Page 87 of Only in Moonlight
Chapter 47
Emmeline
The carriage rumbled over the city streets as we finally headed back to Valen’s chateau. Dawn had broken after two long weeks of darkness, its soft light full of promise.
“So where do you think the jewel is now?” I asked, watching him carefully.
Nin had brought us fresh changes of clothes early in the morning, so he wore a surcoat that was free of bloodstains. He showed no sign of exhaustion or pain, though I knew he had bandages under his clothes and had slept less than I had.
“I don’t know and have no interest in finding out.” His gaze searched mine, and his voice lowered. “I’m sorry, Emmeline. It’s not that I don’t trust you, but some secrets aren’t mine to tell. I can’t give you any more than that—yet.”
“Yet?” I asked.
His mouth quirked. “Well, I couldn’t be expected to keep secrets if you were my wife.”
“Wife?” I squawked, nearly falling off my cushioned seat. A wave of dizziness threatened to pull me under as the implications of his words crashed over me, leaving me breathless and disoriented. “What—? You never—”
He watched me with amusement.
I scowled at him. “You’re messing with me.”
“No, I’m serious, but I realize this may be fast for you.”
I’d never even considered marriage before. Nobody would have wanted to wed a dirt-poor, illegitimate pickpocket like me, and even if they had, I wouldn’t have accepted. Marriage in Thallence meant chaining yourself to a man, freedom and safety subject to his whims. It wouldn’t be like that with Valen, but still…
“Will you at least stay for longer than a month?” he asked.
A weight settled in my stomach, and I struggled to form words with my lips. “I need to get back to my mother.”
“She can come here.” He shifted forward in his seat, knees brushing mine. “The chateau has more than enough room.”
“She’s not ready for that, and I don’t think I am, either. I want to buy her a cottage like I said before. You and I don’t have to fake a big breakup. We can tell everyone my mother is ill and I’m going back to Earth to take care of her.”
He slumped back, arms limp at his sides, devastation in his hollow eyes. “I… understand.”
I kicked his leg. “I was thinking that you, as a magical knight with a wand that opens portals between realms, could come visit.”
Life returned to him like the sun rising. “I’d like that.”
“Good. Because I want to stay with you. When I thought you were lying to me all along—”
I couldn’t finish. The wound—even though it was imagined—was too new and raw.
He clutched my hands, brought them to his lips, and kissed them. “Emmeline Le Brun, you are more precious than any jewel in all the kingdoms, and I love you desperately.” He ran his thumbs along the tops of my hands, gazing deeply into my eyes. “I can speak no truth stronger than that.”
I stared at him. Part of me wanted to make fun of his corniness; the rest of me wanted to melt at his feet. I settled on kissing him.
The moment our lips met, everything else faded away. The carriage, the city outside, the lingering ache from our ordeal—none of it mattered. There was only Valen’s mouth on mine, urgent and desperate, his hands framing my face like I was something infinitely treasured.
“I thought I’d lost you,” he whispered against my lips. “In the streets, when you ran away—”
“Shhh.” I silenced him with another kiss, deeper this time, pouring all my regret and relief into the contact. “I was wrong. So wrong.”
His arms came around me, pulling me across the narrow space between our seats until I was in his lap, the carriage swaying with our movement. I could taste the lingering fear on his tongue, the same terror that had taken hold of me—that we’d almost lost this before we’d truly found it.
“I love you, too,” I breathed between kisses. “Desperately and completely and foolishly.”
He groaned, a sound that went straight through me, and his mouth moved to my neck. His hot breath tantalized my skin, and his lips inflamed me. I rocked against him, feeling his cock harden beneath his trousers.
