Emllyn gazed off into the darkness, her soft hands caressing the arms that were around her. “I will not pretend that I am not concerned for you,” she said softly. “This is a great and terrible undertaking.”
“It is.”
She turned in his arms to look at him. “I was very proud of you tonight and what you said,” she whispered. “Mayhap… mayhap Black Sword’s legacy will no longer be one of war and rebellion. Mayhap it will become one of peace.”
He was very close to her face, rubbing his nose against hers. “Mayhap,” he agreed softly. “It has occurred to me that I do not want to be constantly warring and placing my family in danger. I have you to think about now. I do not like the idea of you at a castle that is constantly at war. And what of our sons? Although I wish for them to be great knights, I do not like the thought of them always in danger.”
Emllyn smiled, her eyes glimmering at him. “Do you know what I think?”
“What?”
“I think that Black Sword has evolved as both a warrior and as a man,” she said softly. “You would not have spoken this way on the day we met.”
“Nay, I would not have,” he said. “But I have heard that men’s priorities change as they marry and have children. I just never thought it would happen to me.”
Emllyn’s smile faded as she brought a hand up to stroke his stubbled cheek. “When will we marry, Dev?”
“As soon as I have regained Black Castle.”
She didn’t like that answer. “But why wait?” she pressed. “Why not before you go?”
He sighed. “Because it is better this way,” he said. “If you marry me now and I perish in battle, you will forever be known as Black Sword’s widow. That will make it difficult for you to remarry. This way, if I perish in the attempt to reclaim my castle, no one will ever know that you and I were lovers. It will make it much easier on you to marry a man of standing.”
Emllyn wasn’t happy about that at all. She abruptly sat up, smacking him in the chin as she moved. Devlin grunted, putting a hand to his jaw, as Emllyn climbed off the bed.
“Listen to me and listen well,” she said angrily, pointing a finger at him. “I do not care about remarriage. You will be my husband and you will be the only one I have, and I will shout to the heavens how proud I am to be Lady de Bermingham. Don’t you dare say that you will perish in this battle, do you hear? I’ll not listen to you.”
He put up a placating hand in the face of an angry lady. “As you say,” he said, meek and submissive. “I did not intend to upset you. I am simply trying to think of you.”
“You make what we have between us sound cheap!”
He sat up, genuinely trying to soothe her. “I would never do that,” he insisted. “I was simply trying to… God’s blood, I don’t know what I was trying to do. Get into bed with me this instant and stop your scolding. I’ll not have our last few hours together be filled with anger.”
Emllyn cooled. She didn’t want any anger between them, either. But she pretended to be stubborn. “I will not get back into bed until you tell me you love me.”
“I love you with all that I am.”
“Swear it.”
“I do, a thousand times over.”
“Swear you will return to me.”
He paused, gazing at her with warmth and adoration. Reaching out, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her onto the bed beside him. Emllyn wrapped her arms around his neck and together, they fell back onto the bed. Gone was the scolding, now replaced by a warm and fluid tenderness.
As Devlin kissed her neck gently, peeling back the top of her shift in his hunt for more delicious fruits, she wrapped herselfaround him and gave herself over to completely. Devlin buried himself in her softness.
“If I have control over my own fate, know that I will do everything in my power to return to you,” he murmured. “But if I don’t….”
“Do not say that!”
“If I don’t,” he said, louder, “then it is my wish that you marry a man who will be good to you. I want to know you are well taken care of and treated with the greatest of respect.”
Emllyn’s eyes filled with tears at the thought of Devlin not returning. “Please,” she whispered tightly. “Do not say such things. I cannot bear it.”
He stopped kissing her and grasped her chin gently between his thumb and forefinger, forcing her to look at him. Tears streamed down her temples and he tenderly kissed them away.
“Such is the life of a wife of a knight,” he murmured. “There is always the possibility that I will not return and it something you must live with. But know this; you have shown me more about joy and love in the few short weeks that I’ve known you than I’ve ever been shown in my entire life. If I die tomorrow, I die a contented man and it is you who have made it so. But if I return, it will be to live every day with you by my side, a better man than I have ever been.”
