Brigid stepped back and her gaze lifted to mine, her smile gentling. "I have a towel for you. Go wash properly. Make sure togo upstream. Then join me in the carriage, and we'll ride back to the keep together."
"I could fly and meet?—"
"No. We're taking the carriage," Brigid said, her eyes narrowed with something like a warning.
Fighting the oddest smile on my mouth, I took the towel, careful not to dirty it against me, and hurried to obey. The men were dispersing, and the smoke was starting to thin now that water wasn't being added. There were still coals smoldering on some of the larger beams of the cottage that had come down, and it was more apparent now that there was nothing but charcoal to salvage from the mess. I'd expected Brigid to be rigid with shock or inconsolable, wide-eyed and skittish.
As usual, I'd been wrong. I washed quickly, savoring the feeling of splashing cold water against my face, cleaning out my swollen, stinging eyes, and helping myself to a few gulps. When I returned to the carriage, wrapped in the clean cloth, Brigid was sitting in the opening, and she eyed me speculatively, as a healer. Even that stare made my blood feel warmer.
"You have a few burns, but they don't look too bad. I'll put salve on them in the carriage. Come."
Sheepish for some reason, as if I were a boy who'd been caught mucking in puddles and was about to enter the house with muddy footprints, I climbed into the carriage after my omega.
"Here on the bench with me," she instructed, patting the cushion.
I took my seat and shut the carriage door behind us as Brigid knocked on the roof and the driver set us in motion. All at once, my mate seemed to deflate. Lifting my arm at her side and throwing it around her shoulder, she fell into me, scooting until we were hip to hip on the bench and nuzzling her face into my chest.
"Don't run off like that without me," she grumbled.
However tired my arms had been a moment ago, they found the strength to wrap around Brigid without a second thought.
"I didn't want you to lose the cottage. It means too much to you. You don't have to pretend it's all right."
Brigid sighed, and her warm breath soothed over my skin, her cheek so soft against me. "Of course it isn't all right that the cottage burnt down. I am sad about that. But, Torion…" She leaned back, and there was enough light from the carriage windows to make her easy expression perfectly clear. "I don't need the cottage."
I blinked at that. Brigid hadn't been back to the cottage for more than a quick visit to check on the property or collect things since she'd told me about her pregnancy. I hadn't been sure how we would handle it in the future. I wouldn't have wanted her to leave the keep with our child, not without me at their side, but I had assumed the discussion might arise if she grew overwhelmed one day, if she discovered a need for space. I was fairly sure I could coax her back to the keep again, or even that I would be welcome at the cottage, but I didn't plan on restricting her.
Brigid's hand rose and soothed over my cheek, nails scratching over the faint bristle of prickling hair from the day. "When we rebuild, we should do so intending to make a property for one of our children to inherit," she said softly, smiling up at me.
Heat flared and tightened in my groin, and I forced myself to remember that Brigid was still currently pregnant with ourfirstchild and I was not about to go and get her with child a second time already. Still, practice never hurt anyone.
"I already have everything I need at the keep—of my mother's and of my own. Most importantly…I have you," she said, almost whispering the words. Her eyes were growing glassy andglittering, and she blinked quickly for a moment, throat flexing with a swallow, tongue flicking out to wet her bottom lip. "I do love you, Torion."
I held my breath for a moment, part of me expecting to be woken from a dream. Perhaps I'd been so overcome by the smoke that I'd collapsed? But no, in my dreams Brigid welcomed me with glowing eyes and open arms and a sharp wide smile. Here, Brigid was near tears, looking terrified and determined. This wasmyomega, in all her reserve and all her fears.
I lowered my head slowly and pressed my lips to her forehead, her sigh sliding down my throat. I knew why the words challenged her. I knew that for her to admit as much against her own forged resistances meant the feelings ran even deeper than she was ready to say. But she'd said it aloud for me, and even more importantly, more readily, she'd promised in her own way not to run away from me again. The confession, thedeclaration, was the most precious gift I'd ever received, and she was the only one capable of giving it.
"I love you, mate," I rasped, my voice ragged with feeling more than smoke.
Brigid shuddered and climbed into my lap, and I bit off my hiss as she accidentally brushed her hand over a sore spot on my upper arm. Salve could wait. Holding my mate close was all the healing I needed for the moment.
I sat backon my heels, gaping down at the beautiful feast before me, a buffet of pleasure—one I'd just partaken of, but could be easily persuaded to do so again. Brigid, with her thighs splayed open over my lap, her nipples red from being nibbled andsucked, and her hair a riotous mess over the pillows, groaned and swatted a hand through the air between us.
"Don't," she growled, kittenish and weak, hand falling to rest over her rounded belly, drawing my eyes there.
"Don't?" I repeated, my own voice throaty with a purr.
"Ican't," she moaned, trying to wiggle back from me but finding the headboard keeping her trapped.
I laughed and relented, bending over to drop simple kisses between her breasts and over the rise of her stomach to its highest point, withdrawing from her with a groan of relief and protest in equal measure. Her legs closed and turned away from me as I moved to curl up against her back. Not that I couldn't take her this way too. I would remind her of as much in a few hours when she started to squirm against me in her sleep.
"I've been thinking," Brigid murmured, taking one of my hands to wrap my arm around her chest. She brought my knuckles to her lips, and I let my face relax into an absurd smile, hiding it against Brigid's hair.
"We need to tell the local dragonkin about our bonding," she continued.
My eyes widened, and I tried not to yelp out my enthusiasm. "You think your dragon is coming?"
Brigid shook her head and then squirmed backward, nestling tighter against me. "Not really, but I think it would be better to be clear about what the bonding might mean. They might not notice I wasn't aging so soon, but if I bore you another son in a few years, that would certainly shock the kin."
