“Aren’t you coming?” I closed the distance between us, compelled by his magnitude. There was nothing to fear, not anymore, and yet I felt safe with him.
Adomos crossed his arms over his bare chest. “You should go. It does not matter what I do. We completed what I set out to do; that should be enough.”
“It isn’t.” The words burst out of me. “Adomos, don’t push me away again. We may have parted ways in Elsdore, thinking we both knew what was best for ourselves, and yet the fates have led us back to each other. I believe it is for a reason, and I can’t ignore that we are meant to work together. You’ve walked this land and know the paths and dangers; besides, you and I are similar. I know you don’t see; you believe your past haunts you without a chance of redemption. But you aren’t like anyone I have met and I know, I just know if we stay together, if we help each other, then perhaps something…”
His lips were on mine before I finished speaking. Warmth, hot, like an ever-burning fire. With a growl, his arms came around me and he lifted me off my feet, deepening the kiss, taking me, consuming me. Shock froze me, but only momentarily before my mouth opened, returning the kiss. His tongue slithered into my mouth and it was everything and nothing like I’d ever imagined. This kiss was like a cry for help, for forgiveness, begging for purity and redemption, and in that kiss, I felt everything that Adomos felt. Pressed up against him, a lightness, an aliveness came over me. Desire pulsed and collided with passion, but it wasn’t just the sensation of being kissed, finally, of being held, of the physical longing I’d had at last coming to fruition. It was more, so much more. Beyond our arms and lips there was the knowledge that we were bound together, bound by what had happened in Elsdore, and this was only the beginning.
When at last he broke the kiss and pulled back, I trembled with budding need. A knot inside me loosened and my skin tingled all over. An ache spread deep down below my belly. I knew what it was, and yet my desire for him did not seem wrong.
“If you wish it, Princess Aofie, I bind myself to you.” He said the words of a knight, spoken in a ritual. “I will go where you go, fight to defend and protect you. I will share my knowledge and wisdom, and when you ask me to leave, I shall leave, and not a moment before. Do you accept my fealty? Even though you will make many enemies with me by your side?”
I gasped for breath, for air to speak as I studied the passion in his gaze. My fingers tightened around his arms as I nodded, unable to keep my eyes from flickering to his lips. His lips I wanted to taste again and again. But I was a princess, a warrior princess, a child of a god, Aofie Mor, and there would be time to discover everything. Later. Taking a trembling breath, I spoke.
“I accept your fealty, Adomos. Because you’re the only one I want by my side.”
