Page 36 of The King’s Man (The Kingdom of the Krow #3)

~ JANN ~

“You can’t be certain—”

“I am,” I growled.

She swallowed. “We barely know each other—”

“I know enough—God, chose you for me. That is enough, Dee. I… I feel it. Can you not feel it?” My blood ran cold. I thought she’d already sensed it, was already accepting that we were meant to be one.

Her expression crumpled and she dropped her face into her hands. Leaping back to my feet, I held her face and pulled her chin up, forcing her to look at me.

“Don’t you feel it? Tell me, Dee—is the bond shrouded from you?”

Her eyes were pink and shining with unshed tears. I searched her gaze when she didn’t speak, praying, pleading, head spinning—what would I do if she couldn’t accept me?

My heart lurched and I grunted.

And Diadre gasped.

I went still. “You felt that,” I whispered, still searching her eyes. “You felt it.”

Slowly, reluctantly, she nodded. My heart swelled in my chest like a rising sun.

“Please, Dee,” I rasped. “I’ll vow to you—and mean it. Every word.”

“How can you know?” she whispered back.

In answer I took hold of her wrist and brought her palm up to my chest, clamping it there with my hands, staring into her eyes as I answered.

“I was made for you,” I growled. “And you for me. I want no one else. No one, Dee. I will take you, I will protect you, I will do everything in my power to see you fly, I am—”

“Jann, would you shut up and let me think?!”

I froze, heart sinking as quickly as it had risen to her plea, but she was not avoiding my eyes. She stared back at me, her forehead pinched to lines as if she thought deeply.

Then she cleared her throat and her eyes narrowed. “Do you believe that as your mate I should give up my rank?”

I snorted. “What? Of course not!”

“What if my role takes me away from you? What if I’m assigned a mission in Theynor, while you’re returned to Ebonreach?”

God, it didn’t bear thinking about, but the answer didn’t change. “I’d be tormented by the distance, Dee. But I’m a soldier as well. I understand. You must do what serves the crown—as must I.”

She inhaled deeply and leaned closer. “Do you believe that even after mating, if we’re apart or… or fighting… that you should be able to take any woman you wish?”

I cursed. “Why the fuck would you even ask me that? Of course not! Do you?”

“No!” she responded sharply, her head snapping back as if she were offended.

I wanted to snap my teeth. “Have I not proven that I am true to my word? Have I not—”

Tears welled in her beautiful eyes, and I swallowed my angry words immediately. “Do you truly want me, Jann? Or is it just this fucking bond that—"

With a growl, I took her face in my hands and kissed her deeply, frantically, fingernails digging into her skin. Her hands snapped to my wrists, but she only clung and returned the kiss as desperately as I’d given it. When I broke the kiss, it was to hold her gaze and make her see.

“No woman has ever frustrated me, thwarted me, or pissed me off as much as you do. Ever,” I hissed. “Yet, I find I don’t want to imagine a life without that. I burn for you, Diadre. I ache to be close. You’re a piece of me—a precious piece. I’m desperate for you.”

She sucked in, flinching as if her chest hurt.

I thought she’d draw away and rushed on. “I know it’s been ugly here, but—”

“Jann, stop—”

“—you have to understand that this is exactly why I’m doing everything I can to put Melek firmly on the throne—”

“Jann, stop.”

“We want to change our people—”

Diadre clapped her hand over my mouth, but softened the gesture by giving a shaky laugh. “I said stop because… because I know you’re my mate. But as usual, you have no idea what you’re doing.”

I stopped, stunned and confused, as she rolled her eyes, but gave another breathless laugh, then reached for the piece of linen gripped in my fist.

When she took it from me, she sucked in another deep breath, while I held mine.

Then she swallowed. “Jann, give me your hand,” she said quietly.

Hardly daring to believe, I opened my palm for hers, my heart racing when she took my hand and pulled it up so that I held it as if flat to a wall in front of me, then she twined her fingers through mine then, holding the end in her teeth until she had it looped, she slowly wrapped the linen first around her own wrist, then around mine, then continued threading it back and forth as she spoke, her voice shaking.

“My mate,” she breathed, her tone awed.

“Forever,” I murmured back. But Diadre shook her head with an amused huff.

“If you want to do this right—if you want to vow, then shut up and listen,” she said with a beautiful, trembling smile. When I snapped my mouth closed she laughed—a high trill as if she were on the verge of tears—then kept going.

“My mate,” she started again. “I vow myself to you…

“My heart for your safety.

“My voice for your champion.

“My blood runs for you, my soul.

“My mate.”

Her chin was low, but her eyes locked on mine and she swallowed hard before she continued.

“Behold, you are my strength. Behold, you are my love.

“Let me taste with my mouth because your kiss is richer than wine.

“Let my body speak the words my tongue cannot form.

“Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your soul.

“For my love is stronger than death, my jealousy fierce as the grave.

“I burn for you with fire, the very flame of God.

“I am your beloved. I am your mate.

“My soul sings for you. My desire is for you.

“I give myself in this world, and the next.

“Before God…” she hesitated, her eyes widening as she stared into my soul. “You are… mine.”

My heart leaped as that sucking hole in my chest throbbed and squeezed, swelling to a close.

I could barely breathe, but knew this was the moment. I had to speak this vow and tie these pieces of linen together. Her fingers tightened in mine, and then she breathed the words, feeding them to me line by line, her eyes growing wider and wider with every word.

“My mate.

“My body for your protection.

“My voice for your champion.

“My blood runs for you, my soul.

“My mate.

“Behold, you are my joy. Behold you are my love.

“Let me taste with my mouth because your kiss is richer than wine.

“Let my body speak the words my tongue cannot form.

“Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your soul.

“For my love is stronger than death, my jealousy fierce as the grave.

“I burn for you with fire, the very flame of God.

“I am your beloved. I am your mate.

“My soul sings for you. My desire is for you.

“I give myself in this world, and the next.

“Before God…”

That hole in my chest squeezed and my heart swelled and spun, driven by hope and need and… dare I say it, love? I stared into her eyes and pleaded with God that she could feel me as clearly as I could feel her, and she’d sense how sure I was.

“You. Are. Mine,” I growled, tugging the knot of the two ends tight.

Then I looked at her and she stared back at me, shock and delight and hope—and a hint of fear—on her beautiful face.

“Diadre—”

“Shut up, Jann. The answer is yes,” she breathed.

The bond hit like a wave, washing over me, tumbling everything within me so that though my feet remained on the dirt, and the sky above, everything turned and spun. I gripped her hand with mine, threw the other arm around her and pulled her into my chest as we both sucked in shocked breaths.

Like lightning kissing the night sea, the bond tore the dark open, bathing me in bright, blazing light and heat.

I groaned and pulled her closer as she gasped and clawed at me—but when that light should have hurt, should have burned through my skin, she appeared in the glare, and she brought a sweet cooling so my blistering heart was suddenly soothed and relieved.

“Dee,” I croaked.

Her fingers curled at the back of my neck, and her head tipped against my collarbones as she gasped and twitched under the onslaught of the bond threading through my ribs, then through my flesh into hers, braiding us together indelibly.

We both gasped when it clicked into place, and my heart stopped dead—then plowed on, pumping, pulsing, thrumming in my veins until the hole that had been torn in my heart disappeared under the wave of her. And that cord expanded, coiling around my heart and hers, knotting us together at the soul.

Mate.

Soulbond.

Mine.

I threw back my head and roared my claim to her, daring any male to hear and challenge me, daring Lucifer himself to attempt to take her.

We both trembled and gasped, the power coursing between us—until that hole within me was filled. Healed. Gone.

As the assault of power and binding washed away, I found myself standing in that misty forest, bent over her, holding her to my chest, my forehead tipped to her hair.

Then she looked up and we both remained still, panting.

She stared at me with wonder in her eyes as I reached for her face. Her tears returned and made my heart weep to feel her—relieved, delighted, full, and fearful.

“No,” I muttered hoarsely.

“No, what?” she whispered.

“No. Be angry with me, Dee. Be irritated. Be furious… but never afraid. Never frightened. Never unsure. I am here. And I am yours. ”

Then I descended on her with a kiss to ignite her soul since she had already set mine alight. And it was the most precious joy of my life that she opened to me and grabbed me close with frantic delight.