were so strong, his hand so warm. She found that she absolutely cherished the feel of his skin against hers and fought to control her composure.
“Like what?” She turned to look at him. He was about to speak, and she watched the way his lips puckered up slightly. “Wait!” she blurted out and held up her hand in front of his face. “Fire blowers, water tanks, warrior women…I think I’ve heard enough for one day. Nothing you or your sister does is ordinary, so perhaps we should just wait until tomorrow before you shock me with anything else, unless it’s something that won’t hurl me into oblivion.” She laughed and he smiled back at her.
“It can wait.”
“Oh no.” Willow’s smile faded. “It’s something that will hurl me into oblivion, isn’t it. Are you betrothed?”
He laughed and shook his head no.
“In love?”
He stopped walking and faced her. “It’s possible,” he answered and the intensity in his gaze made her toes curl.
“Oh,” she breathed. Barely. “You’re in love.” She couldn’t take her eyes off his while he nodded. If it wasn’t with her, what would she do? Go off to freeze with a hairy beast? Go back to Silvergard or Beldar alone again? If it wasn’t her he was in love with, nothing, nothing in her life would ever compare to him.
“Do I…know her?”
Everything slowed, even her heart while she waited for him to nod his head.
It was her! Who else did she know but his sister? It was her! She wanted to throw herself into his arms and say yes to everything!
His smile called to her to live a life of poverty. Would she leave everything she had, especially safety, everything that was hers before, and help Caleb rebuild Predaria with her bare hands? She didn’t breathe when he drew closer to her ear, his sweet breath stirring tendrils of her hair. This close to him, she could feel his soft hair on her face. She was consumed in the wonderful masculine smell of him. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” he whispered, and she breathed, as if in a dream.
Willow lie in bed that night thinking of him, the way he walked, and the gentle tones of his voice that caressed her like a fine silk robe after a bath. She imagined what his sun-streaked hair would feel like in her fingers, and she finally fell asleep dreaming of how glorious his eyes would be staring into hers when he told her he loved her.
Caleb sat in the kitchen with Shauna the next morning eating fresh eggs and sliced tomatoes. “It was wise of Jonas to trade for chickens last month,” he said between bites.
“Yes, but everyone was so angry with him. Remember?” She smiled, recalling the entire village frowning in unison when Jonas unveiled all those crates of squawking hens.
“He still loves you,” Caleb told her without pause in his eating. “He pretends to be carefree and over you, but he isn’t.”
Shauna shrugged her shoulders. “It doesn’t matter anymore, Caleb.”
“Yes it does.”
“You’re a hopeless romantic, Brother. You think love alone can sustain you.”
He shook his head. “I don’t think that at all. I’m painfully aware that for some people it may never be enough.”
“You’re talking about Willow,” Shauna said and waited until he nodded. “Caleb, you know that had I been with you, she would be dead right now. I’ll have you know that I’m glad I wasn’t with you. I like her. And I think she’s quite taken with you.
“And besides, we aren’t poor, or at least we won’t be. You have many possessions and one day you’ll be king and have all the riches she desires.”
“Shauna.” He looked up from his plate and swallowed. “Don’t you understand? I refuse to live like Ermile. My possessions are only important to me because I can trade them and keep this village alive. And when I’m king, I don’t want to live in that castle. I want to live here, in Shondravar with these people. I want to see them every day and have my children play with their children. I want a simple life.”
“I’m afraid you can’t have that, Caleb. A king can’t live in a cottage.”
“Why not?” he asked, but she only smiled.
“In ten years you will feel differently.”
“No, I won’t. I’m happy here.” His expression darkened while he pushed his plate away. “But Willow wouldn’t be.” He’d offered to take her to Beldar, and she hadn’t refused. He’d practically told her he loved her last night and she smiled