He wouldn’t be so grumpy if he knew what I intended. After all, we’d been wishing for alone time for weeks, and yes, our quarters at the castle would have done well enough.
But for our first time together, I did not wantwell enough. I wantedmagic. The sweet Princess Bavirra had shared with me a place she claimed held just that.
“You’ll come with me, and you’ll like it,” I told Vale in a faux stern tone, and as I’d hoped, his lips twitched into a smile.
The prince might be one of the most revered warriors in the kingdom, but I’d learned that he didn’t mind a female in charge. In more ways than one.
I spied the door the princess had detailed in hushedwhispers at the dinner table. A grin spread across my face. “A few more minutes and we’ll be there.”
“Fine,” he breathed.
Beneath the cloak I wore, a silver silk dress with two slits riding up to my hip bones slithered across my skin. The dress was one I’d never have purchased for myself, but Princess Bavirra had thought I’d needed something special for tonight. At dinner, she’d covertly sent a servant out for a dress that would bring a prince, a battle-blooded warrior, to his knees.
I’d dressed in our private bathroom, with the door shut, so he would not get a sneak peek. And while the dress wasn’t exactly to my tastes, after wearing regular clothing for weeks, I delighted in the feel of luxury. In the softness. The delicacy and beauty. I couldn’t wait for Vale to lay eyes on the dress. I wanted him to rip it off my body.
I dragged him down the final hall and opened the door to be met with the garden surrounding the castle. Despite being inside a mountain, the dwarves seemed to love flowers and trees as much as they did metal and gemsmithing. The royal garden overflowed, and in the center of the greenery, I spied the vibrant purple leaves of a Drassil tree.
As it was night, the sunshafts and mirrors positioned above brought no light down on the holy tree. Still, in the darkness and the stillness, it was magical. Beautiful, despite the thinning of the leaves and the slight droop to those that remained.
My heart clenched as I remembered that many of the Drassils were suffering, just as the people did. Perhaps Valeor I could offer to infuse magic into this one before we left. Help it as the dwarves had helped us.
Vale sniffed. “Are we outside?”
“As much as one can be beneath a mountain,” I replied.
“The plot thickens.”
“You never know what you’ll get with me.”
He barked a laugh as we entered the garden. “Isn’t that the truth?”
Once I’d been a ‘commoner’ to Vale. A female he’d married for honor. Then I’d learned I was much more, and my hopes and dreams for my future shifted. To include him. He was the moon and the stars and all that I ever could have dreamed of. All that I wanted.
Tonight, I planned to tell him as much. I hoped that this night would assuage all his doubts. That we could make our marriage last a lifetime. I wanted him for that long.
Will he still think of his fated?The thought filtered through my mind, and not for the first time.
Despite the occasions when we’d been intimate, no soulmate mark had appeared on our bodies. Would it appear tonight? Sometimes to be sure, fae needed to join in the most intimate of acts, the one that could result in creation, for the mark to appear.
“There are stairs. Follow me and go slow,” I said as we reached the spot Princess Bavirra had detailed.
Pushing aside vines and bushes, Vale and I climbed the stairs—about two hundred steps, cleverly hidden from the view below. I hoped Bavirra was correct in thinking that only she and her past lovers knew of this place. To be interrupted in my plans would be frustrating.
“We’re here,” I said when we reached the top. I edged him into a small crevice on the mountain’s side. Vines draped the side of the wall. The princess had made certain no one would find her hideaway unless she allowed it. “Won’t be long now.”
“Nearly tripped three bleeding times going up those stairs.”
I rolled my eyes. Like most of the dwarven masonry I’d seen, the stairway had been expertly carved and smoothed. “Stop being dramatic. I had you, and you know it. I’ll always have you.”
Again, his lips formed a small smile. Try as he might to act grumpy about being dragged from our chambers, I knew that secretly he was intrigued by the outing I’d planned.
“Through a curtain of vines.” I pulled the vines aside and led him into a tunnel. The ceiling was tall enough to allow Vale passage without ducking, and the stone floor had been worn smooth.
“Is that water?” Vale asked.
“It is. I’ll let you know if we come across a fall to avoid.”
Vale feared little, but he’d told me once that as a youngling, he’d nearly drowned. To this day, he despised going underwater, but Princess Bavirra had assured me there was no need to do so in her sanctuary. Not unless one wanted to.
