Page 90 of Her Silent Knight

That’s when she saw her mate, kneeling in the corner of the room, with a tangled mess of miniature lights wrapped around his neck and draped over his shoulder.

“Fucking lights,” he growled as he untangled the batch he was working on. “If my mate didn’t like this type of stuff, I would’ve burned you up hours ago.”

Hours? How long had she been asleep? Perhaps she’d been more tired than she realized. Kaede strung the untangled lights from the ceiling. Then he went to work, untangling another batch.

He was hanging them from the ceiling, making them look like icicles. There were far too many lights in one room. Poor guy. He didn’t know that. He was simply doing this because he knew it would make her happy.

“Thank you,” Sin whispered.

He heard her. She could tell from the way he tensed up. He glanced over his shoulder. “Damn, I didn’t even hear you come in.” He faced her fully.

“I move like a ninja,” she joked.

He gave her a small smile then glanced around the well lit up room. “You caught me,” he told her. “I wanted to be done by the time you woke up.”

“Where did you get this stuff from? That pink tree is adorable.”

“The witches in the village helped me. I told them about the decorations you had in your home.”

“The flaming Christmas tree.”

He nodded. “I told them I wanted to decorate our home for you.”

Our home. He said our home. Sin felt her heart swell.

“It’s not much. The witches spelled the lights. And they took a pine tree, shrunk it and made it pink. They said women like pink.”

“We do.” Most girls did.

“The tree will return to it’s regular size in a month. I need to have it out of the house and replanted by then.”

“That should be no problem.”

“It’s not much. I just...” He was staring everywhere but at her. “I’ve fucked up so much when it comes to you. I just wanted to do something to make you happy. I hope this little bit helps. It doesn’t erase the fact that I tried to kidnap you and turn you over to The Deciders. And for what? They’ve been lying this entire time. That whole task thing is just a scam to get idiots like me to do their dirty work. Because of me, danger is coming here. Because of me, your home was burned down and now you have to live here. It’s not much. Give me a few months, I’ll build us something nicer. I’ll...”

Anger from moments ago forgotten, Sin wanted to rush over to him, wrap her arms around him and kiss him until he shut up and realized she didn’t need much. Since coming here, she’d learned that all the things she’d thought were so important back on the Mortal Plane, didn’t really matter at all.

Most people just wanted it so they could impress other people. Some people would go into debt trying to impress people who didn’t matter. Worldly possessions were nice. But nothing, no fancy car, no mansion, no private jet, none of it was better than moments like this.

She should tell him that. She couldn’t. Her emotions were overpowering her. She wasn’t used to speaking her feelings. Not these kinds of feelings. She could talk a lot when she was angry.

She could say a lot of hurtful shit when she was pissed off. But when she was happy like this, she didn’t know how to voice those emotions. Which was sad. Anger and pain shouldn’t pour from her easier than kindness and love.

That was something she’d have to work on. It seemed they both had things they needed to work on. He was still talking, telling her all of the things he wanted to build for her. None of which would make her as happy as this pink Christmas tree and gold lights made her.

None of the things he was talking about would make her as happy as she was right now, staring at him with wood glue stuck to his socks and tangled up Christmas lights wrapped around his neck.

“All I need is you,” Sin whispered.

He continued talking for a second then stopped, as if he’d finally heard her. “What did you say?”

“All I need is you, Kaede. Nothing else matters. Just you and me. And our pink Christmas tree and our golden lights. That’s all that matters to me.”

He swallowed. “Are you saying,” he paused, seeming to gather himself. “Mate, are you telling me you forgive me?”

Sin nodded. “I do.”

He wasn’t done talking yet. “Are you saying that you accept me as your mate?”

“I do.”

“Are you saying...”

If they kept this up, they’d be standing here talking all night. They could save the words for tomorrow. Tonight, she wanted to show him how she felt, not tell him.

“Kaede, right now, I just need a bath. Do you think you can help me with that?”

He lifted the tangled lights from around his neck and tossed them onto the chair. That intense look she’d been craving was back in his eyes. He growled two words that made a shiver race down her spine.

“I do.”