She did this time.
She turned with head bowed and stood in silence as her attendants lifted her veil and placed it over her hair.
He frowned and stepped back.
Impossible.
She raised her head slowly, her expression sad until her eyes reached his face. Her frown matched his.
“You’re the Lyran I was running away from?” Terea said, too shocked to take any notice of the priest or the audience they had.
It was impossible.
Was she dreaming?
He hesitated a moment, his mouth hanging open and his feelings in disarray, telling her that he was having difficulty understanding this too.
She smiled and he followed suit.
“Heir Prince Sebastian Lyra I,” he said and held his hand out to her as though introducing himself.
She placed hers into it and realised he was shaking as badly as she was. “Princess Terea Atelier.”
She laughed when his fingers closed around hers and he raised her hand to his mouth and kissed the back of it.
“I can’t believe I ran away from you,” she said and then frowned at him. “Were you running away from me too?”
He nodded and gave a low laugh. “What a pair we are.”
She stepped up to him and ran her free hand up his dark blue jacket, curling it around his neck. “We certainly are.”
Her eyes rolled closed when he dipped his head and kissed her, his other hand wrapping around her back and tugging her close until her body was pressed against his.
“Your Highness, it isn’t supposed to start with a kiss,” the priest whispered.
She smiled when Sebastian looked at him and then at her. “It always starts with a kiss.”
“Your Highness, I implore you.”
She pressed her hand against Sebastian’s chest to stop him when he leaned towards her. The priest thanked her with a smile. It was painful stopping Sebastian when all she wanted to do was kiss him. She held his gaze while the priest continued with the ceremony. Sebastian looked so handsome, his black hair tousled by her fingers and his tight blue jacket emphasising the broadness of his chest and shoulders. She shook her head.
“To think, I thought you a common thief,” she whispered, hoping not to disturb the priest. She couldn’t stand here mute when she had so many things to say to Sebastian. She’d thought she’d never see him again. This past week without him had been hell. She’d thought of only him, had cried her heart out every day until she had run out of tears.
He smiled, his dark eyes shining with it. Tears rose into hers, but this time they were tears of happiness. She couldn’t believe she’d run away from her arranged marriage only to end up in the arms of her future husband anyway. At least this way she felt as though he was someone of her own choosing. She would have to thank her father now. He’d been furious when she’d been brought back and had refused to marry the Lyran prince.
She was so thankful that her father was stubborn. She might have talked her way out of marrying Sebastian.
The backs of his fingers brushed her cheek. “And I know you’re a thief.”
She dropped her gaze to her feet, unable to look him in the eye. “I admit, I did steal five hundred silver Lynans from you.”
His hand opened and cupped her cheek. He raised it, forcing her to lift her head and look at him again.
“You stole more than that,” he whispered.
She frowned. “I did?”
“You stole my heart,” he said with so much affection in his eyes that she blushed.
Before she could open her mouth to respond, he was kissing her again. She closed her eyes and leaned into him, her arms going around his neck. The kiss was sweet and gentle, filled with love and tenderness that made her melt inside. She tightened her hands against him, not wanting to let him go.
The priest cleared his throat. This time they both ignored him.
He sighed and then said, with a slam of his book, “I pronounce you husband and wife.”
She smiled against Sebastian’s lips when he grabbed her around the waist and kissed her hard.
Her eyes widened when his hands slid lower and he scooped her up into his arms, cradling her with one arm against her back and one hooked under her knees. He didn’t stop kissing her as he carried her down the aisle. A murmur rose amongst the gathered guests. She could sense their curiosity and their intrigued stares.
“Where do you think you’re going?” A strong female voice cut through the rest.
Sebastian stopped and his lips left hers. She craned her neck to see one woman standing and recognised who it was. His mother. Sebastian’s grip on her tightened.
“This is Terea,” he said with a wide smile. “I suppose I can mention her name in our house again now that she’s my wife?”
His mother looked shocked.
“For once, I am glad that you are as stubborn as a Gavaelian farnsk.” His smile became a grin and he started walking again.
Terea looked up at him, at her husband, and wondered just what gods of the universe were smiling on them to bring them together like this. Perhaps Iskara and Arkus were working together for once.
“Answer me, young man!” His mother’s voice rang in the distance.
He didn’t.
She looked at the people they were passing as he walked down the aisle with her and then towards the palace they were heading towards.
“Where arewe going?” she said with a curious frown.
He lowered his head and kissed her cheek before drawing back and looking deep into her eyes.
“To catch up... I have a bottle of Koji in my room.” He grinned. It was infectious. She couldn’t help smiling at him as she remembered their night together.
“We have a lot of catching up to do,” she said and pulled herself up so she could kiss him.
He didn’t stop walking. She peppered his cheek and neck with kisses.
“You don’t care that I’m Minervan?” She reached out to his mind a little, wanting to see if he told her the truth.
“Not at all,” he said and started up the steps to the palace with her. It was cooler inside the building. She leaned back and looked at him. He wasn’t lying. He really didn’t care. “But if you keep invading my mind...”
Her eyes widened.
“You can feel me?” she said.
He nodded. “It only happened after we’d—well, you know what happened. I was so addled with our feelings and the Koji that I didn’t realise until after... and I didn’t know that it was a Minervan gift.”
“It isn’t,” she said and played with the hair at the back of his head. “My mother was Varkan. It’s a trait I picked up from her. No one knows I have it.”
“No one but me,” he corrected.
“I still can’t believe I was running away from you, and ran right into your arms.”
He pressed his cheek against hers and squeezed her.
“And here you’ll stay, my love,” he whispered into her ear.
She sighed and buried her face against his neck, relieved that she had found him again and that his feelings for her were the same as her own.
“My love,” she echoed and closed her eyes.
He pressed a kiss to her hair.
“I like feeling you happy,” he said and turned down a corridor.
She smiled.
“I’ll never be sad when we’re together,” she whispered.
He held her tighter and she felt warm inside when she sensed all his love for her and his need to protect her. She’d never felt so happy.
He was happy too.
“If that’s the case,” he whispered back at her. “I’ll never let you out of my arms again.”
She’d like that.
She would stay in his arms.
Forever.
The End
###
About the author
Felicity Heaton is a great believer in love at first sight and the romantic ideal. Having grown up reading extensivel
y, she developed a deep love of classical literature, ranking Jane Eyre, North & South, and Persuasion amongst her all time favourite reads. The most romantic moment of her life was when her husband got down on bended knee on the steps of Sacré Coeur, Paris, at night in front of several hundred spectators and proposed. She was too drunk on love, and subsequently champagne, to care about the audience. All she could see was the man that she loved. A writer of emotion and life, she always strives to touch a chord of familiarity in her readers and give them characters they can love and a read to remember.
Connect with me online:
Website: http://www.felicityheaton.co.uk
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/felicityheaton
Blog: http://felicityheaton.blogspot.com/
Sons of Lyra: Runaway Hearts Page 6