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“I want to lay you down in a field of grass and flowers,” he murmured, his words only for her. “I want to kiss every inch of your naked body and make good on my threat to count every single freckle you own.” He tightened his grasp on her thigh, just a little. “I want to bring you pleasure like you have never known. I will make you feel as though you are amongst the stars. You will feel such bliss, Abigail…that is all I want from you.”
“I find your sadness hurts me as if it were my own. Your death…I thought a piece of me died with you that day, and I would never get it back.”
I love her. By the stars, I love her. And I am terrified of what that means.
You give me those large, sad, doe eyes…and I will give you anything you ask for.” He tutted. “How evil. How perfectly manipulative of you.”
“As long as I do not need to travel by the roots of your trees. I think they—” She made a face. “I think they…enjoy it too much.” He laughed and, grabbing her, rolled her to her back. She squeaked in surprise and found herself looking up at him. He smiled. “Of course they do. They are my trees, after all.” He leaned down and kissed her jawline. “And everything of mine…” He kissed her throat. “Enjoys touching you…” And then her collarbone. “Very much.”
His breath was so warm against her cheek. “If I asked you to marry me, would you say yes?” “If I asked you to stop your plan for war, would you say yes?” She met his sapphire gaze. “Not even for you.” He sighed. “I am who I am…and who I ever shall be.”
“I am not queen.” The blacksmith sneered. “Oh? ‘Hurt her and you shall suffer,’ he says. ‘Protect her. Show her. Teach her.’ What the fuck does that make you if not his queen?”
“Why in the blazes are you crying?” He hopped down from the plinth the organ was placed upon and walked up to her, his brow furrowed in concern. “Who has hurt you?” He caught her wrist in one hand and pulled it from her face and tipped her head to him with a gentle touch of the other. “What has happened?”
He could kiss her until the stars blinked away and died. He could drown himself in her, drink his fill of her, and still be needy for more.
I will protect you. I will love you. I will set the sky aflame for you. But I cannot change who I am. I cannot change what I was made to be. Not even for you. And my heart will shatter to pieces for it.
There was an overwhelming desire in her to beg him. To promise him anything and everything if it meant he would give up his plans for war. But it would be to ask the stars not to shine at night, or the moon to fall from the sky.
“You grasp at straws, wife. You wish to find a reason, any reason at all, to not want to be in my embrace. Does the promise of my impending wars not give you cause enough to loathe me?”
“You will be my queen, or I shall be dead. You must decide which it is you want. For I cannot—I shall not—live without you, Abigail.” He tightened an arm around her. “And I am quite pleased to say you shall have no say in the matter, dear witch.”
“You are my prey, little Seelie witch. You are mine to hunt and mine to take. And you are the doe who, once conquered, rises to run again. You and I will play this game again and again until the stars blink out and die…you are my queen already, you simply have yet to accept it.”
“Did you think I would ever let you go? The woman I loved died once before my eyes. I was not about to let it happen twice.”
“I…” She paused, clearly debating her words. “I believe I am falling in love with you, Prince Valroy.”
“Never shall I lie to you, my princess. My queen. My wife. Never. For while you play idle with your words…if you but once gazed upon me with betrayal in your eyes, I would not know how to live with myself.” He grinned. “That is a depth too low, even for me. No, my darling, sweet little Seelie witch. You have my loyalty, and my honesty, until the stars burn to dust.”
lied to you. I am not falling for you. I think I am already quite gone.
“I love you, Valroy,” she whispered. “I love you not in spite of your darkness, but because of it. Come what may, my prince, I wish to stand at your side.”
She was not his moon and stars. She was his sunlight. And he would cherish her for as long as he could. And come what may. For she loved him. Something no one else had ever done.
“You have given me all that I could have ever wished for and more, Abigail Moore. I will do all that I can to do right by you.” He kissed the top of her head. “I knew that my crown would come to me in time. But love? That is something I thought I would never possess.”
