Total pages in book: 13
Estimated words: 11696 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 58(@200wpm)___ 47(@250wpm)___ 39(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 11696 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 58(@200wpm)___ 47(@250wpm)___ 39(@300wpm)
“No, I… I…” She suddenly felt dizzy, as if the entire world had shifted under her feet.
“Love,” he said quietly, “is the strongest of all true magics. Trust that it can penetrate anything. Even stone. But what my heart will not do is easily crumble. And so the love within a stone heart will weather any troubles, just as a mountain stands against storm and quake. In time enough, perhaps my heart might wear away…but that time would be far longer than I am ever likely to live.”
“Oh,” she whispered.
“But you thought elsewise? You thought that I couldn’t love—and that I’d refused you? And so you kept away from me.”
Flora could not answer. Not without sobbing.
“Yet still you let me touch you. Though I’d hurt you so badly, still you would have taken more and given as much in return.” He brushed a tear from her cheek. “Such a heart you have, already to have withstood so much. Stronger even than granite—a diamond, sharp and clear.”
That couldn’t be. “It broke,” she confessed on a shuddering breath.
“Did it? And all the love spilled out, gone forevermore?”
“No.” None of it had gone. “Though these past days might have been less painful if it had.”
His eyes darkened. “Forgive me for that.”
“For a misunderstanding?”
“For not being clear in my intentions, no matter what your uncle said or wanted. Never would I have hurt you. I thought you understood that I meant to have you. Especially after you accepted the second winding.”
“I don’t know what that is. I just wanted to kiss you.”
That earned her another kiss—swift and hard—before he eyed her with some bafflement again. “How can you not know the windings? The wedding ritual is the same in Innis as in the Dead Lands.”
“Binding hands with a red ribbon and speaking vows?”
“But courtship is the winding of the ribbon around each finger—first with friendship, then passion in all its forms, followed by shared values and hopes, a stone heart to withstand all troubles, and a promise to care for each other and any children that may come.” With each one, Brom mimed winding a ribbon around Flora’s fingers, then finished with a full loop around her hand. “Then love binds all together.”
“Never have I heard that before.”
Not letting go of her hand, Bram intertwined his fingers with hers. “Perhaps it has fallen out of tradition in places where they marry for other than love.”
Her heart beat faster. “So we had established friendship. And the second—”
“Is the bed.” His thumb stroked a circle in the center of her palm, making her shiver. “Though some start with passion and find friendship later. But though I wished for both, I thought your uncle and cousin would not wish for me to begin your courtship in bed.”
Flora would not have argued against it. “So you wish to bed me before we marry? To make certain our passion is well-matched?”
“I know our passions are matched. I knew before I ever kissed you.”
Flora had also thought so. Or hoped so.
And perhaps those hopes were not so foolish, after all. “But I would like to have you in my bed soon, anyway. To be certain.”
His grin matched hers, too. “The moment we are home. When I take you the first time, I would not have you muffle your screams.”
“How long must we ride?”
“Five days at this pace.”
She groaned. But perhaps it would not be so terrible—and they could begin the next winding in the courtship, as well, and speak of their values and goals…though in truth, after all that she’d learned of him in the past months, she was certain they were already aligned. And— “Will we still share a tent?”
“We will.”
“And you will allow me to touch you and kiss you?”
“Any time. My mouth, and anywhere else.”
Her delighted laugh rang out. “But you will have to muffle your screams. Your pleasure is mine alone.”
“Only yours alone.” Brom squeezed her hand and held her tight. Solemnly he added, “As it always will be.”
Epilogue
Flora had heard both Vash and Brom describe the fortress held by the Stoneheart clan—yet still nothing could have prepared her for the sight of the towering stronghold rising above the sheer face of the granite cliffs, or the crystalline waterfalls that filled the air with rainbows of sparkling mist. Horses grazed terraced pastures, children chased each other shrieking with laughter, and everywhere she looked, joy seemed in no short supply.
“Do you think you could be happy here?” Brom murmured in her ear as they rode the long winding ribbon of cobblestone that led to the stronghold.
“I think I would have to exert every effort not to be happy here—and still I might fail.”
He brushed a kiss against her temple before straightening again, calling out greetings here and there. Despite the curious looks Flora received, he did not pause to introduce her fully, aside from proudly announcing that she was his bride. Considering the hard length nestled against her ass, it was likely that Brom would not stop before they’d reached his bedchamber.