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How could he possibly know that? How could Torin Blacksteel somehow know her better than anyone in the world?

“I meant every word,” he said.

She gripped the blankets as her lungs squeezed.

For one brief second, just one, she allowed herself to think so subtly about what it could be like if she explored something deeper with Torin. She could have a union of marriage to forge an alliance for her community, for her people, protection and armour, but what if it could be for love too?

A rush of heat hit her stomach, and it sank like a boat in a storm.

“Was it not foolish of a guard to declare something to an empress that a man would do to his wife?” she said quickly, her cheeks turning pink.

There was a tick in his jaw before his azure eyes found hers. “I would say it again in front of the whole kingdom.” Her heart fluttered. “Because I can protect you, Emara.” His nostrils flared as his hand lay down on her sheets, and she stilled where she lay unable to move. “Not only that, but I want to protect you.” He paused, and the ocean waves of his eyes crashed together in something so meaningful. “I want to protect all of you—your heart, your body, your soul, all of it.” His voice thinned as he swallowed, his powerful throat bobbing. “I want to protect all of you until my last breath on this earth.”

Her protector.

Everything that mattered in the world vanished, with the exception of him.

“Somewhere along the line…” He looked down at his hand. “Somewhere along the line, I realised that you are everything that I have ever wanted. Probably from the first time you challenged me or yelled at me.” He laughed faintly, his mouth pulling to one side. His jaw hardened. “And when I discovered who you were and then everything that happened, I realised that you could be my future.” He stared over at her. “I want you to be my future, not because it was forced upon us, but because I would choose you.” His voice broke in a way she had never heard before, and a string in her heart plucked like a harp about to break. “I would choose you over everything.”

The bluntness of his tone made her realise what he meant. He would choose her over everything, including his duty, his oath, and his family. He wouldn’t force her hand to the treaty. He would be lashed, exiled, and tortured if he disobeyed his commander, but he would endure that so that she had a choice.

Regardless of all of that, he would still choose her.

She sat upright, reaching out to him. “Torin,” she breathed.

“No, you need to hear this.” His glittering eyes narrowed. “I would choose you again and again.” He lowered his gaze, and it was then that Emara realised that the dark glittering of his irises was fear. Fear. The fear that she wouldn’t choose him back was pencilled into his face. Her heart both swelled and broke at his truth. He rolled his full lips before he spoke again. “I didn’t think I would get to choose who I spent my life with. I didn’t think I would get to choose who I bore every inch of my soul to but it’s you,” he croaked, his face paling. “The Gods know it’s you.”

Stunned, unable to find words, she moved to him, wrapping herself around his body as burning tears fell from her eyes.

He pulled her onto his lap properly, embracing her as she sat there. “And if it is not you, and you don’t choose me back, then no one else will have my heart, Clearwater.”

Nothing that passed over his face told Emara that he wasn’t being truthful. He was. He would choose her. Rawest pleasure tore at her heart, his words following the pleasure as they rooted themselves deeply in the alcoves of her soul. “I would choose you too, Torin Blacksteel,” she said back, her voice shaking at the truth she spoke into the world.

He smiled, and with the way the room had darkened, it made him look even more handsome. Pulling her against his lips, kissing her, the smiles didn’t fall from their faces as their mouths intertwined. It was deeper and more meaningful than the other lustful kisses that had passed between them.

This was different.

This was more.

This kiss was hope. It was a promise. It was trust.

The barrier which she had set around herself, around her heart, had been smashed, replaced by her undeniable feelings for Torin Blacksteel.

He pulled back, leaving her leaning in for more of his lips.

“As much as it is killing me to stop kissing your irresistible mouth, you must rest.”

“I am okay.”

“You need to rest.” He kissed her nose. “Healer’s orders. I don’t think I have ever hated myself more for being sensible right now, but you need your strength, and you will not get that if we keep going, trust me.”

Trust me.

A promise of what could happen if they kept kissing, kept devouring.

He was right, but she was never going to say that out loud. She sighed.

So instead, with her heart beating crazily, Emara asked, “Will you stay here with me?”