From Darkness Won - Jill Williamson [212]
Oh, she wanted him to. “But what of Sir Shung?”
He’s not really watching. A small smile. “May I?”
Averella’s eyes fluttered closed. “Yes, and you need never ask again.”
His lips met hers softly, and she could feel them trembling. He released a breath and drew back, staring at her mouth. “All this time you were Lady Averella.” His eyes flashed to hers and he smirked. “From that day I first saw you in my cell in Mahanaim. Sitting in the corner, so small and scrawny.”
Averella batted his arm. “It is not kind to tell a lady she is scrawny.”
His smile lit up his face. “You’re anything but scrawny.”
She lifted her chin. “Well, I first saw you walking in Esek’s procession. You called me Scratch.”
“Arman was putting us together.”
Averella looked past his face, out to the lake. “I almost ruined it.”
Achan set a hand against her cheek and turned her face back to his. “We both made mistakes. But Arman knew we would figure it all out.”
He kissed her again. His arms slid around her waist. The heat of the day seemed to heighten with their touch. Their minds connected, and all Averella could hear him say was, My Sparrow. My Sparrow. My lady Sparrow.
She ran her hands up his arms, over his shoulders, and rested them at the nape of his neck, which was moist from the heat of the sun. He hummed and pulled her tight against him, threaded one hand in her hair.
She grabbed his shoulders and pushed him back with a gasping squeak. “Achan, please.”
His chest heaved as his breathing slowed. “I’m sorry, Sparrow. I’ve dreamed of you for so long. I never thought things would work out between us at all—and never that they would work out so perfectly as this.”
“Perfectly, perhaps. But your passion must not consume us.”
His lips, swollen from kissing, curved in a mischievous grin. “I wasn’t raised with your scruples. Sir Caleb has taught me some decorum, but I’m a stray at heart and a passionate man.”
This time Averella could not keep from laughing. She loved how Achan could always make her smile. “My lips can attest to your passion, but such passion did not bring favor to my parents’ actions.”
“Did so.” His grin darkened. “Their passion created you.”
“Achan, really!” She swatted his chest.
“If I promise to behave, will you allow me to court you?”
“Court me?” Her eyes flew wide.
Achan’s smile dwindled. “I’ll wait, if that’s your wish. But Sir Caleb said I must be crowned soon. He says if you’re willing, we should be married first so we might be crowned together. Otherwise, there’ll be a separate ceremony to crown you after we’re married.”
“And you prefer we be crowned together?”
“I hoped we could be. It would be much more pleasant that way.” His brow furrowed. “I guess that’s pretty quick, huh?”
She sighed dramatically. “Well, if it makes things easier on Sir Caleb, I suppose we must skip the courting. But you must rein that passion until we are married.”
He breathed out a laugh. “I will. But are you sure, Sparrow? I don’t mean to pressure you. What with your lost memory and having been stormed…”
“Do not think on it a moment longer. For without your knowing it, you have been courting me since I first clapped eyes on you. And if you make me wait much longer I shall be very cross.”
He smiled and kissed her again.
41
Most strays never received a manhood celebration different from any other day of birth celebration, and some never even celebrated that. Achan wanted things to be different for Cole.
For the time being, Cole and Matthias shared a chamber across the hallway from the king’s bedchambers. Achan gathered Shung, Toros, and—against his better judgment—Kurtz, for the boy looked up to the man despite Achan’s attempts to keep them apart.
After hours of planning in Achan’s chambers, the men crept into the room that Cole and Matthias shared. Achan and Shung both carried torches, but Shung extinguished his and waved the smoky stick beneath Cole’s nose. Not as good of a restorative as