Thirty-Three

"HOPE, COULD YOU PROMISE ME SOMETHING?" He asked, caressing my hair, as I laid on his chest, with our legs still entangled.

"Yes," I whispered, feeling at home for once.

"Promise you won't break my heart," there was a hint of sadness in his voice.

I looked up at him, but his attention was turned to the ceiling, "I won't. I promise. Can you promise the same?"

That made his attention come to me, "Yes. I'll never break your heart, you don't have to worry about that, darling." He turned me around, putting me under, coming on top, and making my legs hug his waist. "There's one more thing I forgot to tell you."

"Hm?"

"You know this manor is in the territory of Duke Farhad Astarabadi, right?" Mari mentioned, so I nodded. "He knows I'm directly… under Duke Luc Von der Meer, and as he's kind of scared of him," he grinned lightly, "he allowed me to stay here in this place I bought, and avoid other southern nobles from approaching me."

I blinked, "That sound amazing. But why do I feel like there's a 'but' coming?"

"But he had to know you were going to be with me here."

Got it. "That's not so pleasant, but I understand. After all, my dad is a Count under him, and you are northern. He probably also had to know that, because people could come after me, right?" Although I doubt that would happen. They are probably overjoyed with my disappearance.

"Indeed. Besides, I didn't need to explain it further, because his future daughter-in-law was present at your ball. She knows what happened and how your father tried to attack you, and how I was the only one who protected you. And she also said I was kidnapping you because she saw how close we seemed to be since we spend the ball together. So, he didn't complain about it, and offered to punish your father for causing such mayhem to me."

That made me giggle. "He must really be scared of that Duke of yours, hm? And I never thought Lady Marie DuBlanc, the lotus flower of the southern high society, would stand up to me like that. I guess I owe her now."

"It's good to be on good terms with her though, she may be a Countess' daughter right now, but she'll soon become a Princess and the next Southern Duchess. After all, she's engaged to Prince Behnam Astarabadi, the sole heir and firstborn child of the Duke with his wife, Duchess Yasmin," that true.

Especially now that I won't be able to stay hidden, as a consequence of my own actions and the things about them learning about my power. And speaking of it, "Does the Duke knows?"

"About us?" His question made me blush.

"About my magic."

A nod. "Yes. He even told me to take care of you, because you were a hidden jewel, a powerful person who could very much destroy us if you went berserk. Better to have you as an ally than an enemy."

"Kind of dramatic. You overestimate shadow magic too much. Yeah, sure is a dark and dangerous type of magic. But it's not like I'm the bringer of chaos or something."

"Do you think it would be bothersome if you entered into contact with your mother's family when we go home?" Home? Is he talking about the north as my home? "Why are you blushing now?" He giggled.

"You said home."

He caressed my cheeks. "It's my home. We'll get married and we are already living together. So, it'll be your home too. At least, I hope one day you will be able to call it that. Your… confusing feelings for the north aside. It would make me happy."

How is he so adorable and at the same time, so dirty-minded? What a duality, damn it. "I'm open-minded, and I have nothing again the northern region by itself. To be honest, I always hated the southern warm weather. Always. I prefer the cold, but because of my decision not to get close to dangerous places, I always avoided going there, even though I wanted."

"Now, that's surprising. And here I was, pondering if you would feel okay with the cold weather since I thought you preferred a warmer place." He whispered kissing my neck, "I also prefer cold," then he suddenly held my hips higher again, getting inside me, making me cry with pleasure. "But I confess I'm getting addicted to the warmness inside of you," he brushed his lips on my jaw, as I moaned loudly, turned on again. "It's really… the best, darling…"

𖣘𖣘𖣘

"Stay with me here tonight," I asked, hugging him tight.

"Marianne won't kill me when she realizes what we have been doing, will she?" The hint of fear in his voice made me giggle. Mari would love to know she has such an effect on him since I told him she was a mother to me.

"If she asks, I'll tell her the truth. I jumped on you and devoured you. And when you came here again today, I couldn't hold my hunger and made you do it with me again!"

He gasped, "You are distorting what happened!"

"Yes, but only you know that. Besides, she wouldn't be able to blame you. After all, you couldn't resist me," I said with a confident smile. "And, I'll show her this," I extended my hand with the engagement ring. "She won't be able to complain about a thing, since we are engaged."

A crooked grin appeared on his lips, "Then can you move to my room?"

"No. That's only for after we get married," let's draw a line. "However, you can just pretend to go sleep in your bedroom and come to mine. Then we sleep together, and you go to yours when you wake up, so they won't notice. Because one thing is they suspect that we are making love like this, but the other is them being sure of it. They can talk, but in the end, they won't know what's actually happening."