The Dismissed Saint Became the Beast King's Healer novel · Chapter 11 of 24

Chapter 11: Mark Me

He did not speak on the walk back.

He held her hand so tightly that her fingers ached.

He did not let go of it at the gate, on the stair, or at the door of his room.

Only when it had shut behind them did Kaedan turn, and his ears were flat against his head.

"Shiori. The name the Priest said."

"I heard it."

"I told you I'd tell you after the bridge."

He swallowed.

"I'll tell you at first light. I want you to hear it properly, sitting down."

She looked at him.

He looked like a man standing on a roof, waiting to fall.

"Don't tell me tonight," she said.

"What?"

"I'm not saying never. I'm saying not tonight."

She stepped close and laid both hands on his chest.

"In the morning there's a priest and an army.

Tonight there's only us. Whatever you tell me, you were the same man at the rice basin."

"Shiori..."

"So be that man. With me. For tonight."

His eyes closed.

When they opened, they were wet.

"You are going to be the death of me," he said.

"Not if the Temple gets there first."

A cracked laugh broke from him, and he pulled her into his arms.

They stood a long time in the lamplight, and then he said, into her hair, "There's one more thing. About the morning."

"Mm."

"In Varr, when two people are bound, they mark each other."

His fingers brushed her left shoulder, where the silver coin had grown twice its size.

"A bite, here. It's older than the kingdom."

"Like the one you gave me."

"That was a kiss. This is a mark."

He drew a breath.

"A marked mate is a subject of the Wolf Court."

He held her eyes.

"By the treaty between our crowns, neither crown may seize the other's subject. At dawn, Aldric would have no right to ask for you."

She went still.

"Is that why you're telling me tonight?"

"Yes. And no."

His voice roughened.

"The treaty is only an excuse. I wanted to mark you the night you opened your door to a wolf."

He swallowed.

"I have wanted it for two weeks."

"Say it plainly."

"I want to mark you, Shiori. Because I love you. The treaty is the excuse."

Her breath left her.

She had expected a hundred things from him, and not that, said in that voice, in that room.

"Then do it," she said.

"You're sure you want my teeth on you."

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