Her scrutiny went on too long.
Anthony frowned. “What is it?”
“I love you. That is all.” There was no dread over his anticipated reaction to her quiet pronouncement.
The sharp planes of his cheeks grew flushed. “Helia,” he said gruffly.
“Someday you will become comfortable hearing those words and accepting them, Anthony,” she said softly. “I don’t know when you heard those words last—”
“Helia,” he clipped out.
“But I’m going to continue telling you, Anthony, and one day, you’ll be at peace and comfortable with my lov—”
“Helia!”
She stared wide-eyed at him.
He drew back and gripped her arms. “Listen to me, love, there are no buts in this. You are my queen, and your holdings include my heart.”
Anthony placed her fingertips against the place where that organ beat in his chest.
Her breath caught. She frantically searched his beloved face.
What is he saying?
His eyes sparkled with an unchecked light and warmth she’d never before seen him so freely reveal.
“What am I saying?” he murmured, reading her thoughts as he was so apt to do. He made a tsking sound. “Shame on me for not being clearer and for having left you in doubt for far too long.”
Anthony dropped to a knee. “Until the stars go dark and the moon falls and the tides cease their movement”—his eyes blazed with thestrength of his vow—“I love you, Helia, my duchess, my queen. Stand beside me in life and in every—”
“Aye!” Sobbing and laughing, Helia launched herself into her husband’s arms. “Ah love ye, Anthony, my duke, my king, my lover, my friend. Anthony, my duke, my king,I’ll love ye ’til the day I die.”
And with that pledge of their partnership, Anthony kissed Helia hard, marking eternal his promise to her.
