Page 44 of Tamhas

“So? I do want to know.”

“It isn’t easy for me to put into words. Especially since there’s only one person who’s ever truly cared how I felt about most things.”

“Emelie.”

“Yes. And I won’t ever see her again.”

“You don’t know that for certain.”

“You don’t have to say that.” She looked up at me. “You really don’t. I know what this means, and I choose you. I don’t ever want to have you questioning whether I understand the gravity of what’s happening right now. I understand it. I know I’m here, with you, and I have no intention of going anywhere else so long as I get to be with you. Understood?”

“Understood.”

“Because I never bought a return ticket to the States. Did I tell you that?”

“No.” I leaned back, looking her in the eye. “You didn’t?”

“Just in case I decided I wanted to stay.” She ran a quick hand over her cheek to pick up the tear trickling down. “I didn’t have anything real in my life except for my only friend. And I love her, I do. But I had no steady job, no boyfriend, no other friends. I lived in the cheapest apartment I could find that had room for my workouts. And that was it. Why would I stay when there was something so much better waiting for me out here?”

“You didn’t know that for certain.”

“You’re right. I didn’t—at last, not literally. Not in logical proof. But what was it you said to Alan last night? When you know, you know.”

“Yes. That’s true.”

She reached up, stroking my cheek. “I knew. I wouldn’t have admitted it out loud to anybody else for all the money in the world because I knew it sounded ridiculous and I don’t like to sound ridiculous. But I knew.”

I was certain I’d never been so happy. I didn’t know so much happiness existed, or that it would be available to me. She’d brought it. She was it.

“I love you.” I kissed the tip of her nose, both cheeks, her chin. “I love you, I do.”

“I love you,” she giggled between kisses. “And whatever happens with the Priestesses—whether they exist, or they don’t—isn’t my business. I don’t know them. I know you. I love you. And what matters to you matters to me.”

I wrapped my arms around her and wondered what I’d done to deserve anyone like her in my life. She was the sort of mate a man—a dragon—dreamed of. The perfect match for me in every way. Even though I felt like I didn’t quite deserve her, it only meant I’d keep working to earn her.

No matter how long it took.

“Can I ask you one favor?” She pulled back, cheeks wet with tears.

“Of course. Anything.”

She bit her lip, trying to hide a smile but failing at it. “Can you take me flying?”