Page 87 of The Warrior Priest
My heart thundered in my chest.
I opened the door and stepped back. “You shaved off the beard.” The sight of his handsome face did nothing to steady my erratic heartbeat or the rush of blood to my head.
He rubbed his smooth jaw. “A number of people told me it didn’t suit me.” He stepped inside and closed the door behind him. “But there was one opinion in particular that swayed me.”
“Don’t, Rhys. I can’t do this anymore. It’s too hard.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you here?”
“Because I don’t want you to leave.”
“I have to. It’ll be easier for both of us to move on if I go.”
He’d been advancing toward me, that odd look in his eye once again. With every one of his steps, I’d taken one back.
“Stay there, Rhys. Come no closer.”
He stopped. “I can’t kiss you from here.”
“So you’ll kiss me but not sleep with me?”
He frowned. “What are you talking about?”
“You broke your oath of celibacy for Giselle, and others. Many others, apparently. Yet not for me.”
The frown cleared. “You may have an incredible sense of sight, yet you can’t see the obvious.”
“And now you insult me.”
He took another step closer. I stepped back again, almost tripping over the pallet on the floor. “I broke my vow before meeting you because it changed nothing. With them, there was no temptation to leave the order. But you’re different. I knew if I bedded you, I’d never go back, and I wasn’t ready to give up being a warrior priest then.”
I’d never doubted my hearing. Not once. Until now. I shook my head, confused.
He stepped closer. “I want to be with you, Jac.”
I moved back again, bumping into the wall. “You think I’ll let you break your vow after all these years of denial? You think I want to wake up beside you and see the regret on your face?” I pointed at the door. “Go. Now. Before it’s too late.”
One side of his mouth tilted up in that mischievous smile I’d not seen in a long time. “I’m not breaking any vows.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I resigned.”
“I know, I was there.”
“Not just as master. I’ve resigned from the order. I’m no longer a priest in Merdu’s Guards.”
I stilled. “You’re wearing your priest’s tunic.”
He looked down at his clothes. “I own nothing else.”
“But… Are you sure, Rhys?”
“For someone with excellent hearing, you’re not listening,” he murmured under his breath.
“I heard that.”
