Page 80 of Heart of the Summer Queen

The air empties from my lungs. And then all I can do is cry. I have no way of translating my feelings into words.

He pulls me into his arms, holding me close to his chest. “Adara...”

“I’m so sorry, Elaric,” I mutter, my face buried into the fabric of his tunic.

“I know,” he says quietly. Then he hesitates, choosing his next words carefully. “I understand your feelings are not the same as mine, and I do not wish for you to feel obliged to stay with me merely because we are married.”

“Is that why you pulled away?”

“Yes.”

“But I do want you.”

His hands wrap around my waist as he slides me higher up the bed, our noses almost touching. “You don’t understand. I don’t just want you—I need you.” With a feather-light touch, his fingertips brush along my jawline. “I want your happiness, and I know you would never have chosen me had you not sought to kill me. I would rather annul our marriage, even if it risks losing you, and spend every day trying to win your heart. Then I would know you chose me for the same reason I chose you.”

“What reason?” I ask, my voice so slight and fragile.

“Because I love you.”

twenty-nine

My lower lip trembles at his confession.

“Elaric...” I trail off, uncertain of what to say. I can’t tell him I love him too, since that carries with it an impossible promise. And yet there’s no denying the intensity of my feelings.

“I love you,” he says again, eyes so full of emotion. Once I thought him cold and detached. Now passion spills from him as he lays his devotion bare before me. “And I will spend years—decades—trying to win your heart.”

While the tears I shed before have dried, now my eyes swell with a fresh wave. But these result from another emotion entirely. One far stronger.

“Just give me time,” I breathe. A promise, even if he does not realize it. Because the truth is that he already owns a substantial part of my heart, and it’s inevitable he’ll soon claim the rest.

“As long as you need,” he says, his fingers lacing through my hair.

I lean into his solid embrace, savoring the warmth his touch sparks through me.

Yet the bliss is interrupted as Elaric says, “But I would still prefer to annul our marriage and start over.”

I grip his shoulders, my fingers digging into them. “No.”

“Why not?” he asks.

“I don’t want to.”

The corner of his lip twitches. “You need to give me a better reason.”

“Isn’t desiring not to reason enough?”

“I would prefer it to be because of your burning desire for me,” he counters, smirk growing.

Heat floods my cheeks. What audacity this man has, using threats of annulment to force me to admit my desire for him.

“Perhaps you are right,” he says, his fingers tracing my neck and leaving a path of lightning in their wake. “Maybe we ought not to annul it. For if we did, it would be most improper to do this...”

I open my mouth to ask him what he means but before I can, his lips are on mine and he’s kissing me with wild abandon.

I moan into him, the sound reverberating through us both. I arch into him, wanting—needing—more. The way my body reacts so readily to him provides undeniable evidence of my longing.

His hand slips beneath my tunic, palm scorching across my stomach. My breath snags as he glides even higher. “And especially this...”

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