by Maisey Yates
“I thought I had given you the actions.”
Her face heated. “That’s sex, not love.”
Black fire blazed in his eyes. “That was not just sex.”
“Oh, I’m sorry I didn’t recognize it as something special and life-altering.”
“Dammit, Karen, I’m altered by it, aren’t you?”
“Yes!” she shouted. “Are you happy? I’m ruined for any other man. I love you, I love you so much that I ache with it. I would rather dig my heart out of my chest than live with the pain you left in it, but I can’t. Being with you was like having all of the missing pieces of myself fit together for the first time. It changed me in ways I can’t even begin to describe. Are you happy? Have I fixed everything? Or do you still need to marry for duty and honor and the realization of your father’s dreams for Komenia?”
“Say it again,” he said, his voice rough.
“What? How miserable you’ve made me?”
“Tell me again that you love me.”
“I love you,” she said.
He strode across the room and pulled her into his arms. His kiss wasn’t sweet or tender. It wasn’t a slow build. It was three years of pent-up passion and emotion, it was Bastian giving her everything, with all of his defenses down. And she could give back nothing less.
On a sob, she opened to him, allowed him access to her mouth. She wrapped her arms around his neck and forked her fingers through his hair, holding on to him tightly. Because if she let go she was afraid she might not be able to stand.
When they parted, they were both breathing hard.
“You want to know what it changes?” he asked. “Everything. Karen, your love has changed everything. My love for you changed everything. When I told you I loved you, that was the first time I realized what I felt for you. That was when I realized it was true. And I knew then that having you sitting at a desk in the next room would never be enough.”
“But it doesn’t change the fact that you need to marry Eva to cement the alliance between the countries.”
“No,” he said. “It doesn’t. If I want those trade agreements, if I want the military alliance, the one that my father spent his life trying to see happen, I have to marry Evangelina.”
“So it doesn’t really change anything.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. Komenia is a strong country. It’s survived for hundreds of years without being allied with Kyonos. It will survive hundreds of years more without them now.”
“What does that mean?”
“I’m not marrying Eva. I knew when I realized I loved you that I couldn’t. That you were the only woman for me. I can’t even consider making vows to someone else, sharing a bed, a life, with someone else. You are the only woman I want to bind myself to. And I do want that, Karen. So much it terrifies me.”
“But
You already broke things off with her.”
He laughed. “I think it was somewhat mutual. I have a strong feeling she’s found someone else, too.”
“And the
military?”
“Not swearing its allegiance to Komenia.”
“But
but that was
your father’s dream
and yours.
“
“I’m gutted I can’t do this for him, Karen, I am. But when he died, he died as a man who’d never had love. Not the way I have it with you. I may never be the figurehead he was, but I’ll be a better man, a better ruler, for having you.”
“But
but what if I didn’t love you back? What if you’d given it all up for nothing?”
“It was a chance I had to take. And anyway, I can be quite persuasive. I wouldn’t have given up on you.”
“I tried to give up on you,” she said. “For four years I tried to give up on you. I knew you were going to marry some princess, not me. Never me. But it didn’t stop me from loving you.”
“How long?” he asked.
“From the moment I first saw you.”
“Me, too,” he said, “I was just too stupid to recognize it.”
He squeezed her tight, resting his chin on her head, stroking her hair. And she let herself melt against him, resting on his strength. In the strength of the love between them.
“What will your people say? What will they think?”
“I can only hope they understand what I was too blind to see. That love is stronger than any treaty between countries. That it’s more important than financial gain. I hope they realize that it’s where true strength lies.”
“And if they don’t?”
“Then I will work to win back their trust. I have other plans to increase revenue in the country. Plans to strengthen the infrastructure. Build new hospitals, better roads. It’s not a whole extra military, but it’s not bad.”
“It doesn’t sound bad at all,” she said.
“I’m willing to give up many things for my people, but I can’t give up you, Karen. And I won’t. But if you want the honest truth, I don’t think it will be a problem. They’ll love you as a princess.”
“Wow. I hadn’t even considered the title.”
“It suits you.”
“As long as I have your love, nothing else matters. The tiara is just a bonus.”
He laughed. “You have my love. Don’t even doubt it. I would like you to reconsider your resignation, though.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yes. I still need an assistant.”
“I was sort of picturing being a princess involving early retirement. Reclining on pillows while cabana boys feed me grapes, that kind of thing.”
“I don’t know about the cabana boys, but I might find the time to feed you grapes.”
“That works.”
“The thing is, Karen, you’re my right hand. My partner. You have been as my assistant, and I know you will be as my wife.”
A tear slid down her cheek. “Yeah, that sounds pretty good. As long as you don’t still consider yourself my boss.”
“I’m sure you’d never let me get away with it. And anyway, you know I love taking orders from you.”
“Well, that’s good, because if you want to marry me, you’re going to be stuck with me for a long time.”
“I know,” he said, kissing her forehead. “I’ll be stuck with you forever. And I can’t think of anything better.”
THE END