But it was only for a second. Because he was here, waiting for her. And love had made her strong. So she got out of the car with her chin held high, in her uniform and veil, walking straight up the steps, the crowd roaring in her wake.
Just inside the great double doors her father waited.
He said nothing as she appeared, giving her an up-and-down look. And she met that look, let him see her pride. Let him see her love. Because it wasn’t a weakness, no matter what he thought.
Her father gave a single nod and offered her his arm, and then the doors into the cathedral itself were opening, and the aisle was in front of her.
The vaulted space was full of dignitaries and aristocracy, but she didn’t see them.
The only person she saw was the man at the other end, waiting by the altar. Tall and strong and powerful in his uniform. His gaze met hers across the acres of space, and even from where she was she saw the flare of his expression on his face.
The hope. The joy. The pride. The love.
Her heart throbbed, full and painful. There were tears in her eyes.
Music played and then she was walking down the aisle, looking nowhere but at him, and with every step she felt herself grow taller. Grow more sure, more certain.
None of the people in the cathedral mattered. Nothing mattered.
The only thing that did was the look in his eyes as he watched her come to him, and the fierce emotion that glowed so brightly she could barely meet it.
But she did meet it. And she smiled, letting her own love for him shine in her eyes, because she wasn’t afraid, not any more.
She arrived at the altar at last, and the look Xerxes gave her was intense and hot, encompassing her uniform and her veil, his approval clear in his gaze.
‘Are you here for me, soldier?’ he asked, for her ears alone, as she took her place beside him. ‘Are you here to be my wife?’
‘Yes,’ she said with purpose. With conviction. With love burning inside her. ‘Are you here to be my husband?’
He smiled, bright and fierce and passionate. ‘I would never be anyone else’s.’
And then the bishop began the ceremony, and when the ring slid on her finger Calista felt as if something had slipped firmly and quietly into place inside her.
Her future.
Xerxes lifted her veil and his kiss changed the world, set fire to her heart. And after they went down the aisle as husband and wife, when they reached the steps outside, he swept her up into his arms.
The crowd roared their approval and Calista looked up into his face, everything inside her aching with happiness. ‘I love you,’ she whispered. ‘And I’m sorry I walked away, that I left without a word. But I was scared of what I felt for you. I loved my mother so much, yet I ended up hurting her, and I couldn’t bear the thought of one day hurting you. So I told myself I couldn’t love you. And that when I was gone, you’d find someone better.’ She swallowed. ‘Does that make me a coward?’
That smile of his was the summer sun on an icy winter’s day. ‘No. It makes you a soldier. You protect people and that was what you were trying to do.’
‘It was myself I was protecting.’ She put her head on his shoulder, the strength of his arms around her after weeks of not having it making her want to weep. ‘I shouldn’t have left. I should have been brave enough to face you. To tell you at least. But I thought you wouldn’t have let me leave if I had.’
‘I wouldn’t have, that’s true.’ He began to walk down the steps, still holding her because it was clear he didn’t want to put her down. ‘So what changed your mind? Why did you come back?’
‘I came back for you. You showed me that love isn’t a weakness. It’s a strength. It gave you the strength to endure everything you did and it brought you home.’ She reached up and touched his beloved face. ‘And I realised that it could bring me home, too. I couldn’t walk away from you the way my mother walked away from me, Xerxes. I had to come back to you.’
He turned his head and kissed her fingertips. ‘It was good you walked away, though. Because I didn’t realise until after you’d gone that I wanted you to have a choice. I wanted you to choose me because you wanted to be with me and not because I forced you.’ There was molten gold in his eyes now and his arms tightened. ‘And I hoped you would choose me. In fact, I didn’t cancel the wedding because I believed you would. And you did. And you know what that means, don’t you?’
They were nearing the car that would take them away and she couldn’t wait. She wanted nothing more than to be alone with him.
‘What?’ she murmured, nestling against him, right against his big, strong heart.
‘It means you’re mine. For ever.’ He looked so smug she laughed.
‘So, do I get to hear it, husband?’
‘Hear what?’
‘I said I love you and you said nothing.’
They would be at the car soon, and there were people taking pictures, the world’s media seeing the prince with a soldier in his arms.
‘I was formulating a response,’ said Prince Xerxes Nikolaides, Defender of the Throne. ‘But it’s a very long response and it’s going to take a while to tell you all the details.’
‘Oh?’ She ran a finger along his beautiful mouth, because he was hers now and she could touch him whenever and wherever she pleased, and she didn’t care who saw. She didn’t care at all. ‘How long?’
His gaze turned very, very intent. ‘Probably for ever.’
Calista smiled, her vision wavering through happy tears. ‘Then you’d better start now, hadn’t you?’
‘Well, I can give you the short version immediately.’ He paused, bending to kiss her, long and sweet. ‘I love you, Calista Kouros. My goddess. My wife.’
She would never get tired of hearing that. Never.
And then they were getting in the car, and at last, as the doors closed, they were alone.
Xerxes pushed the button that raised a privacy screen between the driver and the back seat, and then proceeded to show her the rest of his response.
And he wasn’t wrong.
It did take for ever.
EPILOGUE
THE BIRTH WAS long and hard, but his princess was also a soldier and she held her ground. And a day later, Xerxes held his daughter in his arms as his wife lay back in the nest of pillows he’d arranged behind her head, and wondered if it was possible for a man to have too much happiness in his life.
‘She’s a fighter,’ he said, looking down at the baby nestled in the crook of his arm, his heart two sizes too big for his chest. ‘Like her mother.’
‘She’s also stubborn.’ Calista’s smile lit up the room. ‘Like her father.’
Xerxes laughed and bent to his wife, kissing her. ‘You’re amazing,’ he murmured against her lips. ‘I’m so proud of you. My sunshine.’
And he was. She’d proved not only to be a perfect princess, but she was also leading the charge to recruit more women to the Axian army, as well as mentoring existing recruits into elite positions. Her own security detail was all female and she was encouraging the generals to provide more support for female soldiers, as well as better training for males.
She was a born leader and he could only thank his lucky stars that she’d made the choice to meet him at the cathedral that day.
Calista flushed, fierce and proud, and all his.
And he realised he’d been wrong to think that the purpose of his life had started months ago in the little house by the sea.
It started here. With his family. And that his purpose wasn’t just to protect and defend. It was also to love.
And he did.
With all his flawed heart.
Coming next month
CONFESSIONS OF AN ITALIAN MARRIAGE
Dani Collins
“Get in,” Giovanni said.
The sight of him struck l
ike a gong, leaving her quivering. He had a shaggy black beard and dark glasses, and his black hoodie was pulled up to hide all but his familiar cheekbones, but his legs stopped above the knees and she recognized the tense line of his mouth.
Alive. Her heart soared so high, it should have shattered the sky.
At the same time, a thousand furies invaded her like a swarm of killer bees. There was no triumph in learning she was right. There was only a crippling heartbreak that he had abandoned her. If he’d been truly dead, she would have been angry, but she wouldn’t have blamed him. loz
This, though? He had put her through horrifying hours of actually believing he was gone. She had endured his gut-wrenching funeral, convinced it was a sham. Then, two short weeks later, she’d suffered another unbearable loss that would never heal.
He’d forced her to go through all of that alone.
For every minute that had passed since that awful day, she had longed for him to reveal himself, but now her feet only carried her forward so she could bitterly hiss, “Go to hell.”
“Where do you think I’ve been?” he growled.
“I’m calling the police!” Teresina yelled from deep in the alley. Two of Teresina’s employees were recording everything on their phones.
A man in a suit was running toward her. She instinctively moved closer to Giovanni, heart jamming with fear.
Giovanni’s hard arm looped around her and he dragged her into the back of the car. He clutched the door for leverage, but his strength was as annoyingly effortless as always.
She didn’t fight him. In fact, once he grabbed her out of her stasis, she helped, kicking against the edge of the door to thrust herself inside, desperate for whatever sanctuary he offered.
They wound up in a heap on the back seat while the man who was chasing her came up to the open door and reached for her leg.
She screamed and kicked at him with her sharp heels. He dodged her shoes and threw the yards of silk in after her, then slammed the door before he leaped into the passenger seat in front of Giovanni.
“Go,” Giovanni said to the driver, and he pushed himself upright.
As the SUV sped into traffic, Freja rocked deeper into the seat, stunned to her toes.
Continue reading
CONFESSIONS OF AN ITALIAN MARRIAGE
Dani Collins
Available next month
Copyright ©2020 by Dani Collins
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Promoted To His Princess (Mills & Boon Modern) (The Royal House of Axios, Book 1) Page 17