The Princess and the Bard (Royals of the Realms #1)

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Finally, Finally

"I don't doubt it. I expect I'll be impressed by you at least once everyday."

She couldn't tell if he was serious or teasing. He unbuttoned his coat and hung it from a hook on the hall tree beside the door, but seemed unsure as to what he should do afterward.

"You can leave your shoes there, too." She hoped her casual inflection hid her anxiety, at least to the point he wouldn't notice her trembling shoulders. 

Her mind jumped back to the previous night, when Taelan had taken off his boots by the hearth. 

What would have happened if Yuka hadn't taken ill, if she and Taelan had spent the night together and she'd never had that awful fever-dream?

It didn't matter. They were here now, in her own bedchamber, all their secrets laid bare. 

"Are you sure it's okay?" He sounded nonchalant, but Alori could feel the undercurrent rippling between them, the implication that followed a man removing his coat and boots in a woman's bedchamber late at night.

"Yes." She motioned to the empty space beside the closed door. "No one will trip over them there." Not that she intended on letting anyone else in. 

A frisson of heat bloomed in her chest.

While Taelan unlaced his boots, she went to the window in front of her reading nook and drew back the curtain. Moonlight spilled into the room, casting her padded ottoman, conversation chairs, and chaise longue in a silvery blue spotlight that reached halfway to her bed.

"I grew up out there." He pointed northeast, toward the dimly lit mountain range on the horizon. His footsteps had been so soft, she hadn't heard him approach and join her at the window. "About fifteen miles past the farthest peak, in the foothills of the Youkoja Mountains. I recognized the cliff face earlier today while I was out walking. Your father lent me a pair of magnifiers and I was able to confirm it. You have a wonderful view of Youkoja from here."

"I didn't know it was called Youkoja. I've only ever heard those mountains referred to as the You mountains." 

As the soon to be queen of the Ville-Realms, she was embarrassed to admit the fact. But Taelan brushed off her faux pas, gazing out into the distance. 

"Many don't know the individual mountains' names. I do because I have an affinity for geography and history. I enjoy anything to do with the outdoors, actually." He smiled, a fond memory brightening his eyes. "I used to wish I could bring my piano outside. That's the real reason I picked up other instruments, so that I'd have music with me wherever I traveled."

"See?" Alori patted his arm, smiling in kind. "It's like I said, a less persistent person might have been too lazy to learn another instrument."

"I suppose." He caught her hand and held it to his chest. "Thank you for giving me another chance. I know how hard it must have been to make that decision. I wish I could go back and change things, but at the time I felt trapped. I was a young, stupid fool."

She stepped closer to him, admiring how the moonlight illuminated his creamy white skin. She couldn't disagree with him completely, but she didn't need to.

"Maybe you could have found a way around the apothecarist's threats, but it isn't worth worrying about now. What happened to you didn't change who you are, and I..." Finally, she was able to tell him, no strings attached. "I love who you are, Taelan." 

She marveled at the wonderment reflected on his face, and the weight that seemed to lift off him at her words. 

"We're both hurting," she whispered, "I know that. But if we endure it together, like you said earlier, maybe it will help us heal." She found the courage to trace his lips with her fingertip. He probably thought it was odd, but she'd been longing to do it and he didn't protest. "Taelan?" She took another slow step toward him. "Will you stay tonight and hold me until we forget everything that happened today?"