Unbound Heart
Page 27
Duncan took Anton’s face between his palms again and planted a kiss on his brother’s forehead. “I know you do, but the family needs you at home too. I promise we’ll talk. We will figure something out together. I promise.” He gave his brother a gentle push toward the exit. “Go on.”
Anton nodded, started out of the chamber, stopped, and turned to Faelan. “Are you here to marry my brother?”
“You don’t have to answer.” Duncan grimaced. He hadn’t managed to keep the panic out of his voice.
“No. I’m ready to offer you my terms.” Faelan walked up to Duncan. “I want to be your partner and friend. I want to be the mother of your children, little wolves who breathe fire or little dragons who howl at the moon. Do you have a preference?”
Duncan’s heart started beating again. He shook his head. “I don’t care what they are. If they are ours, they will be loved.”
Faelan smiled. “I want to grow old with you, and I want to sleep in your arms in the hereafter. But I don’t want to belong to you. What do you say to that?”
“Yes.”
“Yes.” Faelan echoed the word. “But you want a marriage contract.”
“She talks nonsense,” Anton said.
“Be quiet, Anton.”
“What does he mean, I talk nonsense?”
“Go Anton, now.” Duncan grasped Faelan’s hand and pulled her down a side tunnel. “I need to show you something.” They emerged in a cavern with smooth limestone walls. Duncan took a torch from a bracket in the wall and blew on it until it caught fire. He led Faelan to the far wall and held the torch high so it illuminated the names carved in the stone’s soft surface.
Duncan picked up a large claw and pointed to the first name. “My family takes its identity from the distaff side. See here. Adela Duncan. Drake struck his name next to hers. He had poor penmanship. I used to think because he was an ignorant pirate.” Duncan chuckled. “But as it turns out, he wrote well for a dragon. Here is my grandmother, my mother, my aunts, and my married sisters. We pass down Adela’s name. This is what we do, because if love does not bind us together, no contract can.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You did not trust me. I told you love played an important role in my family. But the only way to convince you that you would not lose yourself by loving me was to let you judge me by my actions not by your past experience with men. You needed time to learn to trust me so I gave it to you knowing I might lose you in the giving.”
Faelan took the claw from Duncan and carved her name in the limestone. She stood back while he struck his name alongside it.
“I don’t feel any different,” Faelan said.
After ramming the torch into a wall bracket, Duncan came back to her. “Did you expect to?”
“When you’ve feared marriage as long as I have, and you defeat your fear before it devours all your happiness, there should be something to mark the occasion.”
Duncan wrapped Faelan in his arms, hugged her close. “What would you like? Trumpets? Heralds? Name it.”
“I’d like a kiss.”
Duncan happily obliged.
A word about the author...
Jane Atchley is an award-winning author of fantasy romance, a member of Romance Writers of America, and an active member of her local RWA Chapter. She makes her home in Dallas, Texas.
Jane loves to hear from readers.
Contact her at:
www.janeatchley.com
And watch for the twins' story coming up next in the Garrison Heart series.
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