Page 44 of The Last Strike

Abi pressed up on to her tiptoes and brushed her lips over his. “Sounds perfect to me.”

“Asher?” James Thomas asked from behind him, and he fought the urge to groan loudly.

“Yes?” He turned to look at James—who, as Asher expected, didn’t look at all uncomfortable for interrupting them.

“The flyers have been delivered and word is spreading. We suggest that Samuel infiltrate Adani media again in the morning,” James said.

Asher nodded. “Please tell him to prepare.”

Abi

Abi leaned her head against his chest and closed her eyes. His fingers traced circles on her back, sending a shiver down her spine. Asher’s lips pressed against the crown of her head, lingering.

She moaned softly and Asher drew her in, slipping one leg between hers. He turned onto his side, gazing into her eyes.

It took Abi a moment to see he was troubled.

“What’s wrong?” she asked quickly. He’d been fine when they’d gone to bed.

“I keep thinking of something Theodora said. She’s spent her entire life wishing for freedom, and now that she will soon have it, she doesn’t know what to do—how to live without the confines and responsibility of royal life and duties,” Asher said.

He lifted her chin. “I don’t want you to regret this life. Already, the past few weeks, I feel like we’ve barely seen each other. I’ve been consumed by this war, and I’ve imposed on you everything that I’ve spent much of my life resenting.”

Abi traced a finger along his hairline and down his jaw. She pressed it against his lips.

“We’ve had these conversations before, Asher. I make my own decisions, and this is not something you imposed on me. Let us not forget I knew who you were and what loving you would entail far before you even knew my real name. You see this as a burden, but I don’t see it that way.”

“I don’t see it as a burden, I just ... royal life is not what people think it is,” Asher said. “I want you to be happy, Abi.”

She smiled, hoping he could see the truth of her heart in her eyes. “I am happy, Asher. As long as I have projects to work on, I will be happy. I need to have purpose, but what that looks like doesn’t bother me. IFRT was ultimately about service, about making the world a better place. My role now will have the same purpose. It’ll just look different.”

He rolled on top of her, cupping her face with one hand while the other bore most of his weight. “We’ll figure this out. I want you to be happy—I want you to love our life together.” He looked thoughtful a moment. “I find myself questioning every decision I make now. I’m not questioning if the decisions are right for me, but for everyone else—for you, for Santina. Nothing is about me anymore and I wonder if I’ll lose myself in this role. Some days I don’t even recognize myself.”

Abi pressed her lips to his, letting them linger a moment. “We will ground you, Asher. Me, your mother, Alistair ... almost certainly my father,” she joked.

Asher chuckled and his eyes looked lighter.

“We’ll pull you back when we need to. You have to change—to grow—into this role, but you won’t lose yourself. You’ll be the same you, but a better one,” she said, squeezing her arms around his bare torso.

He smiled warmly. “Loving you has been the one decision I’ve never questioned, and I can’t wait until I can finally marry you.”

Abi smiled. “I have an idea about that, actually,” Abi said. “My family has a country house. Well, a mini palace really. It would be perfect, Asher. We could sneak out there, have the wedding filmed and then broadcast it. I know royal weddings are normally a big show and the public is invited to watch everyone attend the church and leave, but if we wait for when it is safe to do that, we may be waiting for years. If we film it and then broadcast it, we will be married and safely back in this house before Adani even has a chance to attack.”

He beamed that beautiful smile at her and her heart swelled.

“This weekend, two days from now,” he mused. “I’m sure it can be arranged.”

Abi chuckled. “You really haven’t organized a wedding before, have you?”

Asher shrugged. “Well, it won’t be a big event. We don’t need motorcades or catering for hundreds of people. We need flowers, a dress for you, and dinner with our families. That’s it. That’s all I want, anyway,” he said. “It will be intimate and beautiful and normal.”

“You have a slight obsession with normal because you’ve never lived it. Trust me, normal is not that great—but this wedding will be perfect. I don’t even care about the flowers. We’ll find a priest and sign the papers,” she said, already beginning to make arrangements in her mind.

Asher shook his head. “No, I’m giving you the wedding you would’ve dreamed of.”

Abi chuckled. “I never dreamed of a royal wedding or marrying into royalty. In fact, I never dreamed of getting married at all. I was happy doing my own thing and honestly IFRT left little time for dating anyway.”

“Then I’m going to give you the wedding other girls dream about, sans all the guests,” he said.

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