“Two girls who don’t matter, but Clover is nothing like them. She’s painfully shy and quiet. I thought she didn’t like me at first.” A smile spread across her face. “I wore her down.” The night Clover showed her the paragraph had turned the tide of their friendship, and she would always treasure it. “You might not remember this, but in one of your first letters, you said you felt me laugh.”
“I do,” he murmured. “I’d been eating dinner when I felt it. I remember laughing too, as though I was in on the joke.”
“It was Clover. I didn’t have any friends then.” She plucked at a string on the comforter. “Most of my schoolmates were nice, but when I was younger, I preferred to keep to myself.” She shrugged. “But Clover liked to hide away and read too. That night you felt me. She’d showed me that she wanted a friend too.”
“You said Clover had no family?”
“That’s right, and no other friends that I knew of.” Ameliafrowned. “I don’t know why she lied to her boss or where she really went.”
“I can send for her.” Rennick shifted. “She can live in the palace, or in a house of her choosing here in the Mountain Kingdom if she’d like.”
Amelia sat up and twisted to look down at him with stinging eyes over how readily he jumped at the chance to make her happy without a second thought. “I don’t deserve you.”
“You’re right.” Her stomach plummeted. “You deserve better, and I’ll try to be that for you.”
“Are you joking?” She couldn’t tell.
“I don’t joke,” he replied with a straight face, his voice void of humor.
She laughed at his serious expression, but the laugh died quickly. “You deserve more than I can give you. Look at you.” She swept her hand over his body. “You should be with a powerful fae who can fight alongside you and support you in every way.
“I can train until I’m blue in the face and I still wouldn’t be as strong as the weakest fae. Half of the fae, if not more, won’t respect a human queen. You and I both know it. If it weren’t for the bond, you wouldn’t have looked at me twice.”
He sat up so fast that she fell back with a squeak. She’d only felt his emotions once, but she felt them now, and he waspissed. “You are everything I need and better than anything I ever wanted.” Words escaped her at the fierceness in his declaration. “You think I give a fuck that you’re physically weak?”
She frowned. She didn’t say she was weak, just weakerthan fae.
“I couldn’t care less what shape your ears are or what kingdom you’re from. You are good and kind and everything I’m not.” She opened her mouth to protest, but he cut her off. “I once watched you set your pile of books in the snow to open a door for a womanjuggling three children. You took in a pet fox, for fuck’s sake.” With each word, her mouth opened more until she stared at him slack-jawed, like the trout on her necklace. “You thought I might not come for you, yet you learned to cook my favorite dish, anyway.”
Hearing the conviction in his words took her breath away.
“If we weren’t mates, I’d pray our paths never crossed.” She flinched, his words inflicting physical pain. “My fated mate wouldn’t have stood a chance. No bond could compare to how you make me feel. Don’t ever question my loyalty and love for you again.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. Her eyes blurred with tears, overwhelmed with gratitude. She didn’t see herself the way he did, and no one in her life knew her well enough to see her that way, either.
Warmth encircled her waist, and he dragged her into his lap. “Don’t be sorry, love, but don’t doubt me again.”
Tears trickled down her cheeks. “I won’t, I promise.” She finally met his gaze. “I know I’m not the best at showing it, but I love you, and I don’t want you to doubt that either.”
“Marry me,” he murmured, staring at her with more intensity than she’d ever seen from him.
“I thought that was the plan,” she joked, loving the way his mouth tugged into a crooked smile.
“We were to wed at the coronation celebration in six days’ time for everyone to bear witness to the blood exchange, but I don’t want to wait. I want to marry you sooner.”
“What coronation celebration? Blood exchange?” She felt woozy.
He smirked. “Which answer would you like first?”
Neither.“The blood exchange.”
“When fae marry, they do the holy blood exchange. After agreeing to the marriage, the royal officiant spreads holy oil on your skin here.” His finger skimmed over the side of her neck. “We’ll take turns making a small cut over the oil on each other’s skin and then lick it clean.”
The room spun, and Amelia grasped Rennick’s arm tightly. “Is there another way? I can’tlickyour blood.”
“You must ingest the other’s blood, love, but it will be quick.”
She licked her lips and swallowed the saliva collecting in her mouth. “Okay.” Closing her eyes, she blew out a long breath. “Tell me about the celebration.” Anything to get her mind off consuming someone’s blood.
