“My Circe misses her friend,” Lahn explained, pulling his wife close.
Lahn likely missed his friend too.
Loren smiled, finally understanding these matches that came in a variety of ways, and proved not only enduring, but unshakeable (Lahn and Circe’s the most unusual), and it wasn’t love that forged them.
Yet it absolutely was.
He turned to the last two people in the room.
“I’m not sure you’ve met,” Tor said, as Loren took in the tall, straight, handsome man who, at one glance, he knew was like Loren, a soldier, and the dark, striking beauty with him. “This is King True of Wodell, and his queen, Farah.”
Loren bowed.
“We know who you are,” the king from across the Green Sea stated. “And what you’ve accomplished. I am a brother, sir,” he confirmed what Loren had surmised. “Do not bow.”
Loren straightened, his gaze moving to Tor briefly, he got a nod, then he looked back to True.
“It’s still an honor to meet”—he took in Farah with his gaze—“two of the warriors who defeated the Beast.”
“Wish we knew all it would take was pushing the monster—” Lahn began.
He stopped when Circe turned and slapped his arm, hissing, “Lahn, there was no ‘all it would take’ in that heartbreaking situation.”
A string of words came from Lahn, calm, gentle, sounding like song, and since Loren didn’t speak Korwahkian, he had no idea what the king was saying.
But it made his queen appear less cross.
Tor caught his attention, asking, “And where is your future bride? We’re keen to meet her.”
“This is an excellent question,” Loren replied testily.
Tor’s eyebrows went up.
It was nearly a fortnight after her fit in his arms in his rooms.
Not including the fit, obviously, it had been the finest two weeks of his life, and this was quite a claim, considering his father gave him a wonderful childhood, regardless of what they two had lost.
Openness, honesty, sharing, outings with her family, meals together just them alone, and Satrine in his bed at night suited them both.
Magnificently.
They were not inseparable. He had things to do. And she had a wedding to put the finishing touches on.
Also, she and her mother had to make plans for travel to Dalwin for said wedding, a wedding after which Satrine would be with him wherever they landed, so she had to be prepared for it.
She was further embroiled with her mother and Mary in some renovations they were seeing to in the cellar, not to mention restyling Corliss, Maxine and Mary’s rooms (Mary had decided to stay indefinitely, which, considering she was nosy, meddling and a widow who lived alone, but now had family she cared deeply for that she could order about, was not a surprise).
And last, Satrine had begun a strangely intent, but not surprising project of learning the history and anything else she could devour about the Vale, the Northlands, indeed all the lands. As such, she often had her nose in a book, and she read the newspaper front to back every morning.
In other words, his bride was even more busy than he.
That said, when she was with him, she was with him. It seemed she’d made it her mission to cause him to laugh often, urge him to share every nuance of his life (or those he could share), and she had a particular skill in making him climax as hard as he could orgasm.
This was unsurprising too, considering her vow to see to him, never to leave him, never to let him lose his hold on all things good.
She was that, top to toe to bones to soul.
Good.
As such, he had completed the journey to falling in love with her.
It was now simply a matter, day by day, of finding ways to love her more, an endeavor that was far from a struggle.
His only concern was, of late, he’d noted Satrine seemed to be getting anxious. She tried to hide it, but this anxiety was such, she couldn’t.
This, he knew, was due to her father’s upcoming trial, and regrettably, all Loren could do in the face of that was be steady for her and her mother, until it was over, which fortunately would be soon.
But he, too, had saved Tor and Cora’s imminent arrival as a treat for her, even if she knew they were coming, as her father’s trial was the day after tomorrow.
However, when he went to collect her to give her the surprise, she was not there, and it seemed no one knew where she was.
Corliss did not appear concerned about this and shared, “As you know, Lorie, she wanders. When you’re not around, she likes to read in the park. And she knows Carling is partial to that fudge from the candy store, so when he runs out, she always heads off to get a new supply. And right now, I think he’s out.”