Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 87731 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 439(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87731 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 439(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
Bria sighed softly. The troubling part was not the disappointment itself. It was how quickly she tried to dismiss it.
Her entire life had been spent easing the worries of others. She soothed frightened children, grieving mothers, anxious husbands, and lonely elders. Whenever pain touched someone, her first instinct was to help carry it.
But when sorrow belonged to her?
She always pushed it aside, gave it no thought as if it were not important. As though her own feelings mattered less than everyone else’s. The realization unsettled her more than she cared to admit. Perhaps that was why Kaelan unsettled her as well. He never seemed willing to let her hide from her own feelings.
“You are thinking too hard.”
Kaelan’s voice startled her and she watched as he opened his eyes, not heavy from sleep, but wide awake.
“I thought you were asleep,” she said.
A faint smile touched his mouth. “I was.”
The answer immediately made her suspicious. “You were not.”
“A short while perhaps.” His hand brushed gently through a loose strand of her hair.
The tenderness of the gesture nearly undid her.
“You are troubled.”
She shook her head. “Nay.”
Kaelan’s brow lifted.
She sighed. “Perhaps a little.”
“More than a little.”
His voice held far too much confidence.
Bria frowned at him. “You sound remarkably certain.”
“I know exactly what troubles you.”
That caught her attention. “You do?”
“I do,” he said firmly. “And I suspect you are already preparing to convince yourself it should not.”
Bria looked away from him. The frustrating part was that he was right.
“I understand why you did it,” she said quietly.
“I know.”
His answer surprised her enough that she looked back at him. There was no defensiveness in his voice. No attempt to explain himself, only understanding.
“You know?” she asked.
Kaelan nodded slowly. “Aye. I know you understand.” He brushed the stray strand of her hair behind her ear. “And I know that understanding does not change how you feel.”
Bria swallowed hard. “Nay, it does not.”
The simple admission seemed far louder than the words themselves.
For several moments neither spoke, the silence between them feeling strangely comfortable. As though she no longer needed to protect him from her feelings.
“I am disappointed,” she admitted, the words bringing an immediate sting to her eyes. Not because she regretted saying them, but because she finally had.
Kaelan’s gaze never left hers. “You have every right to be.”
Bria blinked in surprise. That had not been the response she expected.
“You do not intend to argue with me?”
A faint smile touched his mouth.
“Nay.”
“Explain why it was necessary?”
“Nay.”
“Remind me that you were protecting me?”
“I believe we have already established that.”
Despite herself, Bria felt the corner of her mouth twitch.
Kaelan’s expression softened. “You are disappointed because something precious was taken from us.”
His words settled gently between them.
He hadn’t said, not taken by him. He’d said taken from them and that distinction mattered.
“I wanted better for you,” he continued. “For us.”
The honesty in his voice tightened her throat.
“I wanted a place where you felt safe. A place where we could take our time. A place where your first memories as my wife would not include a prison cell beneath a witch’s fortress.”
Bria laughed softly, though tears threatened her eyes. “When you say it aloud, it sounds even worse.”
“Aye, it does,” he agreed.
That earned a genuine smile from her, one that quickly faded.
“I feel guilty for being disappointed.”
Kaelan frowned. “Why?”
The question caught her off guard.
“Because you did it to protect me.”
“And?”
Bria stared at him. “And… because I should be grateful.”
His answer came without hesitation. “You are grateful, but you can be disappointed as well, Bria.”
She fell silent. No one had ever said such a thing to her. Perhaps because no one had ever needed to. Or perhaps because she had never allowed them.
“You spent your life helping others carry what troubles them,” Kaelan said. “Yet whenever something troubles you, you convince yourself it is not important enough to matter.”
Bria glanced down at her hands. “I do not know how to do otherwise.”
Kaelan slipped a finger beneath her chin and gently lifted her face to his. “It is time you did, wife, and your husband will make sure of it. You are not alone, Bria. We are one now and that means we share joy and burdens alike.”
She hadn’t realized how burdensome carrying her own worries alone had become, never thinking of sharing them with another. Or that someone would even want to share in her worries. To Kaelan it could be no other way, they shared, good or bad, they shared.
She kissed his lips lightly and whispered, “I want to share it all with you.”
Something warm flared instantly in Kaelan’s eyes and he tugged her closer against him.
Before she could draw another breath, he kissed her.
The kiss began gently but it did not remain that way.
All the love, relief, and longing that had built between them seemed to flow effortlessly into it. Bria melted against him, one hand sliding to his shoulder.