Chapter 2
I don’t pull away. Instead, she leans into his palms, my fingers curling around his wrists, holding him there as if he’s the only thing keeping me upright.
My breath hitches, my lips parting, but the words stick in my throat for a heartbeat too long. When they finally spill out, they’re raw, broken. “I love you, Dame.” My voice cracks. “I want to be with you forever.
“I’m loyal to you, Aurora,” he says, his voice rough, “you know I am. But I’m not royal.” His hands drop from my face, but only to reach for the buckles of his armour. The clinks of metal hitting metal fill the silence between us as he peels off the breastplate, the pauldrons, each piece discarded with deliberate slowness. “It may not be possible for us to be together.”
I watched him, my chest rising and fallin
