Page 153 of Keeper of the Word

“Wait!”

Hux halted yet kept his back to her.

“Ichoose.”

“What?” Hux faced her with one eyebrow raised.

Her voice was almost a whisper. “So few moments of happiness.”

“What does that mean?”

Elanna made a choice. She closed the gap between them and, without another thought, pressed her lips to his.

When they broke off, his surprise mirrored her own. “Lady, I have been a man of contradiction for some time, but I fear you are schooling me.”

Elanna kissed him again. Deeper. Hux did not waste this kiss. He opened her mouth with his and sought her tongue with his own. Elanna’s eyes popped open from the sensation before she lost herself in him again.

The two found themselves kneeling together in the clover, arms encircling, lips searching.

Hux separated them. “Truly, what has happened? Moments ago, you seemed as though you wished to banish me, and now”—he cleared his throat—“here we are.”

“Doom is coming,” Elanna said.

Hux chuckled. “Oh, I see. Since you’ve seen us all perish, you have decided why not live dangerously with the handsome Deogolian?”

Elanna playfully shoved him away. “Nay. I’ve decided that as doom is coming, we shall need each other.”

“Oh, Lady. That wounds worse, I am afraid.”

“What I mean is…” Stars, she was terrible at this. She remembered them collecting firewood together in what felt like a lifetime ago. She knewthenshe was terrible at behaving in a normal way. “I Saw in the stars that I have a choice. I need you, Hux. You’ve e’er been by my side. You saved me, for stars’ sake!”

“Lady, pray, do not have feelings based on that?—”

“I do not. But I should ne’er have questioned your quality. Your loyalty. And your motives. You assisted us with the Shroud Magic. We would never have found success without you!” Stars, ’twas all becoming too much, and the flood of emotions that Elanna kept at bay, that she buried and then buried again, caused tears. She wiped them away.

“Do not cry, Elanna.” His hand gathered hers.

“You may not believe this, but ’tis quite unusual for a StarSeer to shed tears. You’ve done something to me. And that is what I mean. Ineedyou. For now. For the future. I need you.”

Instead of getting her emotions under control, Elanna shed tears anew.

Gently, Hux pooled one onto his index finger. “You are so pure. I can scarcely believe you would need me.” Their eyes met, and Elanna took in his dark lashes. “But I am not one to turn away from treasures that are bestowed upon me.”

The kiss he pressed onto her lips was a caress and a promise and everything Elanna never knew she desired.

She returned it in kind.

Again, Hux parted them, his hands a delicate and reassuring hold. “I’ll have you know that I have your face memorized in my unworthy heart already, but allow me to gaze at you. I wish to always remember this beautiful moment. The most beautiful moment of my life.”

“May your beautiful moments be as vast as the stars.”

No other words were said. They leaned into each other and fervently passed the time.

Elanna knew naught of love.She knew naught of having a man pay her interest. And she knew naught of paying that interest in kind. But, stars, she wanted to learn.

And stars, shedidknow about having authority.

When she and Hux returned to camp, Elanna gripped his hand defiantly.