Chapter 21: Free

He did not kneel. I think he wanted to, and I think he knew I would hate it.

He stood in front of me in the wrecked hall with his hands open.

"Rowena Ashdown," Evander said. "I would like you to be my mate."

"The bite. The ceremony. My name beside yours in front of every pack."

"All of it."

"Is that a King asking?"

"It is a man who has been in love with you for a month and has not slept."

His mouth moved. "The King is standing behind him, unhappy about it."

I laughed.

It surprised us both.

"Not yet," I said.

He did not flinch. He kept his head up.

"May I ask why?"

"Because every house I have lived in picked my life for me. I'd like to pick one thing slowly."

"I want to go north first," I said. "I want to sleep in the room my mother kept, and see my father's wall."

"I want to be Rowena Ashdown for a month with nobody's claim on me. Not even yours."

He nodded. "That's fair."

"Then you can have the ceremony in the north. At the hold, before my people."

He went still.

"You're saying yes."

"I'm saying not yet, and then yes." I stood up from the bench. "Don't make that face. You'll frighten the clerk."

"There is no clerk."

"There's always a clerk."

He crossed the space between us in two strides and took my face in his hands.

"Then I am going to kiss you," he said. "Now. In the Council hall, where eight hundred people watched me stare at you."

"Do it."

He did.

It was slow and deep, and he took his time.

I got my hands into his hair and went up on my toes.

When he lifted his head, his eyes had gone gold.

"My rooms," he said, rough. "Or I'll take you on the bench."

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