Page 136 of Clash of Kingdoms

“I like it.”

“I haven’t been this happy in a very long time.”

We walked home in the dark, the torches lighting up the main street and the alleyways. Hand in hand, we walked, both a little buzzed from all the ale we’d drunk. We walked in silence, and then Aurelias took us on a detour, down the small alleyways between the businesses and the homes.

My body burned in excitement because I knew what was coming.

When he found one completely deserted alley, he backed me up into the wall and kissed me, a possessive kiss as his hand fisted my hair. He grabbed my ass before his fingers snaked underneath my dress to hook his thumb inside my panties.

Wrapped in the darkness, I kissed him, anxious to have my panties off and his dick inside me.

He pulled them down my ass, and I raised my legs to step out of them before he shoved them into his pocket.

I undid his trousers and let his cock free before he hiked my leg over his hip and thrust inside me.

I moaned against his mouth when he entered me, sore from all the lovemaking we did every day but not enough to ask him to stop. He hadn’t been inside me for all those months, and I never wanted him to leave. “Aurelias…”

Just like we were when we were clandestine lovers, we fucked in the alleyway, moaning and grinding while the world forgot we were there. I’d loved him then, loved him when I should have hated him, and now my love had deepened to such an intense level, it was indescribable. I wanted to birth his sons and daughters, to grow old with him and watch our children become adults, to appreciate every day together. I wanted to sneak into dark alleys to do things like this, no matter how old we were. “I love you…” I said it between our kisses, wishing he could feel how much I loved him. He knew how I’d felt long before I’d said it, and that was a gift that I missed.

He slowed his thrusts, his eyes on mine as if it was the first time I’d ever said that to him. He came to a complete standstill, looking at me in a way he never had before.

The heat was still there, but now there was a new tension added to it.

“Marry me.”

I hadn’t expected it, so the request floored me. I’d known he would ask me to be his wife someday, but I hadn’t been sure if it would happen now or sometime in the future. But I also loved that he didn’t ask me at all. He just told me.

Then he kissed me again, not waiting for an answer that he didn’t need.

EPILOGUE

AURELIAS

I stood outside the temple and looked at the statue on top, the stone carved in detailed and masculine ways, showing the presence of the god Adeodatus, one of the gods the humans worshipped. The stone pillar rivaled the strength of the castle, the circular beams as big as a dragon’s flank.

Kingsnake came to my side. “I’ve always found the human temples impressive, but this really is something.” Fang was wrapped around his shoulders, and his head tilted back as he looked all the way up to the very top.

“Nervous?” Cobra appeared on my other side. “It’s normal to be nervous.”

“I’m not nervous,” I said, my eyes on the large iron doors ahead.

“Good,” Cobra said. “Because I wasn’t nervous at all. Anxious, if anything.”

“Can I speak to Aurelias for a moment?” Huntley appeared, dressed in his armor and uniform, his sword across his back.

My brothers scattered like scared fish.

Huntley stood beside me as he regarded the temple. “Did Harlow tell you her mother and I were married here?”

“Yes.”

“I paid the priest to marry us despite my mother’s objections. She wasn’t happy.”

“Well, I’m glad Harlow doesn’t have to experience that.”

He nodded. “Me too. Nervous?”

“No.”

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