But for my people, marriage is a sacred and nigh-unbreakable vow. While there are legal means for dissolving a marriage, they’re cumbersome and more or less unavailable to royalty. Even among the high nobility, it’s frowned upon, although it does occasionally happen. Arranged marriages don’t always work out.
If he marries me, Tovian will be committing to a relationship unlike anything he’s ever known.
Maybe not entirely true. His parents have remained married for decades, after all.
“If you want me to give up the throne, and go to live with your people? I’ll do it.”
I wait for his response with bated breath.
Tovian’s eyes are liquid pools of warmth. Forget my weird-ass violet irises. His eyes are the most beautiful in the world. He cups my chin.
“Raina,” he says, and I almost burst into tears thinking he’s going to turn me down. “I’ll marry you as many times as you want. Every day, if need be.”
He kisses me gently. Sweetly.
My lower lip trembles against his.
“I don’t want you to give up being queen. I’ve seen you lead in battle. I’ve witnessed the way you take command of a situation when everything feels hopeless, and give people a reason to keep on fighting. You’re compassionate, evenhanded, and creative. When there’s no immediate solution, you always find a way forward.” His thumb traces the shape of my lower lip. “It’s fair to say that this country wouldn’t still be independent if not for you. I would never want to deprive your people of a magnificent queen.”
Another kiss. This one isn’t quite so sweet. A sweep of his tongue against mine. Heat combusts within me. I moan.
We’re not done talking, though.
“I learned everything I know from Lorcan,” I whisper. “That’s what hurts so much. We were really close once.”
“Not everything, Sunshine. He taught you to fight, and ferociously at that, but that man doesn’t know a damned thing about how to handle people.” Tovian shifts closer to me. I swing my leg over his thighs, straddling his lap. “Being a queen is ninety-nine percent people skills and one percent spear-wielding capability. He doesn’t have what it takes.”
He grins and tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. “You do.”
“I had help.” I grin and rock my hips forward. At roughly three months of pregnancy, my stomach is barely rounded enough to make fastening my pants difficult. The nausea, fortunately, is gone. For now.
“You did.”
He cups my ass, bringing me firmly into contact with his burgeoning erection. A tiny smirk quirks his luscious mouth up at one corner. That tiny gesture has an electric effect on me. Lights me up on the inside.
When he smiles, I know it’s because he’s happy. He’s emotionally available—something that threw me at first. I’d never met a man who said what he thought and felt, without trying to hide it behind an emotionless mask.
I had no idea what hit me that day in The Boscage.
“Tovian.” I take his face between my palms. “I wouldn’t have made it through the summer without you. Nor the winter. Definitely not this spring.”
I kiss him. It’s dirty as fuck and yet the sweetness lingers on his lips. I taste it and want more, but he pulls back just long enough to whisper, “You’d have made it without me, but I’m so glad I got to be there with you.”
Then I’m not thinking—or feeling bad—about how clinging to the fantasy version of Lorcan kept me from seeing what Tovian’s been saying all along. That he loves me. He fell fast and hard, and finding out my real identity only made him fight harder to stay at my side.
Did it scare the shit out of me, even while it the most flattering thing that’s ever happened to me? Yeah. Did I tumble head-first into love with this man without even realizing it? Yeah. I sure did.
Took me long enough to figure out what happened to me. An unplanned pregnancy that felt right even though it came at the worst possible time.
It takes me three seconds to strip his shirt off over his head and push him back onto the [surface].
“I have so much to show you,” I whisper, sinking my teeth into Tovian’s earlobe and feel his slight shudder.
He lays back, taking me down with him, cupping my breasts through my shirt. “Seen this before.”
I laugh. “I meant of the outside world.”
He tenses. I know how badly he wants to experience all the wonders of civilization beyond our shores. I know I’m his ticket to go abroad, but I’m not worried that his interest in me is only because I can give him all of that and more.
