A small smirk grew just at the corner of his lips, hair falling over his face as though he wasn’t used to anyone saying such things about him.
“Now who’s being ridiculous?” he bantered in such a low quiver that a chill pulsed down her spine.
Her smirk widened as he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her waist, and she almost closed her eyes at the sweep of his hands digging into her hips. He didn’t say anymore as the thunder clapped outside, and she began to run her hands up and down his arms, surrendered into the quiet of their shared ardor, the content of their equality.
“Are you ready for this?” she whispered.
Draven’s weight shifted in front of her, and he looked past her out the window. “Thunder. Clouds. Lightning. Rain… Looks like as good of a day as any to die.”
She smirked and shoved his arm. “Be serious. For once, Venari.”
His hair fell over his face, tickling her shoulders, as he pressed his forehead against hers. “I am serious.My Queen.”
The door opened then, but it didn’t startle them.
“Well. You two are certainly looking to make an entrance,” Lex said as she crossed the room. “Is there some sort of joint venture that I should be warned about?”
“The less people who know, the better,” Draven said as Aydra took a step back to look at herself in the full length mirror again.
“If it makes you feel any better, I don’t even know,” Aydra said with a raised brow.
Lex shrugged. “All right. Keep your secrets. But hurry it up. We’re late.”
Aydra’s stomach knotted as she stared at herself in the mirror, blocking out Draven and Lex’s bantering beside her. She looked down at the form-fitted black and gold gown, the twisted dark golden vine pattern wrapped within the stark black velvet material glistened of the waning sun outside. It fit around her curves and flared out below the knee as her favorites usually did. The sleeves hugged her arms and the golden pattern leapt off the black fabric around her shoulders, wrapping up over her collarbone and neck like tree limbs.
Her hand reached for her ginger curls. The fire had returned in her eyes in the last few days that she’d felt more alive than she’d ever felt here in this castle. Draven appeared behind her then, the black high collared gambeson he had bought fitting snugly around his form. The collar cut low on his chest, revealing the bottom edge of the taut muscles of his pecks, the dark hair creeping up on his skin. The leather of his skinny pants glimmered in the sunlight coming through the window. The great sword on his belt hit his leg when he moved. His black and ivory boned crown already sat embedded in his dark sun-streaked hair, as though it had been made to fit on his head and his head alone.
He reached for the thick golden twigged crown in her hands, and she turned towards him. It was placed on her hair, and she rubbed her hands against his chest up to his face as his arms slid around her waist.
“I love you,” she whispered.
His brows raised. A look of startled surprise pressed into every pore of his features. “What?”
She bit back the smile threatening her lips. “I’m sorry, I forgot I hadn’t told you.”
He swallowed hard and the weight shifted on his feet, eyes still blinking as though he couldn’t believe what she had said. A short inhale caught in his throat, and he shook his head just noticeably. “That’s not…” She heard a deep growl-like exhale leave him, and he pressed his forehead against hers, eyes closing. “I am going to pretend you didn’t say that… And we can circle back later,” he suggested.
She almost laughed at his nervousness, but she reached a hand up to his cheek instead, pausing a moment to savor the look in his eyes, the look of overwhelming disbelief that she’d said what she said written in them. A twinge of pink rose on her cheeks, and unfamiliar amorous words filled her core. She couldn’t help but to sigh into the feeling, allowing them to release from her lips.
“Draven, I… I feel as a Noctuan in your arms,” she whispered, meeting his gaze, “and you… you’re the rise of the dying moons. Breaking the curses this land has shrouded us in. My freedom and my salvation. The King I never have to fear inequality of.MyKing.”
She watched as his chest rose, and he shifted again, a swell of something in his eyes when he opened them that she hadn’t expected. Another great exhale left his body and he cupped her neck in his hands again. The kiss he pressed to her lips was gentle, and she felt the tremble of his mouth against her skin.
“You shouldn’t have said that,” he managed upon pulling back.
Her smile faltered just slightly.
“Why?”
“Because now I’m really going to burn this kingdom to the ground.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
DRAVEN COULD NOT escort her to the great hall. He was intended to meet Balandria and Nadir before walking in, and so once they left Aydra’s room, he paused in the hall before her, to which Lex laughed and leaned on the wall to wait.
Draven kissed Aydra’s cheek. “Don’t let the Blackhands charm you before I’ve arrived,” he told her.
She smiled and gave him a full once over, feeling herself bite her lip. “Find me for a dance later.”
