Please be Jasce.
Please.
Quickly, I straighten my veil and slip out of my bedchamber. As I round the corner, I nearly collide with Breda carrying a tray of goblets.
She curtsies. “Forgive me, My La—Annora.”
“It’s all right.” I offer her a bright smile as I hurry past her and head to the stairs near the kitchen.
Hurry.
Faster.
Memories flood my thoughts as I quicken my pace—such beautiful memories. The way Jasce cups my face. The way he kisses me.
At the bottom of the steps, I pause and glance around. Darkness crowds around me, broken only by thin shafts of light. I squint into the gloom, searching for any sign of him.
“Annora.”
My heart leaps at that familiar deep voice. I whirl to my left and find him stepping from the shadows—solid and real andhere.
“Jasce.” His name tears from my throat as I rush to him and throw myself into his arms.
I yank my veil free, then rise on my tiptoes, and crush my mouth to his—thirty-six days of longing and desperation pouring into the kiss. His arms lock around me as he pulls me closer.
Finally!
Tenderly, lovingly, his hands trace down my back, mapping the curve of my body, the flare of my hips.
I need more—his touch, his taste, his heat.
We kiss until everything else fades away and there is only him. Only us. Only now.
The rough wall scrapes against my back as he pushes me against it, but I barely notice. Not with the need burning between my thighs.
He lifts me and presses me harder against the wall. I wrap my legs around his waist and trace the line of his throat with my lips—telling him how much I love him, how much I missed him.
His grip tightens as he groans.
Yes!
I capture his mouth again, pouring everything I feel into the kiss. The loneliness of our separation. The ache of missing him.
He breaks away first and speaks between quick breaths. “I missed you so much.”
I look up at his handsome face. He looks the same as he always does—black hair, brown eyes with golden flecks, and bronzed skin. “I missed you desperately.”
“Desperately?” He smiles and pulls me against him again. “Show me.”
Boldly, I frame his face and kiss him.
Does he know what he is to me?
My bulwark. My safety. My island in the midst of a vast ocean—the ocean his brother threw me into.
One of Jasce’s hands slides up my side, while the other grips my hip tight enough to bruise.
I don’t care.
