently at the window in my mother’s study, my body facing it but my head was turned so I could see the people at the desk.
Frey, Calder, Apollo, Olwen, Norfolk and Walter were standing at one side, the heads of three once Lunwynian, then Middlelandian, again Lunwynian Houses stood at the other side. All three had not participated in the rebellion and, for their refusal to support that campaign, they had all been imprisoned throughout the short war by Broderick then the other heads.
Now, they were not.
Mother stood behind the desk, bent over it, signing a huge, poster board-sized piece of parchment.
Baldur stood next to her watching her with a stony face.
She straightened and offered her silver pen to him.
His lip curled as he looked at the pen.
“Do not delay, Baldur,” Apollo said low. “Your carriage awaits and the rest of us have things to do.”
Baldur glared at Apollo then he looked to Mother.
“It is my understanding, my son showed kindness to your daughter before she slaughtered him,” he noted coldly.
Mother didn’t show any reaction to this pointless comment which was a miracle considering all the other things that were not kind that Broderick did, including ordering her (and my) husband to be murdered and she stated blandly, “And it is my understanding she actually didn’t slaughter him, she delivered a wound that was not lethal but, instead, it was one of the men of The Drakkar, acting correctly on what he felt would be his absent commander’s wishes, who ran your son through.” She paused then finished, not even trying to hide her pride, “But she did, of course, take the life of his lover.”
Baldur’s mouth got tight and his eyes slid through the heads on either side, avoiding mine as they went and then he whispered, “This is preposterous. This woman does not even have the blood of a Wilde and she’s a woman for the gods’ sakes.”
“Your options have been explained, Baldur,” Frey reminded him quietly. “You made your choice. With this delay, are you saying you’re undecided?” Baldur’s eyes went to Frey and Frey concluded, “For if you are, I will be happy to make the choice for you.”
“My choice has not changed,” Baldur snapped and I was guessing it wouldn’t for his choices were abdicating all claim to his throne by signing that paper and then immediately leaving on his journey to be exiled to a small island somewhere south, far away from here or a trial for impeachment which might end in a lifelong exile not on a sunny isle but in a cold dungeon. “But it is my due and I wish it to be known that you and your heads have acted well beyond the bounds of decency and respect. Dragon fire and trials of treason for heads of Houses? It is ridiculous. These are games of politics as they have been played for centuries.”
“We are moving into a new era,” Aurora announced softly, her eyes on Baldur, “where politics do not include assassinations and clashes of steel but diplomacy. And the heads who remain are enthusiastic about Lunwyn’s bright future.”
Baldur’s eyes narrowed on her and he snapped, “At your command, you will lead the new Lunwyn to misery and my people will revolt.”
“We shall see,” Aurora murmured then her face brightened slightly. “Though, in opening your treasury, abolishing your paper currency and allowing our reunited citizens to trade their paper currency for coin, they seem
