Page 139 of Ironling
Aislinn’s hands trembled where she clasped them behind her, and tears began to fall from her eyes before she could stop them. She didn’t dare move, though, for fear that this would all be a dream, that he would stop and take his beautiful words back.
“Before you choose, know that I’m not the only one who pledges their loyalty to you. My kin at the otherly camp will stand and fight for you. You’ve offered us a home, a haven, and we’ll fight to defend it. All of us will fight like ten men.”
Murmurs went through the crowd, and Aislinn’s lips parted in surprise.
She hadn’t thought to ask the otherly folk to fight. Allarion had pledged his sword, but the others…they’d come to the Darrowlands looking for peace.
That they would agree to this…
Aislinn searched Hakon’s dear face, and her stomach sank with suspicion.
“What have you done?” she murmured, her fears coalescing when his expression turned grim.
“My land now belongs to them. They are landholders, just asmany gathered here, and owe you their fealty. They will fight.”
He traded his land. The land with the meadow and the outcropping, where he would build his own forge. Where he wanted to take her and lay her down and make love in the flowers in spring.
He gave it up. For her.
More tears came, dripping from her cheeks, but Aislinn couldn’t stop.
His stoic face broke for the first time, and he leaned forward to whisper, “Please don’t cry,vinya.It breaks me to see you cry.”
Aislinn shook her head, finally pulling a kerchief from her pocket.
She soaked the little cloth through as Hakon continued.
“I am a master blacksmith, and I will work night and day to ensure your soldiers are fitted for battle. When the day comes, I will take up arms and fight with them. No matter what you decide today, I will fight for you, my lady. My kin, too.”
Aislinn released a wobbly breath.
“My loyalty, my strength, my heart, all of it is already yours, whatever you decide. In return, I ask only for you. I do not want title nor position, only to stand beside you. To be your mate, your husband, and the father of your children should you choose to have them. That is all I ask, for that is all I need in this world. Just you,vinya.”
Her vision blurred through her tears. Aislinn stood on the dais alone, but it felt much higher, as if she teetered upon the edge of a precipice. She had the sensation of falling, although she did not move, her heart lodged in her throat.
He offered a solution to the threat of Jerrod, of Bayard, of a life alone.
He offered everything she wanted—himself.
There would be consequences. Oh, yes, their path wouldn’t be straight or smooth. But they would walk it together, and that wasall Aislinn needed.
She moved before she realized it, stepping down from the dais to the three suitors knelt there.
Aislinn had eyes only for one, coming to stand before her blacksmith.
Her mate.
She sat upon his knee—choosing him for all to see.
Aislinn wound her trembling arms around his neck, not quite believing he or his words were real. She pressed her forehead to his, needing to feel the burn of his skin against her own, and gasped at the tangible tether that looped around her heart, pulling her to him.
She could imagine and feel and taste the life he promised.
“I love you,” she whispered against his lips.
“I love you, too,vinya,” he rumbled, that purr she’d come to realize was just for her springing to life in his chest. “More than the mountain is tall and the cave is deep.” She felt his grin against her mouth. “That’s an orcish idiom.”
The joy spilled from her in a laugh, and then she was kissing him, sealing them together. His arms came around to hold her tight, and she clung to him, feeling how his heart thundered in his chest to match her own. The rightness of him eclipsed all else—for once, Aislinn’s mind went quiet and her senses dulled, and all she could do in that moment was savor him.
