Page 47 of Bound By Blood
"I was lonely. But not since I met you. I would take a cold bed and empty arms for much longer if it meant eventually you would be the one in my arms and bed."
She hugged the box close, her fingers curled over the corners.
"Don't you want to be with me, Erryn? Answer that question. Please."
Her lips trembled. Was it possible? Could she really be with him without having to enter into some magical open-ended bargain?
"What is your family going to say if they find out that while they were gone you got married to a human woman?"
"We'll just be so happy to see one another again, I doubt they'll think to criticize anything except the way I've cut my hair or what I've allowed Quinn to do or how I've managed the magic of the castle. Besides…I've been looking for them since I was two hundred and five. I won't ever give up looking for them, but Quinn is right about that. Even if they are surly with me right now. I can't put my life on hold until I find my family again. There is no way to make my magic come back together faster. And this time I have spent with you is the best of my life. So is that your only objection?"
"I have absolutely no magic, and you are magical," she said. "What about all the opportunities you're going to miss in your life by being with someone who isn't magical?"
"Your smile is magical." Ryul tilted his head down, trying to catch her gaze. He moved closer.
She pressed her lips together, fighting to restrain the smile that was springing up. "Ryul."
This was foolishness.
"I feel magical when I am near you."
"That's not magic. That's—" She covered her face.
"I know what it is, but that doesn't make it feel any less magical. Doesn't even mean it isn't magical, actually."
She fought both the smile and the tears that wanted to rise. "Stop saying that things are magical. Especially me."
He caught her hand in his and brought it to his lips. "There are all kinds of magic out there. I'm offended on your behalf that you can't see just what makes you so magical."
Her heart fluttered as his lips touched the back of her hand. How much better would it be to kiss him as well? All these feelings—all this inside her beyond the fear—perhaps itwasmagical in its own way.
"I don't know if I can be what you need me to be. I don't want to hold you back."
He drew her closer then, one arm hooking around her waist. "All I need you to be is you." His lips parted as he leaned closer. "Erryn, you are more than enough for me just as you are."
Her breath caught in her throat. She wanted to seize him. To close those few inches between them and seal this bond between them—no matter the cost. To feel even more of his hardened body against hers—to drop back into that heated passion from the week before.
And those words rose within her.
Those three words.
She ducked her head, then picked up the prism. "How do I use this?"
If she wasn't careful, she was going to burst out and say it.
He smiled then, making her heart swell with such emotion she thought it might burst. "You need to write the words you bind from your mouth directly on it."
She placed the prism on the countertop and picked up the quill. The cap from the ink pot opened with a satisfying sound and released the strong sweetly metallic scent. As she dipped it in, she prepared herself.
It was simple. All she had to do was write those three words, and she wouldn't say them.
But it didn't feel right.
He had offered this, and it was generous. There was no treachery in his eyes. No harshness or hidden deceit. She'd heard of similar forms of magic. As far as that went, it was one of the safer kinds. But something about this felt wrong.
She hesitated. "If it is this simple, why do others not do it?"
He shrugged, his brow tweaking. "What do you mean?"
