“It’s the magic, Dax.” The silly woman has no idea how captivating she is—hair be damned. “Not me.”
I shake my head. Slide my tongue along her lips until she opens for me. Lick my way inside and fuck her mouth, my blood rushing to my cock until it strains against my breeches. Until the beast between my legs damn near rips through the laces, demanding release.
I could spend the rest of the day lost in her, but that would defeat the purpose of why I’m here. Reluctantly, I break the kiss and set Rapunzel at arm’s distance. “Open it.” I ache to toss her on the bed and be the first to feel the hug of her body around my cock, but I refrain. Wren better appreciate the discipline it takes for me to release her.
Rapunzel touches a fingertip to her lips. Hesitantly, she empties the sack—and gasps. Gasps at the collection of books, ribbons, jars of paint, and brushes. I’d decorate her in jewels, but I won’t spend frivolously. Not when we put our gold to better use buying food and supplies for suffering Rygardians. Yet seeing the joy on her face makes the expense well worth it.
“Dax…” She touches each item with reverence. Picks up a book, cracks it open, and trails a finger down a random page. She whispers Latin words with ease. On her tongue, the lyrical words are poetry written directly by God’s hand. She could recite a recipe for cockentrice, and I wouldn’t know it, but I’d listen to her read it for hours. After carefully closing the book, she inspects the other simple gifts as if they are the finest treasures. Then she turns to me, and I puff with pride under the glow of her joy. “Thank you.”
On someone else’s tongue, those words would sound simple. The emotion she puts in them hits me like a punch to my gut. “You’re welcome, Rapunzel.”
She takes a step toward me. Then another. Laces her fingers through mine. “May I kiss you this time, Dax, rather thanyoukissme?”
Goddamn this woman.
“Anywhere and everywhere you please, Little Captive.” I place my free hand over my heart. “I am yours.”
Rapunzel’s lips part as she closes what little space there is between us. She releases my hands and wraps her arms around my neck. It takes all I have to allow her to take the lead. She’s hesitant, but once she presses her mouth to mine, she breathes a soft sigh and melts into me. Moves to my throat, where her lips ignite an inferno everywhere they touch. Then she’s back to my mouth, her chaste kiss achingly tender.
“There’s more to your gift,” I whisper against her lips. Then I lean away and kiss the tip of her nose. “Finish dressing, lovely Rapunzel, for today, I take you on an adventure.”
Her eyes light with excitement and she claps her hands. “Truly?”
“Truly,” I confirm with a wink.
She rushes into a blue tunic. I help her tie a belt of golden thread around her trim waist. Then I spend an ungodly amount of time brushing her hair. Rather than plait the heavy mass, I pick a yellow ribbon from the batch I bought her and wrap it around the blonde waves.
She tugs on her boots, and we’re off. Down the steep steps to the hall. Whatever Bryce is roasting in the kitchen smells divine, and I can bet my balls that sometime today, Rapunzel will head there to help with the meal. Thank God. She’ll fatten us up in no time if she keeps feeding us such splendid meals. But she won’t join Bryce straightaway. First, she’ll help Arthur in the garden. But not before her daily conversation with Kenric. Then, of course, she’ll visit with Emma for a bit. Then after, she’ll make her rounds checking on Ian and Gavin, and Tristan and Lucian. Because Rapunzel may have been in Dyhurst for only a short time, but already she made this castle her home and our people her family.
If that’s not magic, I don’t know what is.
* * *
“Tell me about yourself.”
“There’s not much to know.” I shrug at Rapunzel’s statement as we stroll along the cliff’s edge.
Was it a risk to take her beyond Dyhurst’s walls? Yes. But it was a calculated one. The castle sits on a peninsula with a single land passage by way of approach. Neither Wren nor I found any disturbance in the surrounding area that would alert us of a threat to our rugged and secluded corner of Rygard. She deserves a few stolen moments outside the castle walls for a better view of the sea.
Rapunzel tucks stray hair behind her ear, much of the golden mass wind-blown out of the ribbon. “Then it shouldn’t take long to tell me everything.”
Cheeky wench.
“I’m not a complex person. My father was a knight-errant. Whenever he passed through Lansing, he’d visit my mother at her tavern, The Cup and Crown.” I cut her a droll stare when I see her optimistic expression. “Get those silly thoughts out of your pretty head, Rapunzel. It’s not a love story. I’m a bastard in the truest sense. My sire ran off to chase fortune, glory, and adventure. We met one time, when I was a boy. We wouldn’t recognize each other if we met on the battlefield. He could be dead by now for all I know.”
Or care.
She gives my hand a reassuring squeeze. “I’m sorry you never knew him.”
“I’m not.” I think of how Adele Stafford fought for respectability in a man’s world. “My mother worked hard to give me a good life.”
Rapunzel stares at the Lennox Sea, watching the violent waves rip over the surface. They batter the cliff, with the wind whipping her golden hair around her lithe body. I swear, in this moment, against the harsh beauty of southern Rygard, she’s a goddess among men.
“You were lucky, Dax.”
The sorrow in her voice fucking kills me.
“She’s mean as hell.” My mother had to be or this kingdom would have chewed her up and spit her out. “But yes, she’s a wonderful woman. One day you’ll meet her, and she’ll adore you.”
