Page 125 of Bane of the Wild Hunt

She swatted my hand suddenly away. I stared at her in confusion as she quickly turned me toward her, but then she produced a handkerchief to absorb my tears herself with delicate dabs.

“Rubbing them will give you puffy eyes tonight!”

I laughed, feeling a little better, but all of us instantly sobered when there was a knock at the door. My heart was suddenly throbbing so hard that I forgot all about Orion.

“He is here,” whispered Sofia, grinning at me as she squeezed my hands. “Are you ready for him?”

“Yes,” I assured her, nodding in absolute certainty.

“Then I shall take my leave,” announced Helena as she turned for the door, but she hesitated before opening it. “For whatever it is worth, Amira, I am immensely fond and proud of you,” she told me.

“Do not make her cry anymore,” Sofia scolded her, but then my handmaid smiled at me with what I knew was similar sentiment before they went into the hallway.

I stood in the room, twisting my hands in my dress and listening to them bidding Riordan a good night. And then he stepped into the room, closing the door behind him and locking it before he turned to face me.

He was dressed much more casually than I’d ever seen. Usually he was either in his beautiful gold armour or in similar leathers to what Orion preferred. Seeing him in a cream-coloured tunic that belted low around his waist and was unlaced enough on his torso to give me a glimpse of his chest felt intimate all on its own. I wondered if this was what he usually wore under his armour.

The look of captivation in his eyes, the way he seemed afraid to breathe, was provoking. He stepped toward me slowly in a way that asked a question which I answered wholeheartedly with a welcoming smile. His every step after that was wider and more confident until he was right in front of me. He reached for my unbound hair and ran his fingers back through it with a grunt of appreciation. But I felt his hand tremble slightly, so I reached up to take it and looked at him in concern.

“I want you,” he explained with a half smile. “Badly.”

“I am all yours,” I assured him, and he gave me a fuller smile, but there was a contemplative look in his eyes as he brushed his thumb across my bottom lip.

“Are you alright? You have that… bruised look about you that I have not seen in some time.”

“Maybe it was the makeup I have been wearing lately,” I suggested, forcing a smile, but he shook his head.

“This is in your soul, Amira. An old wound reopened,” he insisted, his hand shifting along my jaw to cup my face tenderly as he stared down at me. “When these fears and doubts lay siege to you, I want you to tell me right away so I can banish them immediately,” he instructed me.

His words brought tears to my eyes again, but this time they were tears of relief and appreciation and love.

“Old habits die hard,” I said with a shrug.

I wasn’t sure why I felt a need to protect Orion except that maybe I was also protecting myself. I had said some things thatwere equally mean, and I could only imagine Riordan’s wrath if he knew how we hurt one another.

I also didn’t want our night to be tainted, and I didn’t think him getting angry would help matters with Orion. Things had been left in as good a place as they could be, and I wanted to see where things went from here.

Riordan leaned closer to kiss my forehead and cheek. “I’ll gladly go to war with your old habits. They cannot have you. Not any part of you,” he maintained firmly and pressed several more of those sweet kisses along my jaw. “For tonight, I want to take you away,” he admitted.

“Oh? Where would we go?”

“I told you that I wanted to make you mine out under the stars,” he reminded me. “And I want to be somewhere truly private where no one will try to interrupt us before I’m finished with you,” he added more seriously.

I had to bite my lips together to try and stop myself from smirking but was unsuccessful.

“But what if they have an emergency?”

“Amira, if this city burns to the ground tonight, it will just have to wait until tomorrow afternoon,” he growled playfully, but his wings fidgeted in real agitation.

I could not help bursting out in laughter, his warmth and teasing chasing away the dark feelings from before.

“I don’t care where we go as long as I am with you tonight. Take me wherever you want,” I invited him.

Riordan made a rough sound, a harsh hiss of assent in the back of his throat, and did not hesitate to sweep me up into his arms. He walked to the window while his magic surrounded us in a shroud of impenetrable energy.

“A ward to prevent them from seeing us go,” he said as the curtains were drawn aside by a breeze that smelled of mountain air, and then he stepped into the night. I hugged him tight ashis wings spread, and he took to the sky in a powerful leap that made gravity feel inconsequential.

I watched the city lights fade as we flew high and far away from everything, his wingbeats and steady breaths the only sounds I wanted to listen to.

---