I had grand plans to murder the Timoran king, then his damn son.
Nearly two months ago, I received Vidon’s letter telling me for some reason unknown to him, Lilianna took a four-turn position with the royal archers.
It took another three days before Sasha Atra received a missive that was meant for me from my huntress’s hand.
Lilianna was cunning to send the note to another woman.
We’d kept our plans and correspondence going much the same since.
Now it was time to act.
Eli’s watchers wouldn’t suspect. But now that I knew what the bastard held over her head, I took pleasure in dreaming up ways to make him suffer. Flay him? Then burn the edges of his skin? Perhaps pollute the soil so all his food grew toxic?
Maybe it was better to take Eli’s fingers one by one, then feed them to hounds until they got a taste for him and took the rest.
I knew there would be resistance when my mother and father sent the official betrothal missives to King Jón, but I didn’t anticipate they’d lock Lilianna up in some damn tower and dangle her father’s life over her head.
Still, even with tensions growing, I could pass into Timoran freely.
“We will keep out of sight.” Dagar said. He and Sasha were both cowled, but dressed in their finer things.
Sasha’s ears had gold rings along her tapered points. Dagar had the first dagger he received when he joined the Ettan warriors.
“You certain about doing it this way?”
“I’ve never been more certain about anything, my friend.”
When the coach drew to a stop, Vidon was there at the gate of his longhouse, a somber sort of smile on his face.
“Morning, Vidon.” I took hold of his forearm in a greeting.
“Prince. Appreciate you telling me what Lili explained. Don’t know what to do about it, of course.” There was a sharp bite to his tone, like he had a touch of barely controlled rage boiling beneath the surface. Vidon led me to the longhouse and offered me a horn of ale when we were seated at the table. “In truth, I don’t know what to do about any of it. Our laws say Lili is bound to her post.”
My shoulders slumped. I did not want to put Lilianna at risk, nor Vidon. “I have no plans on recanting my vow to her, Vidon.”
The man nodded. “Glad to hear it. I’ve, uh, I’ve been thinking about what you said. That fae ritual.”
My brows lifted. “And?”
“Well, after this mess, I . . . I’m loyal to my daughter, Arvad. And to those who are loyal to her. I’d like to come with you, to Etta, I mean. I’d like to see her become a queen, so I think that means I ought to live quite some time.”
I grinned and took a drink from the horn. “I think that would make your daughter very happy, Vidon. Me as well.”
“You’ll love her, won’t you, Prince? You’re doing all this because you’ll stand with her, let her be free with you, right?”
I was a little taken aback. “Always. I swear it. It will be me bowing to her, not the other way.”
“Good.” He knocked his knuckles over the table. “That’s good. I have something for you.” Vidon removed a scrap of parchment from his pocket. “I happen to know where a certain Valkyrie will patrol tonight. Alone. In the woods. Away from watchtowers.”
My chest tightened. “How in the hells did you get this?”
“The Norns favor you today. Turns out I have a few friends down in the tavern. Best of luck, boy.”
I laughed and snatched the parchment from the man’s hand, scanning the location. In the next breath, I shot from the table, gripped Vidon’s shoulder in thanks, and left the longhouse into the frosted trees.
* * *
Lilianna had her back pressed to a tree. Moonlight caught the light icy strands in her hair like silver threads were woven in her braid. Every few plaits, she’d tucked small blue blossoms, and in her ears she wore black stones pierced her ears—much the same as mine.
She flicked the fletching of one arrow and kept glancing at the moon through the dark canopy of branches. Her posture was stiff, ready to dart at the signal.
A signal that wouldn’t come.
Without a sound, I reached out and touched the back of her arm. She startled and had the arrow point raised, ready to strike.
“Easy, Huntress.” I tossed back my hood, grinning.
Lilianna’s shoulders slumped. “Arvad.” Another breath and her arms were around my waist, her head tucked under my chin. “I thought we were to meet—”
“Your father learned of your patrol.” My palms ran along her spine against the chill. “I didn’t want to risk you getting stopped on the way to the meet, not if we could come to you.”
From the trees, Sasha, Dagar, and Kjell materialized. Kjell held an old parchment in his hands.
Sasha embraced Lilianna. When she pulled back, she held Lilianna’s hands, tears in her eyes. “Timoran by blood, but Ettan by heart.”
Lilianna swallowed, looking about, as though the moment was finally sinking in. She faced me, one palm against my cheek. “Let’s hurry. I don’t want to waste another moment.”
Sasha and Dagar held hands and sat together on a frosted log. Kjell stood in front of us and unfurled the scroll.
My friend cleared his throat. “I’ve never done this, so forgive me if it’s rather pathetic.”
I slipped my fingers through Lilianna’s and kissed the place over the pulse of her wrist. “Say the words and that’s enough.”
Kjell scanned the parchment. “All right. Arvad, son of Hakon, son of Kelda, Prince of Etta, by your mind and your heart you have chosen to walk this life with one who will be a helpmate, friend, lover, and companion. Do you make this choice of your own desire?”
“Yes,” I said, voice rough.
For weeks, Lilianna and I planned our vows through Sasha’s intercepted missives. The king of Timoran and his son chained Lilianna to her duty to stop us. Bastards. As if their word would stop us.
As a vowed royal, Lilianna would be their equal.
She’d have the armies of Etta and Castle Ravenspire at her back.
And I would have her as my wife. Out of everyone, I was the one walking away with the most tonight.
All my life, I imagined a lovely Night Folk consort. But one moment with my Timoran huntress and fate shifted my path to something better, something so much greater than I could ever dream.
Tonight, Vidon and Lilianna would find a haven in Etta.
No more nights would be spent apart.
Kjell faced Lilianna next. She blew out a trembling breath, but still wore a wide smile.
“Lilianna, daughter of Vidon, huntress of Timoran, by your mind and your heart you have chosen to walk this life with one who will be helpmate, friend, lover, and companion. Do you make this choice of your own desire?”
“Gods, yes.”
Kjell fumbled with a blue linen we’d brought, stitched in runes for unity, love, and posterity. He laid it over our clasped hands.
With a wave of his hand, Kjell stepped back. “Now, I suppose you both say the final words to seal the vow.”
I squared to Lilianna, throat tight with emotion. “Lilianna, daughter of Vidon, you have taken my heart and I have never experienced a greater honor these last months. I vow to serve you, to love you, to honor you, to be your loyal companion for life and into the Otherworld.”
Lilianna shifted on her feet and arched closer to me. “I hope I don’t fumble this.”
“You won’t,” I said with a laugh. “Fumbled words will not stop me.”
She curled her free hand around my tunic, arching her neck to look up at me. “Arvad, son of Hakon, son of Kelda, the night I fell into your path is the night I shall treasure into the Otherworld. I am yours as you are mine. I vow to love you, honor you, and be your loyal mate for life and into the Otherworld.”
Sasha hiccupped and covered her mouth. Dagar chuckled and tucked his wife closer to his side.
Kjell dipped his shin. “Well, I guess if the gods are watching, I present our Prince, Arvad Ferus and our new future queen, Lilianna Krigare Ferus.”
I could not hold back a moment longer.
I kissed my wife.
I kissed her and kissed her and kissed her until I could not feel my damn lips.
* * *
“Impressive.” Lilianna hugged my arm and scrutinized the covered bower made of woven branches.
I winked and lowered my palms. The earth fell to rest. Fury burned in my blood, a touch of fatigue was there. Timoran lands were harsher, more difficult to draw the magic in the soil with the magic in my blood.
The hut was covered and warm and now lined in heavy furs we’d brought from the coach. Dagar, Kjell, and Sasha had returned to the tavern where they would await Vidon and the two of us in the morning.
I pulled back the narrow door I’d manipulated with branches and vines. Wood cracked and groaned. Lilianna pecked my lips before she dipped her head inside.
“Oh.” She drew in a long breath. “It’s so warm in here. Gods, I should have you make all our tents for hunts.”
I secured the door behind us. To anyone walking past it would seem like a tangle of branches. Doubtful anyone would take the time to peer inside.
In one long stride I had her body pulled against mine, my lips one her jaw. “You will only hunt for pleasure now, Lil. No more commands. No more harsh, frozen nights if you do not wish it.”
Lilianna sighed when my fingers tugged at the laces of her tunic. “If I didn’t know better, Husband, I’d say you were trying to get me out of my clothes.”
“Gods. Say it again.”
“You want me out of my clothes.”
“True, but I meant the first part.”
Lilianna smiled. “Husband.”
I kissed her. Hard. There wouldn’t be a day I would tire of hearing her claim me as her husband.
Lilianna now went to work on the laces of my tunic. A rough breath slid over my lips when she tugged the hem, pulling up the planes of my stomach.
I laughed and used her own words against her. “If you want me naked, all you must do is say so, Little Huntress.”
She sucked my bottom lip between her teeth. Lilianna bit down, slight enough it wouldn’t draw blood, but with enough meaning I groaned and attacked the sleeve of her dusty Valkyrie tunic.
The neck was wide enough when it spilled off her shoulder one breast was barred to me.
My damn eyes rolled into my head. “Gods. You are bleeding perfect.”
Without warning, my mouth curled around one of her hardened nipples. Lilianna let out a sharp gasp, holding my head to her body. Her fingernails clawed at my tunic until I popped my mouth off her breast and yanked my top over my head.
She cried out when I took her nipple again, this time between my teeth.
Lilianna’s fingernails dug into my shoulders as we fumbled back against the wall of the vine hut. She scraped down my back. Gods I hoped she left the marks of her claws. Lower and lower her hands drifted until she dipped her palms beneath the back of my trousers.
I laughed, muffled against her flesh, when she squeezed the curves of my ass and pulled me over her body.
Three hells. With my cock aligned with her center, it took all my control not to ram into her before we were fully undressed.
“Why do you have so many clothes on?” Lilianna said in a gasp. Her head fell back when I licked my way to her other breast.
“Take what you want from me, Woman. I’m yours.”
A beautifully vicious shadow filled her pale eyes. With a new frenzy, Lilianna tugged at my trousers, peeling them down my legs. I went to my hands and knees, giving her space to wiggle downward as she stripped my trousers. But when her lips were positioned closed to my cock, she kissed the tip.
I fell forward onto my forearms, trembling when her cruel tongue licked and sucked on the head of my length until I nearly pinned her down and thrust into her hot mouth.
“Lil,” I said, breathless. “In you. I want to be in you.”
She gave the underside of my length another long lick, then maneuvered back up, allowing me to kick off my trousers the rest of the way. Naked, I straddled her hips and tore her tunic the rest of the way off her body. In a few tugs, her hosen were next.
Palms on her thighs, I slid them up her creamy skin, spreading her legs. For good measure—maybe to torment her a bit—I dragged my nose through her wet heat, inhaling. “Gods, you are everything.”
“Arvad.” She clawed at my arms. “Please. I need you. All of you.”
All hells, I wanted to fill her up.
Lilianna shrieked when I fitted my hips against hers. Skin to skin, chest to chest, hip to hip, I could not imagine another place I’d ever want to be more than in this woman’s arms.
She slid my hand down my stomach and wrapped her palm around my strained cock. Hard, warm, and thick. Lilianna’s thumb ran along the pulsing vein on the underside. A small cough split from my throat.
“Don’t make me come, Wife. I plan to fill you up so you’re soaking your hosen for days. There will never be a doubt about who you belong to, Lilianna. Never.”
In one swift thrust, I slid inside her. We moaned in unison, both in pleasure and relief from the need for release.
“Arvad,” she panted. “Move. Please. I need you to move.”
The first thrust was rough and deep. Lilianna’s body bowed, her eyes fluttered in pleasure. My body responded, rocking against her, slower, steadier.
“Let me hear you, Wife,” I said in a rough rasp. “I want you screaming my name. Out here, your cries are mine.”
My mouth went to her throat. I laced one hand with her, the other slid between us, finding that pulsing apex between her thighs. When my thumb spun in gentle circles, those cries I wanted filled our small hut.
“Arvad.” Lilliann writhed and bucked against me.
“Fall into me, Lil.” I quickened my thrusts when her body tightened.
Lilianna cried out my name, her walls pulsing around my cock. I hooked one of her legs around his hip, deepening the angle. In another breath, my brow dropped to her shoulder, a curse flew off my tongue. I filled her with my release, pulse after pulse.
Lilianna burrowed her face into my neck, and pressed slow kisses down my throat. Sweat dampened my skin, dripping between her breasts. I kissed it away.
“Lil.” I brushed a palm over her brow. “I will love you, always. You are the brightest piece of my heart.”
Tears glistened over her eyes. She eased my head to her heart, holding me close.
We held each other. Claimed each other again, then again, but fell into sleep in a tangle of limps and sweat.
I planned to do much the same until the gods took me to their great hall.
No. Even then I would not stop holding tightly to this woman.