Besotted (The Fairest Maidens #3) - Jody Hedlund Page 0,44

I knew I had to marry her and be with her forever. If I’d had any lingering doubts, they’d disappeared.

As she began to pull away, I tightened my arms around her, not ready for the moment to end. Though I needed to be on my way, I pressed a kiss to her cheek, to her ear, then to her neck.

She gave a soft gasp of pleasure, and her hands fisted with my tunic.

“I shall miss you,” I whispered against her neck, breathing her in and grazing the softness of her skin.

“And I, you.” Her whisper was laced with longing.

“I wish I didn’t have to go.”

“Then stay.”

For an eternal second, I contemplated the possibility of giving up everything for a simple life with her in Inglewood Forest. It would be the ultimate fulfillment of my Testing, wouldn’t it? Deny thyself. I would deny myself the possibility of ever returning to a life of luxury and power and instead live in poverty and obscurity.

I could do it. The past months had shown me I was capable of forsaking all the things I’d once considered important. I’d gladly spend the rest of my earthly life going without as long as I had Rory.

Yet, a deeper facet of my Testing pressed against my heart. Could I deny myself her? I might be able to deny the desires of my flesh, but what about denying myself the woman I loved?

My pulse pounded a protest against sacrificing her and our relationship. But if my country needed me to become the next king, could I forfeit what mattered most in order to serve the greater good?

I brushed a kiss against her forehead, my heart thudding a different tempo—this one of dread.

Releasing a sigh, she slipped her arms around me and rested her head against my chest.

I ran my hand down her long golden braid, letting the silkiness soothe me. I didn’t need to relinquish her. I would bring her home and prove to my father and the Lagting that she would make the perfect wife and queen. They would meet her and see for themselves just how beautiful and elegant and educated she was. I needn’t worry.

“I love you.” I couldn’t keep the desperation from my tone.

She pulled back and studied my face as though trying to make sense of that desperation. I needed to tell her the truth about who I was. Now. But at the crease forming between her brows, I dipped in and seized her lips, needing to reassure her and myself that everything would work out.

I kissed her deeply, as if the morrow would never come, and she pressed back as if to reassure me it would.

A roar filled the air at the same time Rory was ripped away from me. I caught a glimpse of Chester’s broad shoulders and his face contorted with rage before a fist slammed into my head, sending pain rippling through my cheek and into my skull.

It knocked me backward, slamming me into the trunk with such force that blackness swept over me. A second punch into my stomach, along with Rory’s scream, dragged me out of oblivion.

Chester had caught us in our impassioned kiss and intended to kill me.

He released another roar and swung at me again, aiming for the other side of my face. Though he’d knocked the wind from me with his strike to my stomach, I managed to dodge and take a swing at him, landing a punch in his midsection.

His reflexes were quick, and he struck me again.

“Chester!” Rory slapped at him. “Stop this instant!”

He easily held her back and, at the same time, shoved the front of my thigh. The momentum was powerful enough to push me backward into the trunk and hit against my wound. While I held myself upright, the pain nearly brought me to my knees. In the next instant, Chester had a knife angled against my throat.

“No!” Rory ceased her struggle and took a rapid step back. “Please, Chester. Please do not hurt him.”

The blade bit into my flesh.

From behind Chester, I caught a movement. Jorg was approaching cautiously, his weapons drawn and his expression lethal. I didn’t want Jorg to hurt Chester. But his first duty was to protect me, and I had no doubt he’d plunge his sword through Chester’s back in an instant if he needed to.

I tilted my head and tried to ease the prick of Chester’s knife. “Let me explain—”

He pressed his blade deeper, cutting me off with the sting and the warm