Page 47 of The Goddesses' Gifts

Ilet Lhoris hold me for a few minutes before I spoke. “That was awful.”

“I’m sorry, my love,” he sighed and rested his cheek on top of my head. “I’d hoped to settle his nerves before we could all sit down.”

“It’s okay.” I buried myself in the comfort of Lhoris’ warmth and scent and fiddled with the buckles on his jacket. “It’s not his fault.”

“I know,” he agreed. “It’s just hard to see the two people I love most in this world suffering. I can’t imagine how hard it must be in your position. Or his.”

“I’ll be okay, as long as I have you to lean on.” I meant it too. “It might get better once he gets used to being treated with dignity. Maybe you should stand in for him with your current, like Zelfek and Avry.”

I felt Lhoris deflate a little. “Those two have a lot more power. As in, they would have stayed in the city if they hadn’t been the third or fourth son,” he said. “I don’t think I’ll be able to stand in for Lobikno like they did. Nor do I know how to express my current.”

Of course not.

I frowned. “Well, shit.”

“Indeed,” he sighed. “I can ask Lobikno to show me. It’s worth a try.”

“I think that’s a good place to start,” I kissed his cheek. “Tell me something to make me feel better though, something that makes me feel less like a serial rapist and torturer.”

“Is that really how you feel?” he asked, brows pinched. “I thought you were just sad.”

“Don’t misunderstand me,” I said carefully, “I know I’m not those things. It just hurts to be lumped in with that monster.”

“Ah.” Lhoris was quiet for a few moments before saying, “Well, I was going to save this for wooing you later, but it seems as though you’re in greater need of flattery now.”

“But I’ve been flattered before,” I shook my head. “Many times. You promised me something new,” I reminded him with a teasing lilt.

Lhoris snorted. “Did this flattery extend beyond your ass and tits? Divine as they are, they’re mere window dressings.”

“Well, you’ve got me there,” I laughed and wrapped my arms around his neck.

“I do, don’t I,” he beamed. “But you don’t speak the language I would use to properly express my heart. You’ll have to forgive me if I forgo meter and rhyme.”

I bit my bottom lip and peered into his crystalline eyes. Surely it isn’t the words, but the feeling behind them. I could see some of it right there, in his eyes—the desire to please me, to make me smile, and beneath that, vulnerable desperation for connection. “I’m not that hard to impress,” I reassured him.

“Just because the bar has been set low doesn’t mean I should come down to meet it. You deserve better,” he scoffed. “But I’ll do what I can.”

It didn’t matter what he said at that point. Despite the long journey ahead of us, I was home again in his arms, and he was everything I needed.

He sighed and peered at me thoughtfully, offering up a sheepish little grin that made his eyes sparkle. “You’ve bewitched me, Ozanna. When I look at you, I see the afternoon sun in an autumn forest. Feel the warmth of its light on my face and the promise of our life to come—grown from the fertile depths of your eyes, shielded by the fierceness of your spirit, and nourished by the veiled gentleness of your heart.” He cradled my face in his hands, resting his forehead against mine, and closed his eyes. “Not a day goes by that I don’t recall the scent of your ecstasy, the tender brush of your fingers against my skin …” He shuddered and nuzzled my nose with his own. “… the taste of my seed on your lips … I’m possessed by you; haunted by every kiss and lingering glance ...”

I tipped my chin and pressed my lips against his, unable to bear more of his words or the intensity of the feelings they stirred in my chest. “I love you,” I murmured with a gasp before kissing him again. “I love you I love you I love you.”

We clung to each other and savored the moment, my fingers combing through the hair that hung against his cheek while he held me tight.

“Thank you,” I murmured contentedly and tucked the wayward hair back behind his ear.

“My pleasure,” he said, but it lacked his usual self-satisfactory cheer.

I peered up at him to see his brows pinched in pain or confusion, perhaps both. “What’s wrong, my love?”

“Oh, I rather hoped that this painful longing in my heart would fade after sharing such affection with you,” he explained. “I thought reconnecting with you was what I needed.” He clutched his chest and winced in pain, turning his head aside.

A spike of fear drove away all the warmth in my body. “Lhoris!” I cupped his face in my hands, forcing him to look at me. His eyes were distant. “Lhoris, what’s wrong?”

“It hurts,” he admitted. “I don’t know why it hurts. I don’t know what to do.”

“That makes two of us,” I admitted, and got to my feet. My first thought was to go get Lobikno, but what would he be able to do? “I shouldn’t have made you ride,” I said, voice trembling.

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