“I have to go back to Minro, Vade. I have to help my friends. No one is at the brothel to help them, and I’ll beg Beron back for my job if I have to. I’ve been gone too long, and who knows what’s happened to them since I left.”
His face pinched. “You want to go home?”
She hated the look of pained abandonment he wore. Quick to not let him think she was anything like his parents, Orelia took his face in her hands.
“I love you, Vade.” Orelia dug deep for her courage and let out the words she hoped wouldn’t make him recoil. “I have to go home, but I want you to come with me. I want us to start a life together.”
She searched his face for a sign he wasn’t about to reject her, wondering if her love was enough to make his nomadic heart settle. Her heart pounded as she waited for his response.
He blinked. “You want me to live with you?”
She couldn’t tell by his tone if he was appalled by the idea or intrigued. “I know I can’t offer you an exciting life on the road, and I know you have a job to do . . .” Orelia fumbled over her next words. “My plain little village can’t compare to the places you’ve been, and I’m sure you’d be bored out of your mind in Minro, but I just thought—”
A ‘Yes!’ flew out of him so fast she thought she may have misheard him.
“Are you sure?” Orelia asked. “I don’t have anything to offer you like this adventurous life you have.”
He squeezed her hand. “Nothing to offer? Orelia, you just offered me the only thing I’ve never had. The one thing no amount of coin can buy. You offered me a loving home.”
Tears pricked her eyes. “You won’t be bored with a simple life?”
Vade wrapped her in his arms. “I have lived a thousand exciting lives, but they’ve been hollow, desperate for the kind of love you have shown me. You are warm, and soft, and kind. Everything I’ve never known and never knew I wanted.”
A tear slipped down her cheek, and Vade brushed it away with his thumb. “A simple, quiet life with you isexactlywhat I want.”
She went to kiss him, but he moved his head back. Uncertainty flashed in his eyes. “But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t terrified of disappointing you. My past is littered with devilish deeds, and I realize I’m an impossible man to love, so if at any point you want out, I—”
“I don’t want out. I want you with me, always.” Orelia took his face in her hands. “Come home with me. Start a life with me. Love me. Keep me warm at night and hold me in the morning. In return, I’ll smother you with so much love you won’t even know what to do with yourself.” She looked deeply into his eyes, showing him the resolute truth of her words. “I’ll never abandon you, Vade.”
A happy tear trailed through the freckle near his left eye she’d first noticed when he’d comforted her in the sky what seemed like a lifetime ago.
“It would be my honor to be yours, Orelia.” He kissed her lips with a featherlight touch. “Forever yours.”
The sky and the earth bore witness to their love once again before the two of them redressed and donned their packs.
“Before we leave Axelton, I’ll need to stop by the bank,” Vade said. “My deal with Aradonis was if I ever wanted out of my job I had to pay him a certain amount. An amount, I’m sure, he never thought I’d acquire.”
“But you have it?”
He nodded. “I keep money in a few banks in different cities, but as luck would have it, I have enough in the one in Axelton to buy my freedom.”
“You’re willing to give up your job completely to live with me?”
Vade slipped his hand in hers. “Nothing would make me happier. My life has been nothing but blood and death. I want it to be something better.Youmake me want to be better.”
She placed a soft kiss on his lips. “Thank you. But what will you do when you run out?”
He barked a laugh. “I’m dripping in wealth, lamb. I won’t run out.”
“So arrogant.”
“And it will beourmoney, so spend it however you like.”
Her head jerked back. “I could never take what’s yours. What you earned.”
Vade brushed her hair behind her shoulder. “It’s ours. I want you to spend it on something that makes you happy.”
Her eyes went distant as she pictured what she would do.What did she want to do?“First things first, let’s get this spell reversed. Then we can talk about me draining your purse.”
