I scramble out of bed and run to him on bare feet. He catches me, shutting the door with his back and leaning against it as if to bar any intruders.
Lock him in here with me. I can survive anything with him at my side.
He holds me close for a long time. I’m afraid to speak, and from the way his heart thumps in time with mine, so is he.
“I thought you weren’t coming for me.”
I rise on tiptoe to kiss him, which he indulges for a moment before gently releasing me.
Steely eyes meet mine.
“I will always come for you, Briar. As long as I live, I am yours to command.”
Triumph thrills me, undercut with a tinge of sorrow. I’ve won his loyalty, but hurting him is the last thing I wanted.
“Then take me away from here, Killian. Tonight. Before it’s too late.”
He heaves a long sigh.
An icy boulder lands in my midsection. My heart cleaves in two.
“We have nowhere to go. We have no choice but to see this through.”
I pull back.
“You always have a choice, Killian.”
“No. I don’t,” he says flatly. I hate that he might be right. “I’ve never been one to die nobly on a hill. I’ve survived this long because I look out for my own interests first.” He gives me a tiny shake, gentle but firm. “I’m looking out for you, too, Briar.”
Shivering, I shove my arms through the sleeves of my wrapper. It’s dark inside my room despite the flickering candle I left burning. I never did completely outgrow my childish fear of the dark.
“Then why are you here?”
“Because ever since I laid eyes on you, I’ve been abandoning my common sense left and right.”
He grabs my arm and whirls me around to face him.
“I was planning to take you away tonight, Briar. I would fight for us to the death. Would you? Or are you sitting back waiting for me to rescue you?”
I try to smack his face with my free hand, but he’s too quick and I miss. He manacles my wrists and walks me back a few steps until the backs of my knees collide with the bed, flailing with helpless, seething anger against his iron grip.
He’s right. I have been waiting to be rescued. I hate him for saying it out loud.
“What do you expect me to do, Killian? Pick up a sword and fight my way past the royal guards? I’m untrained in the use of weaponry, unless you count a garden hoe.”
“Speak up. Tell Alistair you don’t want him.”
“What makes you think I haven’t?”
His mouth crashes down on mine in a bruising kiss. I strain against his hold on me to lean into it, wanting to grab him, to tear into him with teeth and nails, need pulsing in my core.
“No one fights for me.” He breaks our kiss long enough to growl against my lips. “Not one person has ever fought for me.”
“I can’t even fight for myself.”
“Can’t? Or won’t?” A smirk tucks up one corner of his mouth, but there is no mirth in his eyes. “Don’t you have a choice, too?”
He kisses me hard before I can answer, as if he’s afraid I’ll confirm what he already suspects. He bends my arms behind the small of my back, forcing my breasts up to press against his chest. With no uniform or armor to shield him, only a couple of thin layers of fabric stand between my bare skin and his. An attempt to writhe free only gets me locked more firmly against his front.
