"I was trying to deflect Petrov's questions."
"Were you?"
She was standing there with her heart in her eyes, and he realized that his silence might be hurting her more than any words could.
"I meant it," he said quietly. "What I said to Petrov. About love."
"Dimitri..."
"I'm sorry." He crossed the room to stand in front of her. "That was a terrible way to tell you. I should have done it properly. Candles, dinner, something romantic. Not like this."
Mattie half-laughed, half-sniffled. "I don't care about candles and dinners." She reached up and cupped his face in her hands. "I just care that you love me."
"I love you." The words came easily now, flowing like water from a broken dam. "I love you, Mattie. I think I've loved you since the first moment I saw you."
"That's so romantic."
"I'm a romantic."
She chuckled. "You're a scientist. You are ruled by logic."
"Of course. And my logic says that you are the best thing to ever happen to me and that I need to keep you close and protect you because you are precious to me."
"I love you too, my precious Dimitri."
He pulled her into his arms and held her tight, burying his face in her hair, breathing in the scent of her. She fit against him perfectly, her small frame molding to his larger one, her arms wrapping around his waist like she never intended to let go.
"I love you," he said again, just to hear himself finally saying those words that had been circling in his head from day one. "I love you, I love you, I love you."
"Okay, okay." She was laughing and crying at the same time, her voice muffled against his chest. "I believe you. You can stop now."
"I can't. I'm going to tell you that I love you a hundred times each day."
"That could get annoying."
"You'll have to learn to live with it."
She rose on her toes and kissed him, soft and sweet and full of promise. He kissed her back, trying to pour everything he felt into the contact—his love, his fear, his determination to keep her safe.
When they came up for air, Mattie glanced at the two beds still sitting side by side.
"We should push those together," she said.
"We should."
Neither of them moved.
"In a minute," Dimitri said, and pulled her close again.
The beds could wait. Right now, he just wanted to hold the woman he loved and pretend, at least for a little while, that they were somewhere else and that they were free.
10
LOSHAM
The conference room in Navuh's mansion had rarely felt so charged with tension, and that was saying something because their lord's presence alone was intensely stressful.
Losham sat at the head of the long table, a position he felt uncomfortable claiming because it had been his father's seat, and his brothers wouldn't be happy to see Losham in their leader's chair.
