To Love a Prince (Knights of Valor Book 1)(43)

“Have you ever asked Dracor for His blessing?”

Eli stared over her head as memories rolled through his mind. He’d only asked for one thing from Dracor, but the Dragon God had let Eli’s mother die anyway. “Most believe Dracor is waiting for me to produce a son to bless.”

“Can’t make things easy on you.”

“Things aren’t supposed to be easy for a prince.”

“Should tell the sultan’s sons that.”

Eli tightened his arms around her. “I don’t think they’d like Tamryn.”

Auburn leaned against him, her brows pinched as she thought. “If you aren’t blessed, and your father is sick, would any son you have make it to adulthood before Dracor asked him to take the throne?”

“Doubtful. And Tamryn’s enemies will exploit it to the fullest.”

“A child can’t rule in Tamryn, can they?”

“No, so the church would try to name a regent to rule in his stead. History lessons have taught me how that goes.”

“A child deserves better than that.”

“The price of being born a prince.”

Auburn stared at the buttons etched with dragons on Eli’s jacket. “I... understand.”

“Being in the Qumarefi court, maybe you do. You’ve seen the ugly side of court politics. Seen people use, manipulate, and betray each other.” Eli held her closer. “If that doesn’t get them what they want, some aren’t above murder.”

“I wish...” She stopped. “If wishes were raindrops, Qumaref would be underwater.”

“Tell me what you wish.”

Color tinged her cheeks. “I wish you never had to return to face your father’s death. That we could stay here forever reading, playing chess, and learning about each other.”

“I’d like that, too.” Eli’s breath teased over the silken flesh of her neck and shoulders.

“I wish I could stay with you, but I will go with Sir Leopold for my son and for you. I hope leaving will reduce the threat against your life here in Qumaref. I hope...” Auburn paused and sucked in a breath as she met his gaze. “I hope I will love my son as much as I love you.”

The words struck Eli harder than a sword blow, and his throat tightened around a ball of emotion. He held her, stroking her hair as the weight of her words washed through him.

She loved him.

He hated hearing the word as it was usually said by sycophants and flatterers. But from her there was no trickery or deceit.

If she loved him, truly loved him as he did her, he couldn’t send her back to Tamryn to marry another. You were lucky if the Twins blessed you once.

Staring down into her cornflower blue eyes, the sincerity of her words pierced him. She loved him. The thought both terrified and elated him. He would do everything he could to be worthy of her, to make her happy and keep her safe.

The soft sweet scent of her filled his senses, and Eli smiled as her curves pressed against him. She’d taken his queen again, destroyed his careful strategy, and the game would be better for it.

Calling off his engagement to Lady Daniella would make it impossible for him to seize the throne upon his father’s death, but there had to be another way to safeguard Tamryn and protect all his mother had died to protect. He may have lost his queen, but he could still win, still do what was necessary without losing Auburn.

Without tearing Tamryn apart.

Auburn was right. Men like Sir Leopold should never be his enemy. If Eli had to destroy someone like Leopold to save Tamryn, the kingdom would lose something important, something precious, and it would become less like the land his mother had loved and more like Qumaref.

That would crush Tamryn more thoroughly than their enemies ever could.

The prince would figure out a new strategy, one that would secure Tamryn’s future without pitting the nobility against the Dragon Church.

“I want you to stay with me, now and always,” Eli said.

“I didn’t admit that to manipulate you.”

He thumbed over her cheek. “I know.”

Auburn stared up at him, and he captured her mouth with his. A soft, slow kiss, intoxicating as it sank into his bones. He tangled his fingers in her hair as he deepened the kiss, his tongue parting her lips and entering the recesses of her mouth. She tasted richer than the most exotic of Qumarefi spices.

Taking his time, he supped from her, drinking his fill as the heat of her warmed him. She softened beneath his lips, and Eli took, claiming her mouth as she clutched him and surrendered.

She ceded to him, gave in to the passion between them, and his conqueror roared. He knew what his heart wanted, what it demanded.

Eli never broke the kiss as he lifted Auburn and carried her to the bed. Laying her on the soft sheets, he came down with her, her body soft and sumptuous beneath him. He stroked the indentation of her waist and the lush curve of her thigh as his lips feasted on hers. His touch was soft, gentle, almost reverent as he traced her breast and teased its peak into a hard pebble.

Easing her gown over her head, he exposed her from the waist up. Auburn reached for him, tugging off his coat and unbuttoning his shirt so she could press her bare chest against him.

Eli stripped off his clothes and tossed them to the floor, giving her complete access to him as he slid his hands over her milk-pale flesh, slowly, memorizing every detail of her. He eased down her underskirts and tossed them away, leaving her naked beneath him. He stroked lower, over the swell of her hip and down the smooth column of her thigh.