Page 47 of Torin and His Oath (Torin and the Princess #2)

LEXI

F inished, he pushed his plate away, and said, “Och, twas perfect, thank ye, mo leannan.”

He leaned back in the kitchen chair, the legs creaking, holding his beer.

“You’re welcome.”

The small countertop lamp threw a soft pool of light over the table, the room still smelling of butter and browned bread. Outside, there was the dark night, and the menacing futures, and frightening pasts that I now knew lurked there. But inside, my kitchen felt small and safe with Torin in it.

Dude took that moment to jump up on the kitchen counter. Our eyes drew to him as he walked up to the butter dish and flicked the top to the side.

He sat down, his tail twitching, eying that butter. Then he dipped a dignified paw in it.

Torin said, “Och, he is a good cat.”

I laughed, then added, “I was thinking, I still don’t believe you’ll be here for long. Max needs you, I think he’ll return by the end of the week.”

“A week from today?” He sipped from his beer. “Nae, I will be here so long ye will be vexed by my presence.”

I teased. “I could always make you stay in a hotel.”

He raised his brow. “Och, ye told me of hotels, they daena sound like a punishment for my future of vexin’ ye.”

“Your future of vexing me? That sounds nice. I am enjoying the thought of you being around to vex me.”

“Och, I think ye may be confused on what vexing means.”

He set his beer down and stretched out his feet, and pulled the legs of my chair closer. I was directly facing him, our knees touching.

That was a really hot move.

“I really missed you.”

His eyes went soft. “I missed ye as well. I believe that Max will be gone for a long time. Are ye ready for it?”

He concentrated on my face, waiting for my answer.

“I’m glad you’ll be here.” I met his eyes.

He said, “I hae been thinking long, ever since the sandwich ye made me?—”

I teased, “That was five minutes ago! That’s not ‘thinking long’!”

His brow went up, “I mean the first sandwich, mo leannan.”

“Right... I forgot, a lot has happened since then — what have you been thinking?”

“That I ought tae, if our spirits aligned and the world approved, marry ye.”

“Oh.” I blinked. “That’s... even while I was yelling at you? Even while I was sick in front of you?”

“Aye, even though ye hated me. Even when ye were desperately ill. What kind of man would I be, mo leannan, if I held that against ye?”

“You would be a wise man to hold the fact that I yelled at you against me.”

He exhaled.

“I deserved it. I daena mind yer spirit. Our spirits are aligned.”

“So you want to marry me?”

“I do, I hae been thinking on it long, and I ought tae.”

I watched his face, he leaned back in his chair, gazing down at his hands in his lap. The curl of his lashes on his cheek, the chiseled planes of his face, the strong nose. He had that crinkle at the corner of his eyes from smiling so much.

But he wasn’t smiling now, now he was serious.

I said, “Torin, are you asking me to marry you?”

He raised his eyes. “Aye.”

He hooked his feet around the legs of my chair again and drew it even closer, so my knees were between his. Then he straightened in his seat and his large, warm calloused hands took mine between us. Our faces were inches away.

“I want tae marry ye, mo leannan, I ken I am nae much. I am nae royal, I daena hae lands nor men. I am nae deserving of yer hand, I ken all the reasons why. But I will strive tae be a better man, one who ye would find tae be yer ever useful servant, Torin.” His eyes looked earnest, and he finished, “Will ye tie yer life tae mine?”

I was so close to his face, I leaned forward and put my forehead against his cheek and looked down on his strong hands holding mine.

His palms were roughened from sword hilt and rein, yet his hold was careful, almost reverent. My fingers felt small inside his, but secure, as if the whole of me was steadied in that grasp. His thumbs brushed gently across my knuckles, slow strokes, comforting — a vow unspoken.

I’m sure I could think of a number of reasons to say no, and more than a few ways to change the subject, or put him off. I could be reasonable and think this through. Probably. Wasn’t there a lot I needed to know?

But instead I answered, “Yes.”

Because my heart was full of love, and this, him, was all I knew, all I needed.

“Och, ye will marry me?” He raised my hand and kissed the knuckles.

I nodded. “Yes. Definitely. But, we’re from different times, are we... are we allowed to?”

“Who is goin’ tae stop us?”

“God, maybe?”

He said, “I hae been prayin’ on this question: how can a man from my time, love a woman from another?

But ye ken what I think, mo leannan? I think we hae been brought taegether by some hand upon our lives, tis likely God.

It canna be a mistake. Yer brother searched for ye and now ye are found, and I, Torin, yer brother’s right hand man, swore an oath tae keep ye.

It has tae be a good thing for us tae marry. ”

I nodded, chewing my lip. “So we’re going to marry? We decided?”

“Aye. I swore my love tae ye a long time ago, mo leannan, aye, we are decided.” He pulled my chair very close, placed his hands on my hips and kissed me, warmth spreading through me.

I was deeply in love and growing very hot for him.

He pulled away.

I licked my lips. Yum. “You’ll be my husband?”

“Aye, and ye will be my wife.”

My breaths were coming faster.

“When?” I asked.

He asked, his voice low and rumbling. “I daena ken how it works, here — will we need tae post the banns? Dost I need tae take ye tae the church?”

“We have to get a marriage license and it takes a few days.”

This was a good point that I needed to keep in mind. He was a traditional man, I was going to be his wife. I needed to have a little decorum, be a little chaste...

I pushed my chair away and said, “I suppose until then you would sleep in the back-shack?”

He picked up his beer and took a drink. “I will, aye. If ye want me tae sleep there, mo leannan, tis where I will sleep.”

He put the bottle down and looked like he wanted to say something, but couldn’t figure out how.

So I decided to speak, “Of course... When we were traveling, we spent quite a few nights together. It seems like since we already have, and we want to marry, which we do, maybe it’s okay to keep going...”

He raised his brow. “But we arna married, yet, ye ken?—”

“True. But we mean to, and, here’s the thing, you’d be able to protect me better from inside my house.”

He watched me with a cocky amusement. “Tis true, I could protect ye verra well from the inside of yer house, I could protect ye even better from inside yer bedroom.”

I shifted in my seat. I wanted him. Could I have him? He was mine, but I didn’t know the rules. “But I do have a guest room. Maybe that would be for the best... since we aren’t married, being married is probably important to you, I think.”

He nodded, looking down. “Aye, tis important. I will sleep in the guest room. We arna married. That is how it must be.”

I said, “But... maybe we could...”

He brought his eyes up to mine. “We could what?”

“Nothing, I mean, yeah, you can sleep in the guest room. That would be for the best. Except...”

He leaned forward, and raised his brow. “Except what?”

“Except you have already sworn an oath to keep me.”

He chuckled. “Aye, I hae sworn tae keep ye always. I held yer hands and told ye I love ye and that I want tae marry ye, Alexandria.”

I blinked, a little speechless. “You just used my name...”

“Aye, because ye are tae be my wife — Alexandria. ” The way he said it vibrated me through. “Ye like it?”

“I do, I like it very much.” I blew up on my forehead. “And you like me. In some ways that’s like you’ve already said your marriage vows.”

He nodded. I had a glimpse of his chest through the opening on his shirt, rising and falling with his breaths.

I moved my eyes away. “It’s almost like I wish we could just get married right here right now.”

“Och, the princess is in a hurry tae marry her Torin?”

I pretended to sigh. “Yes, I actually wish we were already married.”

He laughed, outright. “Och, ye daena hae any patience.”

I waved his words away, laughing. “It could take days, Torin.”

He shook his head. “Och, days? I daena ken if ye can wait days.”

“So true, and — wait, you’ll need documents! Do you even have a birth certificate? And what would it say!”

“What is a birth certificate — ye mean the church register? I was baptized in St Michael’s at Linlithgow. If the old register’s still kept.”

I said, “That will take forever, and how would we explain it? We couldn’t. But we already made promises, God heard them, right?”

“Ye are goin’ tae bring God intae it?”

“Seems like he knows, he heard us decide to marry.”

He nodded looking at his beer, turning slowly in his fingers. Then he said, “Dost ye ken who else can marry a man and wife besides a priest?”

I cocked my head. “Who?”

“A king, and if ye think on it, I hae sworn my oath tae ye in front of a prince, yer brother, and after I declared m’love for ye, he left us here tae live alone.”

“It’s as if he believes we’re married already.” I asked, “Do you think of us as already married?”

He said, “I ken I love ye, Alexandria, I would like tae take ye tae the bedroom, I am havin’ difficulties thinking beyond it.”

Heat rose to my face and I laughed. “I know. Everything we have to do to get married sounds like a total hassle, but I am having trouble thinking too, Torin, I really like you, I do.”

He asked, “What of marriage by habit and repute? Dost ye hae it here?”

“What does it mean?”

“We would decide tae be married, and twould be true.”

“That’s in Scotland?”

“Aye.”

I said, solemnly, “Torin, I think we are married and I’m the princess and so no one is allowed to argue with me about it.”

He chuckled. “Ye do?”

I said, “Yes. Do you think we are already married?”

“Och aye. I told half of Scotland I was married tae ye already, if we daena behave as if we are, then I am a liar.”

I grinned.

He said, “We will make it an unbreakable bond — dost ye hae a rope?”

My eyes went wide. “What are you going to do?”

He grinned. “For a handfastin’ ceremony.”

“Oh, gotcha, you worried me for a moment.” I got up and went to my junk drawer and fished out a coil of leftover thick red yarn. It was knotted in a few places. “Long enough?” I returned to my seat, my knees between his.

“Aye.” He turned it over in his hands, then looked at me with that steady, serious gaze. “This will do. Tis nae the kirk, nor the banns read, but the vows will be ours, and if he dinna hear us before, God will hear us now.”

Torin put the end of the yarn between his teeth, reached for my left hand, then my right, and began wrapping the yarn around once, twice, bringing his wrists into it and then dropping the end across them all. Our wrists were loosely lashed together.

We bowed our heads over our hands, and his voice was low. “By this binding, I pledge my troth tae ye. Ye are m’wife, Alexandria, from this hour until my last breath. I will guard ye, keep ye, greatly vex ye but try not tae, and I will always love ye.”

I bit my lip, holding back a laugh. I whispered, “And I promise, Torin, I am yours. To love you, to fight with you, to follow you, to keep you. Even when you’re very vexing.”

He lifted his eyes to mine with a smile. “Tis all we needed tae do, we are wed, Alexandria. Nae prince nor priest need say it, we hae spoken it true.”

“That’s lovely.”

He leaned forward and kissed me, hands still bound, until I forgot about everything else. The kiss started softly and pressed, pushing me back into my seat, and became stronger and deeper. I tried to move my hand but our wrists were still bound.

He chuckled and shook our wrists to try to get the yarn to fall off the other side. “Och we are trapped.”

I laughed and tried to pull, but the bindings got tighter. “What are we going to do? I want to touch you!”

“I want tae touch ye as well, yet we are stuck.” We struggled and were laughing by the time he lifted our wrists, and I contorted to get my mouth on the end of the yarn.

I drew it across and got us free. “Phew. That was a close one.” We let the yarn fall to the floor.

“Twas,” he looked deep in my eyes then stood, “stand on yer chair.”

I stepped onto the seat and stood above him. “What are you going to do?”

“I am goin’ tae throw ye over m’shoulder.” He grabbed me around my thighs and picked me up.

I squealed.

He walked to the door. “Ye must bend!”

I draped over his shoulder, laughing.

“Tis upstairs?”

“Yes!”

He jogged up the stairs, I laughed the whole time. Squealing from the silliness. “Torin, is this necessary?”

“Aye, or ye winna ken I am in earnest.” At the top step he asked, “Where is yer room?”

I pointed.

He laughed. “I canna tell where ye are pointin’.” He went tae a door, “This one?”

“The one at the far end.” He rushed me down the hall and into my bedroom. Then he stopped. Looking around.

“You like it?”

“Aye, tis beautiful.”

He let me down gently, sliding down his front, until my feet hit the floor.

I said, “Now that you’ve thrown me over your shoulder...?”

“Ye are mine.”