“Yet it is painful to want that.”
“Sometimes the pain is worth it.”
Aire absorbed that statement. Although he said nothing more about his brother, this justified that explosive reaction to my questions. Whatever happened to that boy, the knight blamed himself.
His savior instincts were honorable. They also made greater sense now.
I leaned my temple against the swing rope. “I had a set of building blocks when I was a child. It was my favorite toy, among the ones I crafted myself out of twigs and pinecones. I would spend hours trying to construct the mightiest fortress in history.”
Aire bent his head, a disarming grinning slanting across his lips. “Did you?”
“I gave it my best effort,” I assured him. “But I was critical of the attempts. I kept demolishing the castles and starting over. You might say I was a perfectionist at my impressionable age.”
“As a fledgling, I tried to fly off the stable ledge at my family’s country estate,” Aire reminisced. “The wind felt like a promise, as if the elements would support me. I feared crashing but kept faith in my intuition.”
“What happened?”
“I broke my leg.”
I clamped a hand over my mouth.
“And I tore a hole in the roof of the gamekeeper’s chicken coop, at which point the hens clucking inside were not amused.”
Now I clamped both hands over my mouth, my shoulders shaking. I felt bad for laughing, but Aire chuckled with me.
“Shh,” I lectured, pressing a finger to my lips. “If we get too loud, the owl will disown us.”
“Oh, it has already forsaken you,” Aire implied while puffing himself up. “I, on the other hand, remain in its good graces.”
“I regret nothing.”
“You shouldn’t. If not to the owl, you make a lovely picture to the rest of your audience.”
My pulse skipped. As the swings knocked together, I wanted to ask what he meant, but that would be a gamble since... “You’re not subtle.”
“I’m forthright,” he corrected. “As are you. Do not deny that you possess an unseemly tongue.”
I slapped my seat and quipped, “You had to ruin it, didn’t you? We were having such a nice time.”
Aire chuckled again, the husky register going straight to my one-track-minded cunt. The knight’s mirth also did epic things to his physique, moonlight plating every contour in aneventide sheen. I wanted to thank those muscles for spending time with me. Matter of fact, I wanted to bake them a pie.
“On the contrary, your company is a pleasure,” Aire intoned. “It always has been.”
I gave him a sidelong glance. “We fight too much for that to be true.”
His features transformed, the humor fading. “That is because fighting is safer than pining. But try as I might, that consolation is fleeting. I cannot resist wanting more.” Liquid flames drenched him in burnished light. “I can’t resist you.”
Oh. Fuck.
“You provoke me,” he admitted. “Thus, you embolden me. With little effort, you’re disarming every defense I’ve ever had. I find myself enthralled by the notion, seduced by your effect, and ensnared beyond reconciliation. I never break rules. Yet I would break every one for another chance to feel you against me.”
Oh.Fuck.
“And I would rather quarrel with you any day than live free of conflict.” His molten eyes plummeted to my lips, spontaneous ambition setting them aflame. “May I?”
27
Aspen
