Fate Decides

Chapter 27

"I had thought you might linger in Bosco..." Cristoff sat on the table to the side of Sorano, his dark eyes calm, friendly. A look he could maintain in pitched battle while running dark mages through with his sword.

Sorano turned cool amethyst eyes on him. "My travel exchange period expired Cristoff, I'd have been arrested if I stayed." She replied.

"Not if you were promised to a citizen." He retorted. Her eyes narrowed.

"That is none of your business." She snapped, rising to leave but he caught her arm "I disagree, I was there, I saw how you looked at Kaleb, watched the two of you together, he's my brother, my Guild Master, it is my business, I need to understand."

She glared at him "There is nothing for you to understand Cristoff, I used Kaleb for sex, your Boscan, sex is shared for many reasons other than love and reproduction, you should have no issues." She said coldly.

"He would have married you, loved you, treated you like a queen, made you the Mistress of White Sea, a princess of Bosco for all practical purposes, you mean to tell me you felt so little for him none of that mattered enough to even consider it? To promise to him while you thought about it?" He demanded. People in the guild were stopping, looking at them now.

Laki, over by the bar stared in disbelief alongside Mira.

"It is none of your business what I feel. I told him I needed time to think and I meant it! What difference does it make?!" She snapped.

His eyes widened "You don't know what you did do you?"

Sorano glared at him "I know exactly what I did. He proposed to me and I told him I needed time away from him to think about it all, it's too much...I need to think!"

She remembered every moment of it.

They had spent most of that last day together in the mansion, she didn't want to leave him, had become so comfortable, happy, sleeping beside him at night, waking up next to him.

He was a man of calm grace and dignity, fierce loyalty and deep devotion to his people and his duties. They'd made love over and over that day and he lay on top of her, sweaty and breathing hard, propped up on his elbows, holding part of his weight from her but the rest bearing her down into the soft bed, his pale blonde hair hung down around them and he had the warmest, sexiest smile she'd ever seen.

He'd smiled down into her eyes, kissing her lips lightly, teasing. "I want to propose something to you." He'd said and she'd smiled, imagining some new thing he wanted to try with her. Experienced as she was she'd never done a lot of the things he'd shown her, the positions, the play, the intimacy. It was all new and incredible.

"I think there's more between us than just sex now." He'd smiled and she nipped at his lips "Safe to say." She'd grinned. His eyes had warmed more.

"Do you like Bosco?" He asked. She nodded, she did, it was a beautiful country, she'd seen so little of it but experienced so many new things she was still awed and overwhelmed.

"Would you stay?" He asked and she sighed "We can't, you know that, the exchanges are only approved for 6 weeks, the Council and governments are all pricks." She'd chuckled. He'd kissed her.

"I want to take you to wife anji, as my woman you would be a citizen, you could stay...run this guild at my side...love me...let me love you...I could make you happy, keep you protected, you would be like royalty here as Mistress of White Sea." He'd said it all between soft kisses and her mind had erupted into chaos and alarm.