Reign of Ice (Forever Fae #4)(37)

Brayden came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist, kissing me gently on the neck. “My mother is a smart woman most of the time, but do you want to know when I really started to see you differently?”

Turning around in his arms, I gazed up into his warm, brown eyes and nodded. “Tell me,” I said.

He lowered his lips to mine, just a gentle brushing of his lips before he pulled back and explained, “It was when you were here with your family for the Winter Solstice Ball. I remember watching you get out of the carriage and thinking that it couldn’t be you. You had changed so much in five years.”

I laughed. “Five years is a long time for a female to grow up, Brayden. After everything that happened with Calista I had no choice but to see and do things differently.”

“I know, angel, and it’s definitely changed you for the better. However, I will never forget the day when I saw you playing with Merrick out in the snow. You were so carefree and everything I’d always wished I could be. The way you gazed at him with such love and adoration was an expression I’d never seen on anyone’s face before, especially when they looked at me.”

I cupped his face in my hands and smiled. “It’s because I love him, Brayden. Do you really think no one has felt that way about you? I’m sure there are plenty of women here who have loved you.”

“No, not like that,” he admitted. He took my hands away from his face and walked me back to our bedroom where I took a seat on the bed. Leaving the room, he came back almost immediately with something hidden in the palm of his hand. “I do not know if this is the right time, but I need you to know where I stand in all of this. You could have been taken from me on several occasions, and I cannot begin to describe to you the way it made me feel to know that I could have lost you. I have never felt that way about anyone until you.”

“What are you trying to say, Brayden?” I asked nervously.

My heart raced erratically to the point I could feel it pulsing throughout my body. I was sure Brayden could hear it and feel it through our bond. Through our connection I could feel how deep his emotions ran, and secretly I had hoped one day he would be able to tell me. No one had ever looked at me or loved me in the way I wanted, in the way I needed. We were the same in that aspect as well. My sisters had experienced love by other men, but I never had, even though I had taken lovers before.

Taking a deep breath, Brayden took my hand and opened his closed fist. In his palm lay a shiny silver and onyx band with a symbol engraved on it. I couldn’t tell what the symbol was until he slid the band slowly down on my finger. However, it wasn’t just a symbol, it was the crest of the Winter Court … our Court of Ice.

“How?” I whispered. Did he really remember the symbol in our vision?

“Yes, I did,” he replied, giving me the answer to my silent question. “I can still see our vision clearly, right down to the way we made love by the fire. I remembered our crest on the wall in the room we were in, and it’s been engraved in my mind ever since. I had Lukas make the ring for you.”

“Lukas made this?” I cried, gazing down at the ring. “It’s beautiful. I just wish I could tell him so.”

Brayden lifted my chin with his finger and grazed my lips with his thumb. “He was a very talented man and a good friend of mine. I will miss him. I know it’s not customary to exchange rings, but I wanted you to know that I am serious about us and about our court. We have so much to learn from each other, and by giving you this I am ready. I know you are not yet, and I am fine waiting for as long as you need me to, but I have faith in us. I’ve never believed in anything as much as I believe in you.”

Staring at the man in front of me, I couldn’t believe he was the same Brayden. Our time has been short together, but all along we both knew that we were the ones for each other. Deep down I knew I was ready to bond with him, except with everything going on I knew it wasn’t the right time.

Kissing me gently on the lips, he whispered silently in my mind, “Do you think you will ever love me the way I love you?”

I stifled a gasp and let him deepen the kiss. He said he loved me. Tears sprang into my eyes as I melted in his arms, lying back against the bed. He covered my body with his while melding his tongue with mine, tasting me and claiming me, never taking his gaze away.

“I need to hear you say it, Brayden,” I murmured tenderly.

He wiped away the tears in my eyes and whispered across my lips, “I love you, angel. No matter what happens and what challenges we face, I will always be there with you. In your mind, body, and soul, you will never be alone.”

We stared at each other, him holding onto me as we lay together on the bed, and I knew without a doubt that I had fallen for him. The times he pissed me off and the times I thought he didn’t care no longer mattered because I knew he did care … all along he felt the same way about me that I had of him.

The ring on my finger was a symbol of everything I had to live for, but yet everything I was going to lose. I needed to live for the moment and I planned on doing that. With all the love and determination in my heart, I poured it all into Brayden as I gazed at him and said the words I knew he had always wanted to hear, “I know it’s not easy for you to say these things to me, and I can’t begin to tell you how much it means to hear them. I love you, Brayden. There may come a time in our lives when you doubt that, but I want you to understand that I will always love you. I will always do what I can to protect you and our court. I will never stop fighting for us.”