“Menstruation, my time of the month. You know?”
“Aye. I ken. Ye are cursed.”
“And I’d like to be completely honest, I will have moods, Torin. I will be really hot for you sometimes, other times I will be not so hot. It’s part of my cycle. Does this make sense? It doesn’t mean I don’t love you, just… different moods.”
He rolled over and put his arms around me. “I daena want tae think on it, ye canna tell me anything bad about ye, I am yer husband?—”
I raised my brow and looked in his eyes. “You don’t want to know anything negative about me, Torin? This is not a good way to start!”
He pulled me even closer, like a bear with a growl up against my ear. “Tis not what I was goin’ tae say.”
“What then, nothing bad…?”
“I am yer husband, I already ken it all, mo leannan, I ken everything about ye that I need tae ken. I ken yer loss and yer heartbreak, I ken yer suffering, and yer loneliness, I ken many of yer moods and how they can blast from the North when an albannach?—”
“What is an al-a-ban-ack?”
“A Scotsman.”
“Oh, go on.”
“Yer moods can blast from the North when an albannach might be expectin’ a sunny day, the mood of the Princess will turn cold and the albannach will be beggin’ for a warm hearth. But I also ken that Alexandria is warm and has invited the albannach tae her bed and her heart. I think the albannach can handle the cold winds. He has weathered worse.”
My arms around his head, my fingers entwined in his hair, I pulled one of his long locks, curled around my fingers, in a lazy spiral. “You already know so much about me, Albannach?”
“Aye, I ken yer body, and all the sounds and all of the scents.”
“Maybe not all of them, but very close.”
“Aye, and I ken yer beauty. When we were ridin’ through Scotland I would look back at ye, ye ken. I liked the view verra much.”
“You think I’m beautiful?”
“Och yer beauty made me ache for wantin’ ye. The high pink of yer cheek, the green flecks in yer eyes. I couldna draw m’eyes from the edge of yer smile when ye were teasin’ me, yer lips the palest of red. And yer hair was the color of the sweetest honey. But then twould all flash dark when ye were angry with me.”
“Oh, that’s...really nice... truly dark?”
“Aye, yer eyes would deepen, yer cheek would flush, yer lips redden. Tis half the reason I teased ye, tae see yer color deepen.”
I batted his shoulder playfully, then said, “I liked looking at you on those rides, too.”
“The view of me canna be nearly as fine, mo leannan.”
“I’m very fond of your knee when it sticks out from under your kilt, Albannach. Makes me flush hot and a little wriggly.”
“Wriggly?”
I rocked my hips against him.
“Och, I see,” he grasped my buttock and pulled me close. “All from seein’ m’knee? Ye must be mistaken, Princess.” He raised his knee. “Tis bony and furry, how can ye like it?”
“I like it so much.” I ran my fingers up his thigh, feeling the jagged scar there. “Where did this come from?”
“The boar I was tellin’ ye about. Twas after I brought ye home.”
“Whoa, Torin, that’s big and looks deep, I didn’t realize how bad it was when I dismissed it last night. I’m sorry. But I am grateful he didn’t scar your knee.”
He chuckled. “He almost killed me.”
