A sensual tension sizzled between them. It nigh unto crackled. “And you will. On the morrow, milord.”
He smiled at the ground. “I would that I could claim you as Sacred Mate next moon-rising.”
Dari blushed, though he didn’t look up to see it.
“Another seven years feels like torture,” Gio sighed.
Silence.
The princess delicately cleared her throat. “I-I understand,” she shyly admitted. The vow amongst cousins weighed on her mightily. She would that she could break that sacred oath. “I long for your presence nigh unto always.”
Gio’s head shot up. His dimmed gaze strengthened to its full glowing lavender. “Do you mean your words?” he asked quietly.
“Aye.” There was no sense in pretending she hadn’t come to have more than a passing care for her betrothed. Leastways, moments like this one would soon be all she had left of him—memories to cherish in the lonely nights. “I do.”
Gio blew out a breath. “Thank the sands. You’ve taken so many meals in your rooms as of late that I—”
“It’s your sire,” Dari admitted. “Not you. Surely you’ve noted the changes within him?”
He ran an agitated hand through his hair. “You need say aught else for I understand.” He shook his head. “In truth, I thought ‘twas mayhap just me.”
“Nay. He grows meaner by the moon-rising.”
Gio found his first smile. “I like this. I like it when you tell me your honest thoughts.”
“As do I,” Dari murmured.
Their gazes clashed.
“Say my name,ty’ka.” His voice was nigh unto hoarse. “Please. Afore the morrow let me hear my name on your lips.”
Dari’s pulse sped up. She could remember a time when she was angered at him for calling her ‘my hearts’, yet this moon-rising she didn’t feel a temper with him at all. Nay. ‘Twas quite the opposite.
“Gio,” she said simply, softly.
“Dari,” he whispered back.
Gio slowly lowered his head, giving Dari time to back away. She didn’t. He cradled her face between his massive hands like the finest of treasures. Still she didn’t give him her nay. He gently brushed his lips against hers. She whimpered as feelings she’d never afore known jolted through the whole of her body. “Gio,” she said thickly, her hands wrapping around his neck. She gave him no time to respond for ‘twas she—not him—who turned up their kiss from gentle to demanding.
Her lips clashed with his, parting to allow him entrance. He moaned into her mouth, his desire matching hers. Their tongues found each other’s, passionately dueling and gliding, as Dari’s entire body filled with heat and need. Never had she expected a mere kiss to cause so much fire from within. She kissed him hard and long, wanting this moment in time to never cease. Yet as every bit of magic has its beginning so too does it have its end.
Gio reluctantly broke the kiss. Dari whimpered. He smiled.
“I have found something I like on your lips more than mine own name,” he said. His beguiling dimples shown under the moons’ light. “Your lips.”
Dari smiled back. Straightening herself in her seat, she must have inadvertently brushed one of thekrosisplants for a soft giggle permeated the air. She found herself giggling back. Afore she knew it, Gio was laughing too.
“Never stop smiling,” Gio said, growing serious. “Give me your vow I will see your smile and hear your beautiful laugh every moon-rising.”
Her hearts began to race. She wanted to confess everything to him then and there.
“Princess?” she heard Qenda call out. Reality came crashing back down, though this time it carried the severest of sorrows with it. “Princess Dari? Yourmani’shologram would that she could speak with you the soonest.”
“I’m over here, Qenda,” Dari called back, taking to her feet. “I’ll be inside in a moment.”
“I’ll let the Queen know.”
“I give you my thanks.”
