Page 59 of A Kiss of Embers
She did have a point there. No matter what, he was grateful she found a way to sneak into Attleglade. “Thank you for saving her life.”
“You’re welcome.”
Seraphina rubbed a hand up and down her arm, and the sadness in her eyes cut him to the core. He didn’t understand polyamory, but he was sure he could never share his wife with anyone. It wasn’t right.
But the woman he loved was here. No matter how messy their severed ties might be, he had her now. And he didn’t want to squander what little opportunity he had to spend time with her.
“Come sit on the sofa,” he said softly as he gently took her hand and guided her across the room. She sat on one end, and he lifted one of her feet and rested it in his lap before gliding his hand up and down her foot from her ankle to her heel, over the arch of her foot to her toes. The rough, black scales fascinated him, and he would have assumed she wouldn’t have felt a massage in the same way someone else of his settlement might if not for the rapture on her face.
“No one has ever done something like this for me.” She sighed contentedly as she sank into the cushions.
“Never?”
“Never.”
“Well then.” He grinned when she sighed again. “I am glad to be your first.”
When he finished the first foot, he moved onto the second until she started drifting off. He smiled when she shifted on the sofa to rest her head in his lap, and he switched his administration to her hair. The strands were soft beneath his fingers, and soon the repetitive movement lulled her to sleep, as her eyes closed and her breathing deepened.
I can’t stand the thought of living life without you. This is the only way I know how to keep you.
His heart sank to the very roots of Attleglade as he recalled her words.
Then you will let me go without even a fight? I don’t mean enough to you to try?
Could he truly let her go because of a bit of jealousy? Because she might come to love someone more than she could ever love him?
The pit in his belly grew as he faced his deepest fear. He was a half-breed. The lowliest person in Attleglade. Not worthy of friendship. Not worthy of love.
He didn’t want to lose her love. Especially not to another man. Or multiple men. More than anything, he wanted to be loved unconditionally, despite being a half-breed, despite how little he meant in his society.
He didn’t think he could survive the inevitable heartbreak he would feel if there were other men in their union.
Otherwise, he would try. For her. Because she meant everything to him. But this was not something he could endure. Not something he could survive.
It was better to lose her now before he lost her after giving her everything he possessed, including his heart.
The door on the opposite side of the room clicked open, almost hesitantly, before his father wheeled himself into the main room. He glanced over at him, then at Seraphina where she rested her head in his lap.
“Bastien,” his father sighed.
Bastien’s eyes watered as he stroked her hair but he smiled through the pain. “They sleep like this. Isn’t it adorable?”
His father said nothing, only frowned as he moved closer.
“You never said how hard it was with Mum. Knowing you couldn’t stay together.”
More silence as his father steepled his fingers together and breathed deeply. “I got eleven glorious years with your mother. It was more than I had hoped for.”
“But the council is stricter now. They’ll never allow even a minute. Especially not withher.” Tears spilled down his face, but he didn’t move to wipe them away as he continued stroking her hair. “I want to keep her.”
“Thenrun. There is nothing more you can do.”
“You keep saying that. But you know I can’t.”
Frustrating tension lingered in the air as his thoughts, and likely his father’s, turned to the blood oaths that kept him in line. Unfortunately, he knew Seraphina’s clan lay on the opposite side of the border. He couldn’t seek refuge there.
“I will kill him,” he hissed under his breath. If Cranky Cricket wouldn’t release him from his oaths, then the only other way to break free of them was to kill the man.
