‘He’s my mate. We’re meant to be together,’I said firmly.
She didn’t respond. Her quiet lingered, tense as held breath.
When we got to Kaelric’s tent, he pulled me inside, and we made out until we were both red in the face and panting. His mouth was warm and familiar, and every touch felt like a promise I wanted so badly to accept. He sat at the edge of the bed, staring at the stars through the skylight at the top. The night sky framed his silhouette like a portrait, starlight pooling against the lines of his jaw.
I stroked his back. “What are you thinking?” Stopping kissing had been hard, but I knew what was on the line.
Kaelric’s life. Because I washuman, because of the curse.
He peered down at me, eyes blazing orange. “That the Creator must hate me to have given you to me and not have a way to fully enjoy you.”
My cheeks heated at his meaning, and it further cemented my plan. A plan I hadn’t fully worked out yet. The weight of it pressed against my chest, insistent.
Kaelric spun on the bedroll, suddenly facing me. Cupping my face in his hands, he pulled me to him, bringing my ear right to his lips.
“Marry me.”
I gasped, craning out of his grip to meet his eyes. His expression was open, raw, hopeful.
“Is that done in your culture?” I asked. I knew his parents were “husband and wife, king and queen,” but I was sure it was just verbiage he used to explain their lifestyle in Aerlyn terms to me.
He shook his head. “Not with mates. Mate is above wife, but… with you, I want that. I want whatever I can get, and I want no other man to take it from me.”
He growled the last part, and I grinned. My mother raised me not to stand for a possessive male, and yet I loved it when Kaelric said things like that. Like he loved me so much he’d die at the very thought of another man having me as his wife. His jealousy was not cruel, only fierce devotion sharpened into instinct.
Did he fear I would marry another? Bed another? The thought almost made me laugh.
“I don’t need an Aerlyn wedding to be your wife, Kaelric. I am yours, heart, mind, and soul.”
But not body. Not yet. My pulse stuttered at the thought, hovering between longing and terror.
He reached into his pocket, nodding. “So you won’t want to wear this?”
He held a thin golden band between his fingers, and I smiled.
An Aerlyn wedding ring.
They didn’t wear them in Fenmyr, and I’d dreamed of having one since I was a little girl. Little Brynn in the Dregs, staring at the moon and imagining fairy tales, would have fainted at the sight.
I plucked it from his fingers, turning it over to see that there were small, delicate flowers engraved in the band. The petals were tiny, almost hidden against the metal, like a secret message only the wearer would know.
“It’s beautiful. I will wear it with pride,” I told him, slipping it onto my wedding finger as emotion clogged my throat.
“How much of this ring is because you want other men to know I’m taken?” I then asked him cheekily.
He shrugged. “Only like eighty-five percent.”
I burst into laughter, and he yanked me into his arms, brushing back my hair with a grin as I sat on his lap with my hands draped around his neck. The warmth of him soaked through my skin, chasing away the chill that had clung to me since Lunaria.
“I wanted to honor your customs. I know you do things differently in your culture, and I want you to know how serious I am about you. I want your mother to know, and everyone who sees you. You’re mine, and I am yours, no matter what,” he breathed against my throat.
“No matter what?” I questioned. I’d just left his mother’s soul trapped down a five-hundred-foot well. And I couldn’t forget the way he’d said he would never forgive me after I chose to keep her and not honor our agreement. The memory stung like a reopened wound.
“No matter what, Brynn.” He peered up at me, eyes blazing yellow.
Good. I’d remind him of that when I returned to this camp a wolfkin. The thought sparked in my chest like a struck match, bright and dangerous.
He yawned, and I stroked his back. “Get some rest.”
