Broken Dove (Fantasyland 4)

“Tonight, I’ll come to you after he’s asleep,” Apollo declared.

He’d come to me when Christophe was asleep.

I swallowed.

Then I nodded yet again.

“When I do, you and I will discuss all the things you wish to talk about,” he concluded.

I found my voice and used it to say, “Okay.”

He held my gaze and repeated my, “Okay,” but his was way better.

It was way better because his eyes were warm, his voice was soft, and he was using his hands to pull me closer.

When he was a breath away, his gaze boring into mine, he whispered, “You love me.”

I did.

I didn’t say that.

I said, “I’m scared.”

One of his hands moved from my hair so he could stroke my jaw with his thumb as something passed through his eyes that I felt in my belly. And it wasn’t in a good way.

I would know why when he said quietly, “I have vowed to keep you safe, to make it so you never feel fear again, to give you better, and here I stand, with you so close but still holding yourself away, because it was me who failed at giving you all those things.”

That wounded him too and I so knew how bad it felt when you did something stupid or thoughtless, something that affected other people.

It totally sucked

Feeling that for him, I softly said, “Lo,” and the instant I did, he closed his eyes.

Before I could say more, he opened them and promised, “I won’t fail again, my dove.”

He meant that.

Each word.

I felt wet hit my eyes as I replied with a shaky, “Okay, baby.”

His fingers tensed against my scalp as the hand he’d slid to my jaw glided down my spine and he murmured, “And she gives herself back.”

As if I wanted to prove his words true, I let my cloak and gloves fall to the floor, lifted my hands and pressed them to his chest.

“I will take care of all you give me this time, my poppy,” he told me.

“I’m not sure what I give you, honey,” I admitted. “But I appreciate that.”

“Then part of how I’ll take care of all you give me is to make certain you understand precisely what all of that is.”

I thought that was a good plan.

Apollo was thinking something else.

I knew this when his arm wrapped around my waist and he pulled my body to his. My head tipped back. His dipped down. And then his lips were on mine.

But he didn’t take my mouth.

“Remember this kiss,” he ordered on a whisper, his eyes staring into mine.

There weren’t many kisses Apollo had given me that I didn’t remember.

I didn’t share that.

I asked, “Why?”

“Because it is special,” he answered.

“They’re all special, Lo,” I pointed out and watched his eyes smile even as I felt his lips do the same.

“They are, dove,” he agreed. “But this one, the first I will give you knowing you return yours with love, will be the one I most treasure for the rest of my life.”

Okay.

It was safe to say I was no longer uncertain if loving Apollo was awesome or scary as shit.

It was awesome.

It got more awesome when he quit rocking my world with words and did something else with his mouth, that being taking mine in a kiss.

It was deep. It was wet. It was long.

And it was unbearably sweet.

I slid my arms around his neck and melted into his kiss and I did it knowing my man was very right.

Because all of his kisses were special. All of them were worth remembering.

But the first one he gave me knowing that he loved me was the one I’d treasure most.

For the rest of my life.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

I Had a Feeling

Apollo stood at the top of the steps of Karsvall and watched Maddie with Achilles on Achilles’ horse as they cantered out of sight into the woods toward the dower house.

As he watched, he did not allow himself to think on what she’d said, including the fact she was prepared to return to the other world and the life she led there that was no life at all, doing this rather than stay with him because he’d wounded her so with his words.

He thought only about the fact that he had her love and he hoped in having it, together, they could surmount the rest of their troubles.

His thoughts turning to those troubles, Apollo sighed as he moved to enter the house in order to find his son.

But he stopped when something caught the corner of his eye.

He turned that way and what he saw made him clench his teeth in frustration for it seemed even as he had managed to solve one important problem, he would yet again be delayed in attempting to solve another.

One could argue that nothing was more important than the woman he loved and his son.

Except, perhaps, the fate of two continents.

He stood and watched the sleigh moving toward the house, two of his men on horses leading the way, two following. Clearly, they’d intercepted it and decided to accompany the rider in the sleigh.

This was the right decision. He knew this when the sleigh got closer and he saw Valeria Drakkar.

His men guided her to the foot of the steps where they stopped.

Apollo stood and watched as she sat in the sleigh peering up at him from under her attractive fur cap. This went on for some time until it struck him that she was awaiting his descent in order for him to open the door of her sleigh for her.

Apollo held her gaze, planted his feet and crossed his arms on his chest.

He saw her face tighten with annoyance before she rose from her seat, throwing off the furs in her lap, and made her way out of the sleigh herself.

Apollo stayed unmoving as he watched her make her way up the steps, the luxurious heavy pelts of her cloak weighing it down so that it barely moved as she did, giving her the appearance of gliding.

When she was two steps away, he asked, “To what do I owe the honor of this visit?”

She stopped and looked up at him, her eyes narrowing. “Greetings to you too, Ulfr.”

He inclined his head but said no more.

“Are we to speak on the steps to your familial home, or will you allow me entry in order that I can get warm?” she asked.

He would prefer to speak with her on the steps of his familial home.

Even so, he sighed and turned to the door. He opened it and shifted to the side, allowing her entry. She passed him without glancing at him and as she did, he unfortunately got a whiff of her strong perfume.

He followed her in and shut the door against the cold.

He moved around her and caught her eyes before he swung out an arm.

“My study,” he invited.