Page 65 of Tales of Earth and Leaves

Ansgar had wanted to go further this time, a raging desire shimmered in his eyes when I arrived. He had claimed me with no reservation, no stillness and care. He wanted to go all the way this time. And for the love of all the gods, I hated myself for not ripping his pants and jumping him, like I dreamed about doing many, many times. But he deserved better.

We deserved better.

“Okay...” was all he said as he turned me to face him and his eyes displayed a projection of his understanding. “Let me at least accompany you home.”

I sighed at the thought of walking back in those shoes. I don’t know why I thought it would be a good idea to wear high heeled boots in a forest, apart from the obvious fact that I wanted to look sexy as hell. The thought of twisting my ankles in the darkness did not appeal to me.

“Can you do that thing where you magically appear in places?” I asked, my look giddish.

I had asked him several times, especially when he had plans to court me, to keep things as simple and human as possible until I adjusted to the thought of him being who he was, and to his credit, he had limited most of what he did and kept it outside the small palace we lived in. But seeing how my boyfriend had powers and I didn’t fancy walking in the darkness, one little bend of rules could be easily passed by in this situation.

Ansgar smirked and kissed me, his lips finding mine, tongue expertly opening my mouth and doing that twist thingy that drove me crazy. I moaned into his mouth and he pulled me closer, tighter, his wide torso covering me in a protective embrace. By the time the kiss finished, we were both standing on my porch and I was looking around like a silly person to convince myself that it had really happened. That in the span of a kiss, we’d travelled about three miles from his bedroom to my house. Ansgar’s gaze fixated on me, taking in my every movement. A small smile curled his lips.

“There are some benefits to this, fahrenor,” he finally replied with a slight satisfaction.

I had to pull myself away to not be drawn back onto him, so I grasped the doorknob tightly and held onto it for dear life, trying not to fall into Ansgar’s embrace. My traitorous body screamed so desperately for his attention that I would probably end up taking him right there on the porch.

“Good night,” I said sheepishly, images of what was to come flashing my vision.

“Good night, beautiful, I’ll see you tomorrow morning,” he whispered and glanced at me one more time, with promise in his eyes before he vanished into thin air right in front of me.

I giggled like a schoolgirl as I opened the door. For the third time that day, I drew a startled breath. Standing on the sofa, flicking through a magazine, was Ansgar’s brother.

“What are you doing here?” I tried to look calm but I scanned my surroundings for any kind of weapon. I was in Ansgar’s shirt and had nothing iron made on me nor had I kept any of the chains by the door. Damn it.

“I came to talk,” he stood from the chair and raised his hands when I immediately took a step back. “I have no intention of harming my brother’s mate. I come in peace. I promise.”

To prove his point, he took a step backwards towards the table and grabbed the set of knives from his waist, placing them on the marble surface. “They are part of the uniform, nothing more,” he stated, then proceeded to remove the silver breastplate and several pieces of armour from his shoulders and forearms. It took him about two minutes and at the end of it, Ansgar’s brother presented in front of me in a simple white shirt and leather pants.

“Is my brother coming?” he asked, not shifting his eyes from me.

I hesitated at the question. If I replied truthfully, I might find myself defenceless against a trained fae warrior, but if I told a lie and made him believe his brother would arrive any minute, he might hurt me quicker if that was his plan.

“How did you get in?” I decided to ignore his question.

“The front door was unlocked.”

I cringed. Of course it was, I hadn’t locked it since Ansgar started sleeping here, there was no point now that the stranger I had been terrified of became my boyfriend.

“What happened to the old lock? The iron one?” he inquired and when I widened my eyes at him, he explained. “A childhood friend kept here, two rounds back. He had many stories to share about the queen and legends.”

“I had it removed,” I cut him off. If he was willingly giving out information, I had to do the same.

“Because of Ansgar?” he asked, surprised. I nodded. He sucked in his lips, agreement and admiration flushing his face.

“What did you want?” I asked again, hoping that after the little chat we had, he would come forward and give his true motives.

“To have a conversation with you alone. Since you did not answer my question earlier, I assume my brother is not coming.” I grimaced at his logical line of thought.

“Should you need to change first, I am happy to wait.”

That made me snort. As though I would leave him alone in here, free to just pick up a knife and come after me to find me naked and defenceless. Not that my forced outfit choice looked appropriate.

He read my hesitation and continued, “Do you have any iron left?”

“Like I would tell you that,” I replied aggressively.How stupid does he think I am?

“To prove that I am not planning on harming you in any way, I volunteer to be iron bound until your return, should that make you feel more secure,” he offered.

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