Page 35 of Imprisoned By the Night King

“Hug you.”

There was a short pause as I fought my pounding heart and tried to ignore the request.

“It’s been longer for me than it has for you,” Espen finally admitted, his voice so low and quiet that I could barely hear the words despite the nearly-nonexistent distance between us. “Your family loved you; mine never did.”

My heart ached more for him than it did for myself, in that moment.

He was just as alone as I was.

Hell, maybe he was evenmorealone than I was.

At least I had Vena and Diora. And before them, I’d had my family.

His whole life, all he’d had were brothers he didn’t get along with, an abusive mother, and a father who refused to protect him. Add in the friend who wanted Espen’s throne for his own, and the man was probably just as scarred as I was.

Still, my first instinct was to tell him no.

To push him out of my room and shut the door in his face.

To avoid him, and a relationship, and feelings.

But I couldn’t do that.

Not to him, and not to me.

So I closed my eyes, and nodded.

“Say the words, Akari.” His voice was soft, his request almost unsteady.

“Hug me.”

My eyes opened in time to watch him cover the distance between us in two steps, and then pull me both gently and fiercely to his chest.

His arms were thick, and warm. His chest was hard, yet soft.

And his heart pounded against the side of my face, its speed proving to me that this man wasn’t playing with me.

He was just as scared—and desperate—for our connection as I was.

And I wasn’t sure whether that terrified me or excited me or made me want to bolt.

So instead, I just stood there.

And hugged him back.

More tears stung my eyes, and I didn’t try to stop them from rolling down my cheeks and onto his body.

Crying in his arms should’ve been ridiculous, or sad, or desperate, but it was none of those things.

It felt cleansing.

“My feelings for you are growing too quickly,” I whispered to him. “I don’t trust myself.”

“We can be friends, can’t we?”

My chest throbbed.

Friends?