“I’m not going to stop talking about this, Lilith. I’ve had a week of silence, a week to think this over. I was cruel and you deserve so much more than just this weak apology.”
She still wouldn’t look at him. He waited, giving her a chance to speak. The way her throat was working and how her tongue was moving in her mouth, he knew she wished to say something.
Finally his patience was rewarded.
“I was hurt.”
The words seemed to be ripped from her soul. Her cheeks flamed a rosy color as the breeze picked up and caused the ends of her hair to dance.
Lilith’s sweet scent saturated his lungs.
“I’m terrified,” he ruefully admitted, then, tapping her foot, he silently demanded she hand him the other one.
Sighing with relief, she slid her other foot onto his lap. The second one wasn’t nearly as ruined as the first had been, but he repeated the process anyway. Applying a bit more pressure to help relieve her aches.
She moaned under his touch and it tugged a smile to his lips.
“I like to hear that.”
“What?”
With his heart in his throat he looked at her silently, long enough that she was finally forced to look back at him.
“You liking my touch.”
She covered her mouth with the back of her hand. The act was coquettish and bashful and so breathtakingly beautiful it was all he could do to remain where he was and not seduce her into a wild fit of writhing, excited madness.
“Liking your touch was never my problem. It was feeling that I was the only one who truly did. What we did the other night, I’ve never…” She glanced back down at her feet.
Unable to resist touching her as he wished to for another second, Giles grabbed her hands and tugged her gently, until she was sitting on his lap.
The weight of her, the feel of her lush curves against his—it felt so right.
“Why are you scared, knight?” she asked as she played with the edge of his shirt.
“Because the sacrifice would be huge.”
She went immediately rigid, and he was quick to pet her back, hoping to soothe her. “I won’t lie to you ever. It is not in my nature to do so. It’s not that I can’t, simply that I won’t. Lilith, I want you. You intrigue me. What we did the other night, I can’t stop dreaming about it.”
“Then what is the problem?” She shook her head, clearly befuddled by his words.
“Because the sacrifice wouldn’t just be my own. Wolves need packs. I could not live away from the castle. My duty is there, to serve my prince. I fear any mate I should ever take would feel ignored and locked away. That is why I chose long ago to wait.”
As he talked he stroked her velvety cheek. She whimpered into his touch, doing the little mewling noises in the back of her throat he found so endearing.
“How long have you waited, Giles? A century? Two? Three? More?”
Framing her face, he smiled against his will. “You are far wiser than you should be for one so young.”
“Gods.” She rolled her eyes. “Now you’re going to use age against me?” Her words were said in jest. “Years mean nothing in Kingdom. I’m a woman, you are a man. And you’ve yet to give me any sort of valid reason for why we could not work. Age is nothing but a number. In a world where we cannot die of it, what does it matter?”
“Do you want children, little wolf?”
“Someday. Maybe. I don’t know, I hadn’t thought that far ahead.” Her grin was sly and her vivid blue eyes were sparkling, it was good to see her acting more like her old self again.
“If we were mated, I could never give them to you.”
“What?” She frowned, mouth parting just slightly. “Never?”
“No.” He shook his head slowly. “The rules of magic concerning our kind are very different to your own, or any other species born on Kingdom. Unless I am with another demone woman, I cannot impregnate anyone.”
Her tiny fingers clutched at the back of his shirt, but she didn’t say anything.
Feeling as though he’d crushed her dreams all over again, he gave her a bitter twist of his lips. “I worry that not only could I not please my bride by having the time to devote to her as I should, but she”—he pulled her chin toward his—“would never even get to know the joy of holding her own child in her arms. So answer me this, little wolf, does that sound like much of a fairytale to you?”
If she said yes, he’d make her his now. He’d mate her in the way of a wolf; however, she needed it to be to ensure that no male could ever have her again. He’d offer his hand, his heart, and his protection. It wouldn’t be nearly as much as she deserved he knew, but it would be all he had to give.
And if she said it was enough then he would stop second-guessing himself and just take the leap of faith.
Lilith claimed his lips and her kiss was so slow and gentle and tender. And his heart leapt for joy because he knew she’d accepted him as he was. And somehow this would have to work. Somehow he’d figure out a way to make both his prince and his bride happy.
“I wish to bathe,” she whispered upon his mouth before pulling back and giving him a timid smile.