Xander
Sleep.
There was nothing I wanted more, until I opened the bedchamber door and saw her. Skye, I would forever crave more than life itself.
She sat near the edge of her bed, legs tucked beneath the velvet blue robe tied loosely over her nightgown. She’d piled her dark hair on her head and my gaze was drawn to the graceful slope of her slender neck. My hands ached for her, I wanted to sink my fingers into her thick hair and steer her lips to mine. The thoughts were callous given I’d just left her mother and a dead man, but I didn’t care. I only cared that the Queen before me was safe. And she was mine.
She didn’t meet my gaze as she asked after her mother’s wellbeing. Her fingers toyed with the velvet pooled in her lap.
I’d washed the blood from my skin and changed my clothing in the room we pretended I occupied each night before entering Skye’s room. It would be easier to abandon all pretenses of propriety, but the unknown consequences of breaking long adhered to laws held me back. We maintained this charade of Guardian and Queen for all but a chosen few. I’d continue to keep it up, but hell, I didn’t even bother with shoes before I walked to Skye’s bedchamber. That was how tired I was. How eager I was to see her.
My hip bumped her knee as I sat beside her on the edge of the bed. “I’m sorry I sent you away.”
She drew her bottom lip between her teeth before she asked, “Why did you?”
“Your mother asked me to.”
Her shoulders lifted the way they always did when she was angry and holding back words. She didn’t understand.
“Killing takes a toll, Skye. Even when it’s someone evil. Your mother didn’t go to the dungeon with plans to kill McClintock. She sought answers.”
“And?” she prompted when I didn’t continue right away.
“And he toyed with her exactly as I knew he would.” I touched her velvet covered knee, then fell to my back, leaving my feet on the floor. I was wrong not to immediately question him myself. “I’d mistakenly thought I could speak with him tomorrow. I never imagined—”
“Don’t.” Skye touched my hair, her fingers gentle as they combed through. “We can’t keep taking on this guilt. You were right. What happened to Manda wasn’t my fault, and what happened in the dungeon wasn’t yours.”
“Come here?” she asked as she shimmied herself into the center of the bed.
I gladly followed. Once I was in the middle of the blankets Skye draped herself over my chest and pressed her hips and legs against my side.
“Did McClintock tell her … is Manda my sister?”
Wanting to look upon her face for this conversation, I adjusted our positions, rolling onto my side and keeping our bodies close and facing one another. “She is.”
Again, she tugged her bottom lip in before she spoke. “Can you tell me what happened?”
“She wanted answers about Amandalyn. She took a sword from Nickoli’s room as a precaution, but she didn’t intend to kill him.”
Skye pressed her palm against my chest. “I never thought she did, though I’m not sure I would blame her.”
“Me either,” I agreed. I curled a wisp of her hair around my finger. “She didn’t tell me everything, and I didn’t want to ask. She said he wouldn’t stop professing his love for her. He blamed her for all that has happened.”
Kerra lived with the irrational fear that Skye blamed her for everything that had happened thus far. She already blamed herself. Having McClintock add to it? The stress made her snap.
“She thinks if she’d married the man none of this would have come to fruition. I didn’t know how to tell her that everything has happened as it was meant to be.”
Skye’s brow furrowed. “Do you believe that?”
“I do.” What good was regretting your choices once they were already made? “If Kerra and McClintock married, you would not be here. At least not the you you are. Your father would have married someday and maybe he would still be alive, or maybe he wouldn’t. We can’t say what would or would not have happened. Perhaps any child Kerra gave birth to—regardless of who the father was—would have had the same prophecy as you. Perhaps it’s the Mercier bloodline that brought the prophecy on you. Or maybe some other child would be in your shoes.
“If the Drakoon has returned, it has nothing to do with the choices we made. Nor your mother’s choices. That story began long before we did.” A tremble hit her body and I rubbed circles along her shoulder blades and spine, drawing her closer.
Our mouths were so close her lips brushed mine when she asked, “And you think that’s what we’re up against? The Drakoon?”
“Everyone in the cabinet room does. That’s what Rioden and I were speaking about when you and Thomas left. We were still talking when Cillian came back worried because Emeline had checked on Kerra and she wasn’t in her room. When he told us you and Thomas never made it upstairs”—I drew a breath through my nose to calm my nerves—“every bad thing you can imagine crossed my mind, Skye.”
Her hand fluttered higher up my chest. “I’m sorry I scared you. Thomas heard a noise on our way back. He wanted to bring me back to you, but I refused. Then she screamed”
I grunted. “Of course you refused his need to protect you.”
Skye’s exhale washed over my skin as she nuzzled my neck. “I should go to her.” Warm lips pressed a fleeting kiss to my pulse before she shifted into a sitting position. “Do you mind?”
I sat with her. “Mind? Skye, she’s your mother. Go see her. Do you want me to come with you?”
“No. You look exhausted. Sleep.” She crawled to the edge of the bed and I scooted with her, swinging my legs off the side as she stood.
Her hand brushed the outside of my thigh and I snatched her fingers and tugged. Her body slipped between my legs willingly, her arms going around my shoulders as I hugged her waist and rested my head at her chest. The beat of her heart quickened.
“We’ll find your sister. I promise.”
“I know.” She lowered her cheek to the top of my head, staying there, resting against me. The fireworks that wreaked havoc when we were together settled into this electric vibration in my veins. I happily sank into the warmth of her velvet robe and softness of her chest. I would remain in this position for as long as she wanted.
“Xander?” she said after a few moments.
“Hmmm?”
“I love you.”
Pure happiness split my chest wide open. My arms fought between pushing her back so I could look into her eyes and hugging her until we were so close we absorbed into one. Any verbal response stuck in my throat.
Her hand snuck up the back of my neck, her fingertips massaging the back of my nape. “I wanted you to hear the words. We don’t know what—”
“No.” I gripped her hips and found the strength to move her back a step. “I’m going to hear you say those words a million times throughout our very long lives, Skye.” Her eyes glistened.
“A million times,” I repeated with my gaze locked on hers. “Promise me.”
I didn’t wait for words. The moment the right corner of her mouth curved upward, I steered her straight to my lips. Our lives were intertwined. They had been since before we were born. Our destinies bigger than we could have ever imagined. She licked my bottom lip and I drew her tongue into my mouth. Her taste was my fuel. Her love my fire. I would do anything for her. For us. All my frustrations about her feelings for Nickoli slipped away as she returned my kiss. Her reaction wasn’t one of a woman in love with another man. She loved me.
“We’re going to be together,” I said against her mouth. I needed to reiterate our future, not only to Skye, but to whomever held our fate in their hands.
She smiled between my kisses. “Yes, we are.”
I wrapped my hand around the side of her neck. My tan and calloused fingers covering her perfect pale skin. “Skye, I love you. Not because of a prophecy, or magic, or blood, or because I was told to. I love you because you’re you. You understand that, right? I fell in love with you when we were children. I had no choice. I’ve never wanted another. We may have a connection, but it’s what’s in here”—I flattened my palm over her heart—“that I fell in love with. Your spirit and strength. Your kindness. Those are what I truly love about you.”
Her hand covered mine and she shook her head, a smile playing on her lips. I wasn’t done yet.
“Marry me?” I asked. Her eyes grew wide, and I rushed on. “No one needs to know but you and me. You are all I want. I will fight until the end of time to be with you.”
A luminous smile overtook her features and stole my breath. I kissed her once more.
“Thomas needs to go to Ridgecrest tomorrow to speak with someone,” she said with an odd hitch in her tone, when our lips finally broke apart.
I pulled back an inch. “That wasn’t the answer I was looking for.”
I’d watched her with the Guardian a few times. She trusted him immensely. I did too. His Guardian senses were highly attuned to her, almost too attuned. My curiosity piqued. “What aren’t you telling me about him?”
Her gaze shifted from my face and I dropped my arms to my sides with a small laugh. “Before you answer, you should know that you're a terrible liar, so don’t bother forming one.”
Her lips formed a pout. “Is that any way to speak to your Queen?”
“That is how I speak to my future wife,” I countered.
Her pout transformed into a smile. “I’m not sure why I try to keep secrets from you.” Her fingertips brushed my cheek sweetly. “This one, though, is his to tell.”
Keeping her trapped between my thighs, I held her hands between us. “You’re protecting him?”
She nodded. “As he protects me.” Another reason to love her: her loyalty.
“You should speak with him,” she added as I yawned.
It must be nearly dawn. “Why don’t you check on your mother and I’ll speak with Thomas before he sneaks away, then we’ll meet back here and sleep half the day away?” I kissed her fingertips.
A blush pinked her cheeks. “The castle will be filled with gossip about their Queen and the head of her army soon.”
They’re already talking. “You do know you make the rules, Skye. There is no one left to tell us we can’t be together,” I reminded her, like I wasn’t the one who argued against this from the moment we first kissed. As though I hadn’t been thinking about the consequences when I walked in her room. Was it time to stop worrying and embrace what we wanted? Was that selfish?
Skye grabbed the neck of my shirt and tugged me forward. “Soon.”