Chapter 380: Before the Storm

Chapter 380: Chapter 114: Before the Storm

Dane woke to the weight of Destiny’s head on his chest.

Sometime in the night they had knotted themselves together under the blankets. Her arm was pinned between their ribs, her leg hooked over his shin, and his hand had found the curve of her waist and stayed there. No alarm sounded. Nobody pounded on the door. The room held only the gray of early light and the slow rhythm of her breathing against his skin.

A few strands of hair had fallen across her cheek. He lifted them away with one finger, carefully, and she stirred anyway.

Her eyes opened by degrees. He watched her find him.

“Morning, my beautiful Princess.”

The corner of her mouth lifted. “Morning.”

He kissed her, meaning it to be brief. Her hand slid to the back of his neck and held him there, so he kissed her again, slower, and felt her smile against his mouth. When they parted she kept her forehead pressed to his.

“I like waking up like this,” she said.

“Me too.”

Her fingers drifted over his chest, tracing nothing in particular. Neither of them spoke. Somewhere below the window a bucket clanked against stone.

Then her fingers stopped.

“I want to be just your princess.” She said it to his collarbone. “I’d rather not be Vance’s.”

Dane knew what she meant. Since the royal records arrived, the possibility had trailed her through every room, turning something she once wanted into something she dreaded. His arm tightened around her.

“Whatever those records say, you’re still Destiny.”

She tipped her head back to look at him.

“Mine,” he added, and ran his thumb along her cheekbone. “Where you were born doesn’t change who you are.”

“It does change who Aurora is.” Her gaze slid past him to the wall. “When our fathers went off to talk, I couldn’t make myself tell her. I don’t think Vance has either.”

“I don’t think he knows how.”

“I wish it could stay buried.” She breathed out. “That’s a terrible thing to say. My whole life I wanted the truth. Where I came from, whose daughter I was. Now there’s a way to find out and I keep hoping the answer never arrives.”

Dane waited.

“If I’m his daughter, then she isn’t. She’s been living in my place.” Her voice thinned. “How would she feel learning that? I’m the thief she called me.”

“You were a baby. You couldn’t have known you were being exchanged.”

“That doesn’t…”

“Destiny.” He held still until she looked at him. “Somebody else made that choice, whatever it was. You took nothing.”

“It feels like I did.”

She picked at the edge of the blanket. “I used to dream about being a princess. Or an Alpha’s mate. Someone powerful picking me out of a crowd, a life that mattered.” The wool bunched in her fist. “I wanted all of it.”

“And now?”

“Now I have it all and I feel I don’t deserve any of it.” It came out barely louder than breath.

Something in his chest eased and tightened at once. “Hey, quit auditing whether you deserve it or not and just relish your good fortune.”

A small smile. “It isn’t that simple.”

“I know.” He pressed his lips to her forehead. “You don’t have to settle your whole life before breakfast.”

She exhaled and laid her cheek against him again. “I don’t want Aurora to hate me or feel broken. I don’t want to rise to see her fall. Part of me wishes she is my sister.”

His hand traveled the length of her spine and back up. “You can’t decide what she feels.”

“No.”

“You can decide what you do about it.”

She was quiet long enough that he felt her heartbeat against his ribs. Then she propped herself on an elbow and studied him.

“You’re very wise this morning.”

“I’m wise every morning.”

“You’re arrogant.”

“Also that.”

She laughed, low in her throat, and he kissed her to catch the sound.

This time neither of them hurried to end it. The kiss deepened without either deciding it should, and the dread of the past few days loosened its grip. Her fingers curled into his hair. He drew her in until no blanket’s width remained between them. There was no enemy at the gate, no one to carry out of danger. Only a husband and wife, handed a few minutes that belonged to them.

He kissed along her jaw and came back to her mouth.

“You’re distracting me,” she murmured.

“Good.”

“Dane.”

“Quit thinking.”

She melted against him, and his body answered the closeness in a way she could not have missed. Heat climbed her cheeks. She didn’t pull away.

For once nobody mentioned Vance, or Aurora, or the curse, or the Heart Stone, or whatever the royal records were waiting to say.

Then a fist struck the door.

They went still. A second knock came, harder.

“Dane?”

Henrik.

Dane shut his eyes. Against his chest, Destiny pressed her face into his skin, shoulders shaking.

“Of course,” he muttered.

“Dane, are you awake?”

He stared at the ceiling beams. “We were.”

Destiny clamped a hand over her mouth. Beyond the door Henrik let out a long breath.

“Hey, hurry up. We have visitors. Your maternal uncles and aunt decided to visit. They are asking after you in the living room.”

Dane dragged the blanket up over both of them, as if that mattered against oak. “Give me a moment.”

“Make it a short one.”

Henrik’s footsteps began to retreat and Dane groaned. He looked down. Destiny’s eyes were bright and her lips were flushed, and she was grinning.

“Your Beta has terrible timing,” she whispered.

“My Beta won’t see sundown.”

“Don’t kill Henrik.”

“I won’t. I can’t promise to spare my Uncles and Aunty lives though. It’s totally fine if you want to sleep a little. I understand if you’re not so eager to meet more of my family members.”

“Oh, don’t worry. I’ll join you shortly. None of them would be as bad as being in Vance family.”

He kissed her forehead and reached for his shirt on the floor.

The quiet was finished. Whatever stood on the other side of that door had found them, and it wasn’t going to wait.