Page 64 of House of Embers (Royal Houses #5)

Chapter Fifty-Five

The Very Last Night

Kerrigan stared wide-eyed at the ceiling.

Amond’s healing had helped ease her magic drain, but it still hadn’t recovered to its usual reserves, and it didn’t normally take this long.

Whatever Fairgate believed, the crown had still exacted a price.

Maybe it wasn’t permanent, but it was sluggish enough to matter on the day she’d need it, making it impossible to sleep.

Fordham had been true to his word: he’d taken her out of all the remaining meetings and forced her into a long, steaming bath that he’d reheated with his magic.

Then he’d tucked her into bed with a kiss while he finalized things.

She’d fallen into a deep slumber, only the mattress dip from him crawling in after her hours later had woken her up.

Now she couldn’t seem to find sleep. Fordham’s naked torso was highlighted in the moonlight. His brow was devoid of his usual skepticism, his dark hair tumbling forward over his forehead. He looked like a statue.

It was easier to focus on him rather than the impending battle.

She didn’t want to think about it, but she knew that they might not make it out alive.

Even if they won, they could die. Her father had shown her that truth.

And now she couldn’t shake the fact that it was more a probability than a possibility—a decidedly morose outlook the night before a battle.

She should have been confident, but she wasn’t.

She turned over to her side, placing her arm over Fordham’s and snuggling into him. His arm came around her, pulling her to him. She laid her head down on his shoulder. She closed her eyes and tried to sleep, but sleep wouldn’t come.

Fordham breathed into her hair, “Can’t sleep either?”

She sighed. “Tomorrow is going to be rough.”

He tipped her chin up to look at him, then pressed a kiss to her lips. “Yes, it’s war.”

“What if…”

“Don’t do that,” he said gently. “The what-ifs can wait.”

“Yeah, but…”

“That can wait too,” he told her as he rolled her over on her back.

“What are you doing?” she asked right before his lips descended on hers. She kissed him like he was her lifeline, like if she stopped, then she’d cease to breathe. Her arms wrapped around his neck and drew him in closer.

“Kissing you,” he breathed against her lips.

“Yes,” she said.

“We don’t know what tomorrow will bring. There’s no forgetting where we are headed,” he said, pulling back to look into her eyes. The silvery light of the moon illuminated his gray irises. “But tonight there is only you and me. Just as it was yesterday and will be tomorrow.”

She brushed her thumb over his bottom lip. “Just you and me?”

“Forever and always,” he promised.

He nipped at her thumb as he rolled over to cover her body. She stretched her arms high as his kisses moved down her body.

“And when this whole thing is over,” he said as his mouth found her breast, his tongue rounding the raised peak. “And I make you my wife.”

She shivered at that word. Wife.

“Then it’ll be for everyone else to know too.”

“I think everyone else already knows,” she teased with a knot in her throat.

Fordham continued his kisses, worshipping her body.

Lower, lower, lower he went. “Publicly and contractually tied to me then,” he said as he kissed down her inner thigh.

“You will be mine, and I will be yours.” Then he moved to the other leg to do the same.

“But tonight…” His eyes lifted devilishly to hers, hovering between her legs like he was set to devour her. “I’ll speak those vows to you.”

Kerrigan swallowed. “Vows?”

He nodded before lowering his lips to the V of her legs. She gasped at the first sweep of his tongue, her body already trembling from his ministrations.

“I, Fordham Ollivier, swear to take the love of my life, Kerrigan Argon, to be my wife. I promise to love and cherish her,” he said as his fingers slipped into her body.

“To trust in her.” Suddenly he was moving, sliding in and out.

“To stay by her side through good times and bad.” His tongue got involved, and she saw stars.

“For better or worse.” He tilted her hips for better access, driving deeper.

“Forsaking all others, keeping myself only…” In. “Unto.” Out. “You.” In.

Kerrigan gasped, tilting her head back as her climax hit her full force.

“For as long as we both shall live,” he said, kissing her once more before retreating.

“You,” she panted.

“Me,” he agreed. His body covered hers as he aligned their hips and pressed a firm kiss to her lips. “Your turn.”

“I, Kerrigan Argon, swear to take the love of my life, Fordham Ollivier, to be my husband.”

He slid forward into her, and she wasn’t sure she was going to be cognizant enough to continue.

“I promise to love and cherish him.” She lifted her hand to his cheek as he started a rhythm. “To trust in him and stay by his side no matter what happens. Forever and always. In this life and the next.”

He pressed a kiss to her thumb. “And all that comes after.”

She bit her lip and nodded. “Forsaking all others for I only belong to him.”

“Yes, you do,” he agreed.

He lifted one leg up onto his shoulder as he drove deeper into her.

The rest of the world fell away. Even talking was beyond them.

In every way, they had just sealed their union.

Later, if they survived this, Titania would have something to say about a wedding.

But for now, this was as much as they needed.

Together, they reached new heights, his lips descending as he swallowed her second climax. Their bodies met one last time, and then they both lay panting, sated.

“I want to live in this moment forever.”

He kissed her swollen lips. “Forever.”

“And tomorrow?”

“Nothing is certain except the words that were just spoken. That I will love you forever. In this life and the next and all the ones after.”

She rested their foreheads together. “I love you so much.”

“You are the best thing that has ever happened to me, and if I die tomorrow or live thousands of years from now, only you will ever matter to me.”

And as they held each other tight with moonlight cast across their figures, this was enough. Tomorrow could wait.