Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 67421 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67421 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
“You made it come true.”
“We did.”
So often he spoke of how powerful her love and kindness was; yet never did Warrick seem to recognize how his love and kindness had overturned the world for her, too. How his care and support had saved her over and over. If only more people in her life had been even a bit more like Warrick.
But they had not been. “So I will let Lady Faraine see for herself the queen she called weak. Let her regret all that she did. Both she and Serjeant Iarthil possessed such a senseless kind of honor—only caring that they fulfilled their vows to my mother, regardless of my own wishes and will.”
He cupped her face in his warm palm. “But his betrayal was more difficult for you. As was his death.”
Though it had not truly hit her that he was gone until after her retinue had returned to Aleron. Then she had struggled and grieved. “He died as he would have wished to—while honoring his vow and keeping me safe. And…he truly did keep me safe for so long. Do you recall the mudbeast—”
He gave to her a grim look. “Never will I forget.”
And still had not laughed at how near he’d been to letting a golden hag drown. “No, you would not forget,” she said softly. “But you likely do not know that when I was pulled down, it was the sergeant who saved me before you did. He’d drilled into my mind how to defend myself. That kept me alive until you came. So I had much to thank him for. But then…I recall that he knowingly allowed the curse to continue for years. Which must be a wrong that outweighs all other rights. I know this.”
“Yet your heart is still conflicted over how to remember him. Your mother, too.”
Elina had begun to think she would never know how to feel about her mother. “Yes,” she whispered.
With tender fingers, he tucked a curl behind her ear. “A heart big enough to hold many feelings is a fine thing—though not an easy thing. But what is easy is not what makes us strong. And you have the strongest heart I know, Elina.”
“It has not always been easy between us.” She bit her lip, recalling the worst of those days. “After I burned the ribbon…have you ever wondered whether we should speak our vows again to remarry?”
“Not once. We are married. The vows and the magic that binds us need no ribbon. You are mine and I am yours—and if you ever said otherwise, and fully meant it, I believe that I would vanish again from your sight.”
“You need not fear that.” Her voice thickened and she felt the sting of tears that she tried to blink away. “Not having you with me would truly be a living death. One I have no wish to ever experience again.”
Remembered anguish darkened his gaze. “I will always be sorry for hurting you as I did.”
“I am not sorry. I learned much about myself in those painful days.”
“Your supposed selfishness?” Warrick scoffed and levered up, pushing Elina over onto her back. “And what have you learned about yourself since, woman?”
A melting warmth stole through her flesh. “That I am insatiable.”
“So you are.” His gaze hot, Warrick bent his head to her breasts, suckling her nipples and teasing until she was twisting helplessly beneath him—then he looked up at her expectantly. “And? What else are you?”
Breathlessly she said, “Yours, Warrick.”
That answer pleased him, for he kissed his way downward—before stopping. “And?”
“Loved.” She laughed from sheer happiness. “I am loved.”
“So very much, Elina,” he murmured against her skin. “You believe it?”
Heart full, her eyes swimming, she nodded. “I do.”
Warrick pressed his lips to her lower belly, then peered up at her over the swell of it. “Shall I continue, my queen? I am hungry this morn.”
So was she. Slipping apart her thighs, she offered up to her barbarian his favorite destination. “Onward, my king.”
Here we are again, at the completion of a spell—for that is all a tale is, words woven together in the hopes of making magic. A happily-ever-after lies ahead for our bride and her barbarian, and though that happiness does not always come easily, what is not easy only makes them stronger. More journeys they will take, more demons they will slay, more love they will make. And there will be more wrongs that need to be righted…for there is a Reckoning to come.
But that is a story for anotherwhere and anotherwhen—and this Midsummer’s tale has come to an end.