Page 89 of Fragile Oath

“Davin?” She said my name somewhere between an exclamation and a question.

“Yes, Lina, Love?”

She let out a noise that was more needy than content this time, and I smirked against her hipbone.

“I meant what I said to the lairds,” she said, the words coming out breathy.

“You want to talk about the interrogation right now?” I asked, shaking my head to skate my lips back and forth across her smooth abdomen.

“No, youlaskipaa.” Interestingly enough, the word was longer than it needed to be, the last syllable stretching on in a gasp. Then she murmured something entirely incoherent.

“What’s that, Love?” I teased.

“I said, I do love you,” she finally bit out.

I looked up, following the curves and arches of her torso until I found her perfect gaze on mine.

“I know,” I told her.

And it was true. If I hadn’t understood that before, I did now, in the light of everything I knew about the past few weeks.

She glared at me until I added, “And I love you. Obviously.”

I spent the next hour showing her exactly how much while we shut away every demon from our past and ignored the hell raining down on us outside these doors.

But of course, it caught up with us eventually.

* * *

When Malishka madeher needs explicitly known, we finally forced ourselves out of bed to send her downstairs with Ewan. It was still early since sleep hadn’t exactly been our priority.

I helped Galina back into her dress, though she alleged that my attentions were more distracting than helpful. She hesitated for a fraction of a second when she went to slip her hideous ring on, a grim sort of resignation passing over her features.

“Wait,” I said, walking over to my desk. I removed her ring from the back of the smallest drawer. Crossing the room to her, I held out my hand for hers.

“Unless, of course, you’d rather wear your new one, if it’s more to your taste.”

Though I was teasing her, a voice in the back of my mind reminded me how fragile this all was, like we were standing on the brink, just one breath away from shattering into a million pieces.

A small smile tempted the corner of her mouth, her gaze locked onto the far more delicate engagement ring.

“I don’t think that ring is to anyone’s taste.” She infused a lightness to her tone, choosing to exist in this bubble with me for a little longer.

“Tell that to Granny Siobhan,” I countered. “It was her favorite.”

She hummed noncommittally. “If she liked it so much, perhaps we should enshrine it with her in her tomb, forever.”

I closed my hand around the offensive jewelry, setting it on the table behind us.

“And if things go badly with this evidence…will you still want to wear it?” I couldn’t help but ask.

Her brow furrowed. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“What if I’m exiled?” I clarified.

She raised her eyebrows. “Then we’ll finally get away from court.”

Something in my shoulders eased. We both knew she didn’t mind court most of the time, but her meaning was clear. I slid the ring on her finger, determined that this time, it would stay there. She looked down at it, and I couldn’t help but broach one more subject I had been curious about.

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