Page 29 of Shadow Queen
But instead, he whispered, “Tell me the heart is not finite. Must you love one less to make room for another?”
Norah’s heart raced. Was he telling her he would do nothing? A tear fell down her cheek. She whispered the only thing she could. “The heart is not finite.”
He nodded, taking the parchment and quill from her hand, and dropped them to the ground. Then he pulled her close. “You don’t need to explain anything else,” he said softly.
They stood in the light of the morning sun. Everything should have felt perfect, but there was still something that lingered, something that weighed heavily on her mind. She had to ask him. “When you asked me to marry you, did you really believe it would change your fate?”
“I wanted to believe.”
She pulled back and looked up at him. “Did you, though?”
He shook his head. “Not truly, no.”
Her heart hurt. “But you still married me. Why?”
“Because I needed you.” He threaded his hand back into her hair. “I still need you.”
His words caught her in the most beautiful way. Her lip trembled. “And I need you.”
“Then we need each other, and we’ll have each other.”
She smiled as she sniffed.
“Can I walk you back?” he asked.
“Of course,” she whispered. “I’d like that.” There was nothing she wanted more in that moment.
He pulled her arm through his and led her from the conservatory, back toward the castle. “You still stay in the sanctuary,” he said as they entered the castle and walked through the high-arched halls.
Thisconversation again. “It’s comfortable.”
“But not fit for the quarters of salara.”
“It has everything I need.” Would he press her to stay in the villa? She couldn’t stay there. Shecouldn’t. “I like the sanctuary, really,” she tried to assure him. “And it looks north.”
“As does my own chamber,” he said, stopping as he turned to her. He reached up and ran a lock of her hair through his fingers. “Maybe you’d like to stay there from now on?”
“In your chamber?” she asked in surprise. “Where would you stay?”
“With you.”
Oh.“I see,” she breathed, feeling foolish. Of course with her.
She looked down the hall, toward her sanctuary, and then back toward a hall that led to the king’s chamber. He pulled her hand gently, asking.
Should she give him what he asked? No—not what he asked, but what she wanted. She did want to stay with him, be close to him. He was her husband, who—surprising even herself—was stealing her heart.
Norah threaded her fingers between his, giving her answer. He smiled and led her back toward his hall. They walked slowly. When they reached his chamber, Mikael stopped in the doorway. “If there’s anything you’d have differently, you only need to say it,” he told her.
“I’ve seen your chamber, and it’s perfectly fine.”
“Not just the chamber. Anything.”
She knew.
He stepped forward and caught her in a kiss, and she kissed him back. His lips were soft, yet firm.
Claiming.
