Page 72 of Once Charmed, Twice Cursed
“Stop.” I wave a hand. “Just stop. You realize that’s all horseshit, right? Everything you just said.”
His mouth clicks shut. He peers at me, his golden stare lancing through the dark fringe of his lashes. “It’s not. He was right.”
“No,” I say. “He was dead wrong. Because I’ve beenwaitingfor you. All this time. And maybe Iwasstruggling, a little, but only because I hadn’t realized the extent of the gift you gave me. I didn’t understand the losing my Mark meant that Fortuna doesn’t control me anymore. That I control myself, now. That, for as much as I wished my triquetra away, the important part wasn’t losing it, but learning to stand on my own. But I get it now. And I have you to thank.”
He narrows his eyes, skeptical. “You shouldn’t be thanking me for anything. I betrayed you. I did something awful to you. The one thing I’d always promised not to do.”
I heave a sigh. “Weston... You didn’t do anythingtome, you did itforme. And even if I’m different now, my feelings aren’t. I still love you. I still think about you every second. I still touch myself at night and pretend it’s you. I think I love you even more, now, actually, because that night we had together was the truest, most honest one of my life. And you shouldknow there’s no world in which I want to marry Calder Hawthorne. I’ve only ever wanted to marry you.That’swhy I’m here. To fight for you. For us.”
He stares at me. The axe handle slides through his fingers, the head thumping into the ground.
My longing for him sharpens, becoming nearly unbearable. I want to leap from this saddle and straight into his arms. “I’m just sorry it took me so long to come. I should’ve done it right away, like you did for me. Better yet, I should never have left. I should’ve fought to stay. But I’m going to, now. No one’s ever going to come between us again. Not my parents, or Brendan, or anyone.”
He blinks. And stares. For so long that my scalp prickles. The only other time I’ve ever seen him hold so still was when my brother accused him of defiling me.
“Weston?”
He draws a long breath. “Birdie,” he murmurs.
The nickname floods my insides with warmth.
“I think maybe you should come down from there now,” he says. “It’s not safe.”
A glow brightens inside my chest. If he’s worried about me, then he still cares. At least on some level. I grip the pommel and swing my leg over, then hop to the ground. “Is this better?”
“No.” His jaw flexes. “That’s not completely safe, either.”
“Where, then?” I step closer to him. “Here?”
He shakes his head. Bright silver mingles with the gold in his eyes.
Another step. “Here?”
He presses his lips together. Another shake of his head.
I stray closer, until I’m standing squarely within his gravity,looking up into the same face I see when I close my eyes at night. “Here?”
“Not quite.” He reaches for me. Pauses.
I hold my breath.
But then his arms settle around me, one at the small of my back, the other at the nape of my neck. He pulls me close, and I burrow against his sweat-slicked chest. I inhale until I can’t anymore, then hold the tang of amber and salt in my lungs for as long as possible.
“Here,” he says. “You’re safe right here. For as long as you want to be.”
I wrap my arms around his waist and squeeze, certain I’ve never heard such beautiful words before. “I don’t ever want to be anywhere else.”
We stand like that for long minutes. And, when I finally look up again, he isn’t angry anymore.
Chapter Twenty-Six
That night, I marry Weston Wildes in Ravenfell, one town over, where no one knows our names.
The courthouse is unremarkable in every way, and the ceremony equally ordinary—just a few short words in front of the justice, followed by Weston and I signing our names in the registry. We have no bridal crown, no boutonniere, but we do have something infinitely better. The ability to hold hands the whole time.
It’s perfect. An ordinary marriage for two ordinary people.
Afterward, Weston leads me to a charming inn with a gabled roof and a wooden sign hanging out front. We figure my father has probably reached the cabin by now, trying to put a stop to something that’s already happened, and neither of us feels like dealing with it. So we’ll stay here tonight. We can fight with him tomorrow.
