“Yeah, but—”
“No buts, Princess. Take it from someone who was disowned by his family, Chayden has to come to terms with this. It’s hard to let someone back in your life after they’ve kicked you in the teeth.”
Since she had no experience with what Chayden was going through, she deferred to Fain. But after her mother was gone for more than twenty minutes, she began to get worried again. “You don’t think he’s killed her, do you?”
Hauk tossed his cup into the wastebasket. “I was beginning to have that same thought. C’mon. Let’s go check on them.”
He led her across the room and back out the electronic doors. At first she didn’t see them. But as one of the transports moved, she saw them standing together by the side of the building. Her mother appeared to be doing all the talking while Chayden listened with an unreadable expression. The only clue to his mood was the tic in his jaw.
Her mother turned and looked at her, then said something more to Chayden.
He nodded before he walked away.
Crossing her arms over her chest, her mother headed back to them.
“Is everything all right?” Desideria asked when she rejoined them.
“All right would be a stretch. But he is willing to talk to me in a few days, so maybe it’s not all bad. How did you find him?”
She shrugged. “He’s a friend of Caillen’s.”
Her mother shook her head. “So I owe him for keeping my daughter alive, saving my throne and now for giving me a second chance with my son… What other miracles is he capable of?”
Hauk rumbled a deep laugh. “Trust me, Dagan’s no saint.”
That was most certainly true. “No, but he is a war hero. He saved two thrones…”
Fain came running up to them. “Dagan’s out of surgery and he’s asking for you.”
Desideria wasted no time heading back inside and finding a nurse to take her to Caillen’s room. Sterile and cold, the room wasn’t any bigger than her small bedroom. Caillen lay on the bed, hooked to more monitors than she’d ever seen before. A white blanket covered him.
“Don’t get him excited,” the nurse warned. “We need to keep his blood pressure down.”
She inclined her head to the nurse before she crossed the room.
Even though his face was covered with a clear mask, he smiled at her. “Hey, sunshine.”
Relieved that he was alive and alert, she took his hand into hers. “How are you feeling?”
“Like I got one leg shredded, sliced in the ass and then shot in the chest.” He frowned as he saw the ring on her hand. “You get married while I was out of it?”
“It’s my father’s. My mother gave it to me.”
“Really?”
She nodded. “I think she’s coming around to things.”
“Ah God, I’m dead, aren’t I?”
She let out an irritated breath. “Stop being so melodramatic, you big baby.”
“I’ll stop if you promise you won’t.”
“Won’t what?”
“Stop loving me.” The tone of his voice brought tears to her eyes. She heard the deep vulnerability and fear.
“Don’t worry, Cai. There’s no way I could live without you.”
He pulled his mask off and kissed her hand. “I’m going to hold you to that.”
“Is that the only thing you’re going to hold me to?”
He laughed evilly. “No. I still have boo-boos to be kissed.”
“Well in that case… I better start with your lips.”
Caillen’s head spun the moment she kissed him. In all the misadventures of his life, he’d never expected to find someone like her. Never expected to feel this alive while he lay one step from death. But as he tasted her, for the first time in his life he looked forward to the future.
He now had a goal. To keep her with him to the day Death separated them. No one would ever come between them again. “Marry me, Desideria.”
She nuzzled her cheek against him before she whispered in his ear. “Absolutely.”
EPILOGUE
Six Months Later
Bogimir danced around Caillen’s desk in silent aggravation as he screwed up the paperwork he was supposed to be filling out. “Boggi, I swear to the gods if you don’t stop doing that, I will shoot you where you prance.”
Huffing and puffing in indignation, Bogimir made a hasty retreat to the safety of Evzen’s office. Whatever. Caillen had actually learned to enjoy his father’s lectures. Better to be yelled out than to stand over the man’s grave.
Sometimes you just had to suffer for your family.
Like right now. He wanted to burn all the crap on his desk. He felt like he was drowning in it.
Or worse, going snow blind.
Yes, he still had a small itch to climb into his ship and return to his old life. But all he had to do was think of Desideria in harm’s way and it quelled his desire immediately. Nothing was worth risking even a hair on her head.