Page 21

Kjartan

O nly two more trips from Beryl’s house to Kincardie and we would officially be living together.

I was a little nervous about it. True, when I’d been fighting for the Yregh, we’d lived in close quarters.

But the barracks and caves had been so far from our nice cottage with the loveliest pastel green N?kken couch.

I’d thought I loved my siblings in arms, but nothing I had ever felt before came close to what I felt when I was with Beryl, not even Stígur.

I would die for him.

“Hey.” A warm body pressed against my side, arms sliding around my waist. “Are you okay?”

“I am,” I choked out, sounding everything but.

“Babe.” Bee moved around to hug me properly. Whenever he called me that, I felt so warm and fuzzy inside. “Is there anything I can do for you?”

I hated myself for turning him into a coping mechanism.

“I just thought about something,” I told him, kissing his brow. A few weeks ago I’d started telling him bits and pieces about my life back in Tír Suaite. Beryl never asked questions, he just let me talk. I loved him all the more for it.

“We’ll be okay, babe. I promise.” He tugged my shirt down and kissed the hollow of my throat. “I can’t wait to wake up next to you every morning.”

“How do you know exactly what I need to hear, my love?”

Bee leaned back and grinned up at me. “Magic.” He bit his lip, then got up on tiptoes and pressed his lips on mine. “Pure magic,” he whispered into the kiss.

I got lost in him, trying to let the sadness ebb away.

“Let’s get the rest of the boxes into my car and go home, okay?”

“Ugh, babe. It’s so hot when you’re being all domestic and shit.” Beryl’s hands slid down to palm my ass, squeezing it gently.” Yeah, let’s go.”

We drove in near silence, listening to Conall White’s last album. Bee loved his music. He held my hand or had his on my thigh the entire time.

Good thing I’m not the only one being all domestic and shit.

Smiling to myself, I parked my car in our yard.

He yawned and stretched when he got out. “Let’s have dinner before we unload the car, okay? I feel like cooking something for us.”

“Good idea. I have a surprise for you first though.”

“What?” Beryl sobered up in an instant. “A surprise? Gods, babe, you know I love surprises.”

“Come on.” I linked our fingers and led him around the house. “You said you wanted chickens at some point so I thought…”

“No way!” He rushed to the newly built chicken coop at the far end of our backyard and pulled me with him. “It’s so pretty,” he whispered, then inhaled deeply. “And it smells so good.”

I’d only finished it yesterday, so the scent of freshly cut wood still hung in the air around it.

“I love it, Kjartan. Thank you. I can’t wait to get Agatha and Bluebell and Cheryl and Dot.”

“I love that you have their names picked out already. We can go to Hunter McBride’s farm to buy some chicks. Duncan told me that’s where he gets his chickens from.”

“You’re wonderful, did you know?”

Scrunching up his nose, Bee raised his face to me.

“You might have mentioned it once or twice,” I muttered as I leaned in to peck him on the lips.

Never stop.

“Right, dinner! Gods, I love you.”