“Okay?”He cocked one of his delicious eyebrows at me.“You’ll let me?”
I laughed softly at that.“Let you?You mean, I have a choice?”
“If I haven’t told you already, then let me be clear, little girl.From now on, you’ll always have a choice.”
“But you just told me to do as I was told.”I could hardly keep up.
“Because you enjoy being commanded sometimes.”Those familiar devils were back in his eyes, goading me into ceding and taking the pleasure.I wanted it.I always wanted it.“But in this life, from now on, the choice will always be yours.”
He opened his arms to me, and I slid to my knees unthinkingly to embrace him.I had no idea what the next few hours would bring, let alone the next days or months, but I had to put my faith in him and believe his intentions were honorable.
We’d come through blood and fire to find ourselves in the vaults of that bank.We’d seen and experienced things that neither of us would have believed were possible before the Edict, but clinging onto him, I realized everything was different.
I needed Harper to survive, but more than that, I wanted his love to help me thrive.
Chapter Ten
Adam
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IHAD NO IDEA WHEREher sudden burst of insecurity derived from, but holding her on the floor of the vault, I realized the ‘why’ no longer mattered.She was bound to have emotional peaks and troughs in the weeks to come.We both were.After everything she’d been through, it was amazing she was so damn collected most of the time.
Time passed as we held one another, moving in the same odd pockets it seemed to have enjoyed since we had fled Fortorus.
Since I was no longer in charge.
Once upon a time, I’d commanded the clock, telling prisoners and commanders alike when it was time to eat, to meet, and to sleep, but all that had changed.With one decision, I’d turned my entire future on its head, and breathing in her scent, I acknowledged I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
By the time she wriggled free of my embrace, I had no way of knowing how long we’d been kneeling there.The only things of consequence were her faith in me and the possessions in the box behind me.
“Wanna see what’s in the box?”I hoped my more playful tone would at least distract her from whatever woe she was still carrying.
Lifting her head, she managed a small smile.“This sounds like one of those crappy old game shows that used to be on television, Sir.”
“It’s better than that.”I stroked her heated cheek, wishing I could take her pain away with a flick of a pen.It had been so easy to act before.I’d given the order, and the deed was expedited, but things were going to be trickier going forward.Maybe, though, with time and patience, I could try to smooth away her concerns.“Because I meant what I said.Half of the contents of that box belongs to you.”
