She sat up and slapped a hand against my chest. “Of course I do, but I love you as you are, and to even suggest using the node to transform after—”
I pulled her back down. “I was only teasing, Isa. I’m sorry. And I love you just as you are, too.”
She snuggled back against me. “Really?”
“Love, you know I’m speaking the truth. Why do you have such a hard time believing it?”
She shook her head again, not speaking.
I ran my fingers through her hair. “Talk to me, Isa. Please.”
“It’s just, I know I’m not sweet and soft.”
My hand continued past the ends of her hair, down her spine and to her ass. “I like tart more than sweet, and you are soft in all the best places.”
“That’s not what I—” She shifted off me, pulling the blanket over her body. “I’m blunt and sarcastic and don’t allow people their illusions. I make everyone uncomfortable.”
“Isa, look at me.” Slowly she lifted her eyes to mine. Never would I have expected this sort of insecurity from her. But I was all too happy to wipe away her fears with the truth. “You just named my favorite things about you. I don’t love you despite those qualities. I love you because of them. And if other people can’t see your worth, well lucky me, because I don’t want to share.”
Her teeth sank into her lower lip, and the sight was enough to make my cock stir once more.
“Felix?”
“Yes?” I said as casually as I could, not wanting to diminish this moment with base desires.
“Show me. Make me feel the truth so deep I can never doubt it.”
I moved over her. That, I could do.
Forty-Four
Isabel
???
I woke upwrapped in Felix’s arms, sore in new places, languid with remembered pleasure. I was still soaring on the knowledge that Felix loved me, but the morning light slowly brought me back down to earth. I was happy, but three little words didn’t make the world fall into place, no matter how deeply he branded them into my skin.
What came next?
I shifted, and Felix’s arms tightened around me.
This was a moment out of time. There was still a future to plan. A well-meaning but misguided constable to deal with. Opportunities to consider and weigh in the balance.
“Why are you so tense?” Felix mumbled against my back.
“You can’t stay in Leort.”
He levered himself up so he could look down at me. One eyebrow quirked. “Are you banishing me from the town?”
“The Contract of Inheritance,” I explained, twisting so I faced him. “You can’t be away from the node for long.”
He nodded. “I’ll have to return tomorrow afternoon at the latest.”
“How does this work, then?”
“You don’t want to come back with me?”
I did. I wanted to so much it scared me. “And do what? You no longer needa truth-mage at Rose Castle.”
