Page 94 of Spirit Rites
He palms my face with both of his large hands. “It gave you the freedom to rule without the fear, and it proved to you, you could do it.”
I can feel my panic rising. “No, I can’t!”
“Sweetheart.” His thumbs stroke my cheeks again. “That might have convinced me if I hadn’t heard you a few hours ago.”
“No, that’s not going to—” I stop. “Wait. What?” My eyes find his. “You heard me?”
“Every word, and I am so proud to call you my mate. You were amazing up there, Kinsley. You were everything this kingdom needs in its Queen.”
“Kaldar, I can’t—”
“You can, but I’m not going anywhere. I will be with you every step of the way. I’ll make the big decisions; you can lean on me.” He grins. “Or you can make all the big decisions, and I’ll support you.”
“No,” my answer is swift. “If I have to do this, you will make all the decisions with me.” I stare up at him, and my mind races a hundred miles an hour, trying to make sense of all this. It’s just too much, and I push it aside. It will be there for me to deal with when I’m ready. But right now? Right now, I want something very different.
“Kinsley,” he says, cocking his head to the side. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I just want to know while we’re still standing here talking when we could be doing something else, something else much more important.”
“Yeah. What could possibly be more important than talking, My Queen?” I frown at that, but he just grins as he takes a step closer. “Better get used to it, Love.” His hands drop to my hips, and I swear we both relax with the contact. “What did you have in mind?” he asks in a low voice.
I stare up at him, all flirting forgotten. I reach up and touch his cheek. “I can’t believe you’re here, and you’re whole.”
“I am, Love. I won’t ever leave you again.” He leans down so that our lips are almost touching. “Now, what did you have in mind.”
I don’t wait a second longer. I stand on my tiptoes and touch my lips to his. He meets me halfway, and I sigh against his lips when they touch mine. My body softens and leans into his muscular, stronger one. He pulls me impossibly closer and kisses me over and over and over again. He pulls his lips from mine, and I whimper at the loss of contact. He hovers over my cheek, kissing me there. “I love you.” He dips his head and kisses under my chin and the side of my neck before meeting my lips again.
“I love you too,” I manage to get out in between kisses. I pull on his shoulders, trying to get closer.
He pulls back, and his eyes are darker now. “We need to get back to the house.” I laugh; I can’t help it. He narrows his eyes at me, but I can see the side of his lips tick up. “Come on.” He tugs on my hand, and we start towards the exit. Thankfully, nobody’s still hanging around. “Straight back to our house,” he says quietly next to my ear. “Jorren, we’re heading to the house,” he calls out without looking back.
The walk passes in a daze. I’m pretty sure people call out to us, and many celebrate to see the return of Kaldar. But we just wave and keep moving. Before I know it, we’re back at the house. Kaldar, tugs on my hand, pulling me to a stop. “Nobody bothers us,” he calls behind him. I’m pretty sure my face flames, but I don’t get a chance to think about it as he tugs me inside.
Chapter 46
We’re back in the bedroom before I can even blink. He closes the door, locks it, and then turns to me. I suddenly don’t know what to say or do or even think. He doesn’t give me time to stay stuck in my head. He steps forward and cradles my face in his hands. “I thought about you every minute while I was stuck in that bed trying to heal.”
“I was there,” I suddenly feel the need to make sure he knows. “I came to see you.”
“I know. Jespar told me.”
“You were so still, and I thought,” I pause. Suddenly the fear I had comes roaring back with a vengeance. “I didn’t know if you were going to make it.”
His eyes soften. “I know. I’m sorry. I never want to put you through something like that again.”
“What happened to you after the fight?” The soft expression on his face fades. He takes a step back, and I miss his touch immediately. “It’s okay; we don’t have to talk about it.”
“I want to.” He takes my hand and leads me over to the bed but stops right in front of it. “Do you want to put more comfortable clothes on? Then we can talk.” He walks over to his wardrobe.
I eye his back a moment. “Is that code for something?”
He looks at me over his shoulder. “What?”
“Is that like a code to get naked?”
His lips turn up into a slow grin. “If that’s what you are proposing, I will not stand in the way of that.”
Even as my face heats, I can’t stop my laugh. “No, seriously. What did you mean?”
