Page 139 of Enchanted Shadows
“Hey, Kess?”
“Yeah?”
“Were you planning on going to Artem’s room or having him come to ours?”
“His.”
I fought off a yawn. “Thank goodness.”
“Why?”
It was early afternoon. The day was not even close to over, and yet I couldn’t hang. “I barely slept last night. I’m going to nap.”
“We could’ve spent last night much like we did today, but you were too busy avoiding me to actually let me speak.”
“I promise to give you my full attention after you see your brother, but woman, you have got to let me get some sleep!”
She snorted a laugh. “Fine.”
“How’d you even know where to find me this morning?”
She grinned. “A princess never reveals all her secrets.”
I glared at her. “So, Jorah.”
“Maybe. But the sword was my added touch.”
“Of that I have no doubt. You’ve been wanting to stab me for a while now.”
“A princess never reveals all her secrets,” she repeated.
I dropped her off at Artem’s room and headed back to my own.I was sure there were things I ought to be doing with the morning bringing another trip to Agria that I was leading. Meetings to be had. Security measures to consider and reconsider, but for once, I allowed myself to be unavailable, to rest.
Tomorrow I’d have to peel myself away from Kessara to deliver her brother, the new heir apparent of Agria, home. Tomorrow I’d have to be back in commander mode. I was used to rather reliably looking ahead and doing what needed done, one after the other, after the other. This time, I found I was rather stuck on the present.
Tomorrow was just going to have to wait.
CHAPTER 44
Iwas only going to be gone four nights max. That was what I kept reminding myself over and over again.
We were due to meet Artem downstairs, but dammit I didn’t want to leave this woman right now. And she was right, if I would’ve just talked with her earlier, I wouldn’t have spent the last week being angry. We could have found this happy bubble we were living in sooner.
But that happy bubble would pop in a hurry if we didn’t return Artem to Agria. If both heirs to the Agrian throne stayed in Wylan any longer. I could send Team One in my stead and stay with Kessara, but I also knew how much she loved her little brother. The same as I loved my sisters. Not to mention the fact that he’d be a damn king someday. So I would be goingwithTeam One.
I moved the bookshelf aside and gestured for Kessara.
“Why are we taking the secret passageway?”
“Because I want you all to myself? Because I want to kiss you goodbye disrespectfully without your brother there.” After a moment I corrected, “Brothers. Plural.”
So we headed down. And just before hitting the pantry in thekitchens, I kissed my wife goodbye in the dark and damp space which reminded me too much of the waterfalls in Agria.
I was only going to be gone a few days. I had to deliver Artem, and then we would head for home straight away.
“I will see you soon,” Kessara said to me, entirely out of breath. “How about we take this last week before training starts, the holidays, and hide away like it’s our honeymoon?”
That was music to my damn ears. I brought her hand up to brush a kiss to it. There were far more places to kiss her goodbye than I had time for. “I’d love to. I love you, Kess.”
