Page 152 of The Blade in the Ashes
That dimple formed in his cheek as he blinked sleepily up at me. “I was never going to be temporary for you, wife.”
My fingers continued pushing through his sweat-drenched hair as I smiled down at him, my heart so full it felt as if it might burst. His eyes blinked closed, and I began humming softly under my breath, content to let him rest further.
“Bird.”
No.
“I won’t hear it Nikolai.”
“You need to. If I die—”
My muscles locked, stubbornness rolling through me.
“You will. not. die.”
Even if I had to track Thea down, wait for her powers to return, and insist she help me, I would drag him back to the Mortal Realm if it was the last thing I did. The Underworld couldn’t have him.
He didn’t open his eyes. “Little bird, I need you to think like the brilliant woman you are and realize—”
“How about I make you a deal?” I interrupted, fingers stilling in his hair.
He coughed gently. “A deal?”
“You live through this...” My heart was a steady beat, pounding so heavily in my body that it hurt. I tried to breathe through it as words I never expected to say forced themselves out of my mouth. “And I’ll let you marry me for real.”
He went dangerously still in my lap, and for the briefest moment I thought I had made a mistake. MaybeIwas the one who was only temporary to him.
Hazel eyes blinked open once more, clearer than they had been since that arrow had struck him through. His lips curved.
“It’s a deal.”
Hours turned into days.
Days turned into a week.
Nikolai began spending more time awake than he did asleep, and I savored every minute that I felt his eyes on me.
It took time, but his color eventually returned. Soon after, his appetite did too. After we went through all the food that I could find in the cupboards, I eventually had to leave him briefly to venture into the abandoned town and scavenge for supplies. I’d rushed through the entire trip, terrified and consumed by anxious visions that I’d come back to that small cottage and find his body.
When I had returned and thrown the door open in my desperate haste to see him healthy, he had glanced up with a smile and a book in his lap.I’d had to bite down on my lip to keep from openly beaming with joy.
Our time settled into a bit of an odd routine as he recovered. For the first few days he was far too weak to move around much, so I helped wash him down with the rag—he hadhatedthat—and fed him some broth. As his strength started to return, though, he sat up more on his own. Then he stood. Then he managed to walk around some.
Horse-riding was still out of the question, though.
So instead, we spent our days talking, his head in my lap more often than not. Or we would read one of the many books that were lying around the tiny house.
It was all very domestic.
And we never, not once, mentioned the offer of a deal I had made, even though it seemed to hang in the air all around us.
Nikolai hadlived.
And I had promised to marry him.
When the sun set on our seventh night, we lounged together in the living area. A fire crackled in the hearth, and I hung off the side of the armchair, feet dangling over the edge with a book held in front of me. I felt Nikolai’s eyes on me every so often but didn’t bother to meet his gaze.
Until he said, “We should return home tomorrow.”
