“It used to.” She sniffled. “And now I just… I think I need time. Time to process the last two weeks of my life, time to process a future with you, time to just… have a day where my heart and my head aren’t at war with each other.”
“I can give you time.” Slowly I reached for her, turning her around until she was facing me, even with her teeth chattering, tears streaming down her cheeks, and her wet hair plastered to her face; she was stunning.
I pulled her into my arms. Kissing my way down her neck. Thankful that she was letting me love her with my body since she no longer trusted my words. Her soft sighs were all the encouragement I needed as my mouth moved to hers. The water finally started to warm as it poured over us like a summer rain. My tongue slid past her parted lips as she clung to my shoulders, her breasts pressed against my chest.
I broke away from her just long enough to move my kisses down her neck to her chest, and then I knelt in front of my queen. Gripping her hips with my hands, mentally begging her to tell me to stay, pleading with her to get in that car with me and never look back.
I held on to her hips for what felt like hours, nothing but the sounds of our own breathing and the splatter of water in the steam-filled the shower. I rested my head against her stomach as she ran her hands through my hair. My submission didn’t matter, did it? My worship? My dedication? I would always be the man who had been baptized in fire, hidden away and resurrected at the wrong time, for a purpose that was necessary in order to be with the one person who didn’t see it that way.
I sighed against her skin. The water was starting to chill again. Slowly I rose, wishing she would have chosen that moment to say something that told me things were going to be different. Instead, tears slid down her cheeks in rapid succession as I pulled her in for a hug.
She laid her head against my chest.
And I knew, in that moment, if this was all I got from Violet, I would take it. Just her resting her head against my chest, trusting me to hold her, to love her, to protect her.
And just like the Polar Bear King, if I only had her nights, if I only had her body. If I only got fractions of her love—I would be satisfied, and I would fight every single war to make it to her during those times, to steal those minutes of her love and hold them in my heart forever.
She pulled away from me briefly, her eyes searching mine, and then she cupped my head between her hands and pressed a chaste kiss to my mouth. “I do.”
“You do?” It hurt to breathe, it hurt to exist.
“I do,” she repeated, “take you…” Her lips were swollen from all of our kissing. “Valerian Petrov…” Her voice shook. “…as my husband.” She moved to her knees and took me in her mouth briefly before pulling back and whispering. “As my king.”
My heart fucking burst in my chest as her mouth covered me, her head bowed to me, her lips claiming me.
And just like before, when she first touched me.
I didn’t last long.
Maybe it was the hunger mixed with innocence in her eyes, or maybe it was just something about her.
“Vi—” I shot down her throat. My knees sagged, and I steadied myself with a hand on the wall.
She licked her lips and then looked up and whispered, “My Valerian.”
“My Violet.” I rasped.
“In the story…” She rose and wrapped her arms around my neck. “After the queen saved her king, did they live happily ever after?”
“Happily ever after’s boring, Violet.” My lips tugged into a smile. “Don’t you want an adventure?”
Her blue eyes locked on to me. “I think I’d be happy with a little less adventure, after all of this.”
I smiled, tracing my fingertip over her lips. “Yeah, I can see why.”
“So?”
“So, I promise to give my queen whatever she needs.”
“Violet Petrov.” She said it like she was testing the name.
“Mine,” I said simply.
Her jaw flexed as I reached behind her, turned off the water, and then opened the shower door to grab her a towel wrapping it around her shivering body and then grabbing one for myself.
“I gave you four nights,” she said in a small voice. “So, give me three days.”
My heart jumped in my chest. “Three days?”
She smiled slowly. “Give me three days to say goodbye to my family. I never got to before. I need to pack, I need to process like I said, but after three days, after I talk to my dad…”