“Gods, I’ve missed you,” he murmured between kisses. “Do you have any idea how long I’ve wanted to do this? How many nights I’ve dreamed of this? Fucking Four, I don’t think I ever stopped wanting you, Kiera.”
For some reason, tears burned behind my eyes. “That can’t be true.”
He captured my chin between his thumb and forefinger, pulling me to meet his gaze. “It is true. It will likely always be true. Maybe I’m a fool for it. Maybe I shouldn’t want what I can’t have. But you make it impossible to care about consequences.”
I love you, Aiden.
I startled at the unbidden words in my mind. I pressed my lips together in case they tried to escape.
But it was true. I’d known the feeling, but now I’d named it. I loved him.
I didn’t know for how long. I didn’t know where it started and stopped. It simply... was.
My heart squirmed in my chest, uncomfortable with the heavy weight of this new truth.
Because he was right—we shouldn’t want what we couldn’t have. We had a job to do. A kingdom to save. People to free.
Nikella said I could have a future with love and happiness, but right now, it was marred by battles yet to fight.
This moment was likely all we’d get. And even then, it couldn’t be everything I wanted.
What if you were queen?
I’d panicked, unsure what Aiden had meant with those words. But he wasn’t asking me to be his.
My newfound feelings for the future king would likely remain just that—secret, unspoken feelings.
His thumb brushed my tight lips, his eyes growing sad and then guarded.
No, no. Don’t leave me yet.
I grasped his tight jaw. “Kiss me again,” I whispered.
His face softened. He cupped my face in his hands, his gaze roaming over it like he wanted to memorize every detail.
Agonizingly slow, he brought my lips to his. He kissed me, long and hard. Then soft and short. Fervent need and small caresses. I savored every single one. Warmth pulsed between us, drenching my mind with happiness.
Perhaps it was my imagination, but even the tree seemed to sway with us, whispering and singing through its leaves and long branches.
Like it was acknowledging the moment I realized I was in love with Aiden Falcryn. And that brought it nothing but joy.
Even as I mourned the future we would never have.
Chapter 41
Kiera
After we pickeda few more moonbloods, we walked back to camp with full canteens, sticky fingers, and swollen lips.
My heart had not stopped skittering around in my chest after I’d realized my feelings for Aiden. It reminded me of when Melaena claimed that I loved him, and I’d immediately tried to deny it in my mind.
Had I loved him even then?
Maz grinned like we were bringing him a barrel of Sunshine and happily caught the moonblood Aiden tossed at him. “Had a nice walk, did you?”
I ignored him, and the heat crawling up my neck, and sat next to Ruru, who accepted the moonblood I handed him.
“Is that blood or juice?” he asked, pointing at his own neck.
