Page 58 of Polestar
The frantic pounding of her heart slowed to a steady thrum.
When she opened her eyes, he was still bent close, his gaze searching hers.
“I would take you as my mate, should you choose it.”
Mate.
Intuition roared through Ana’s being.“I choose you,” she said, voice steady.She returned his kiss.
“I promised to keep you safe and warm,” he murmured against her lips.
“So you did,” she murmured back with a smile.
A promise.
Mate.
For all Barentian time.
Maerie cleared her throat.“My ink pot is drying out.”
Ana and Magnus returned their attention to the woman with the wry smile and the task at hand.
Magnus reached for the quill and, with a few swipes, set his name to the register, then held the pen up for Ana.
She plucked it from his fingers and approached the handcrafted book.His signature was bold and elegant.
Magnus, son of Bjorn, son of Thorn.Prince of Barentia.
Analiese carefully set her name next to his.
Analiese Maria Marguerita Francesca Ortega.
SIXTEEN
Magnussmiledashestepped into the library.“This was one of my favorite places,” he said to Ana.
His smile widened, noting her awe as she stared at the long room with its stacked concourses of floor to ceiling bookshelves.
Sometimes, when he was in Ireland, he’d visit the Trinity College library to soothe his homesickness.It was almost as magnificent as this one.He suspected that some rare, prestigious visitor had modeled it after the legend of the Great Library of Barentia, which was older than anyone could remember.He was sure he’d once seen cuneiform tablets stowed away in the special collections room.
He was pleased to see the oil lamps and wall sconces had been replaced with much safer electric lighting since he was last here.
If there was electricity in the stronghold, that meant there were infrastructural changes elsewhere in the territory.
I’ll have to check for cell service once we’re back outside.
Though he seriously doubted they would have gone so far as to erect a cell tower on the mountain.Then again, there was electricity in the placenow.
He indulged in his appreciation of the large room’s aesthetic while he observed Ana’s reactions to his home.
His gaze fell to Maerie, who stood nearby, her attention on him.
“It may be blasphemous to allow you in here, and even more so to say it, but I am pleased to see you in your beloved home again, Magnus.I know what it meant to you as a boy,” she said, no longer guarding herself against him.
She never had, here.
Few ever visited the beautiful repository.
