Sorrows of Adoration by Kimberly Chapman Read Free Book Online Page B

tight, and I found my arms
clinging to him as all the feelings of attraction I had suppressed
during our trip overwhelmed me. The whole of the King’s Guard could
not have pulled me from his arms in that moment. My head rested on
his shoulder, his arms around me and one hand stroking my hair. I
imagined that he must be able to feel how my heart pounded against
his chest, but I didn’t care! I didn’t care in that moment whether
any of it was proper or unseemly or right or wrong. The love I had
felt over this short journey, which might as well have been a
lifetime, all poured forth into that embrace, and it frightened me
and exhilarated me and made me believe I could fly right off that
cliff if he asked me to.
    Then I heard him
whisper, “I should build you a fire. I can feel you shivering.”
    “I’m not cold,” I
replied, barely able to speak. “I’m warmer now than I have been
since leaving the inn.” My words sounded so absurd, and I was
embarrassed to have said them.
    “Then why do you
tremble? Please tell me I haven’t frightened you,” he said in a
voice rich with affection.
    “I’m not frightened.
I … I don’t know why I’m trembling. I didn’t even know I was.
I’m sorry. I’ve never felt …” I stopped speaking before I said
something silly again. I knew I must have sounded like a child
desperately trying to recite romantic poetry.
    “Surely someone as
enchanting as yourself has not gone unkissed?” he asked softly,
pulling away enough that he could look at me again.
    “I was a barmaid,” I
said, looking up at him. “The women who work in the inns do not
allow themselves to be kissed unless they have more than kisses to
sell.” I could have hit myself for sounding so uncouth. I wondered
where in Keshaerlan my mind had gone.
    But he was not put off
by my words. “Noble, brave, and virtuous, too,” he said, smiling.
“You are a rare find, good Aenna.”
    He kissed me on the
forehead again, and then apologized if he had been too bold. “If
you wish me to leave you alone with the blankets tonight, I
understand, for I did promise to be a gentleman, and now here I
stand with you in my arms, kissing you like a scoundrel. And yet
look,” he said as his hand touched my cheek softly again. “I am
unable to stop.” He stepped backwards, letting his hand drop from
my cheek to grasp my hand. He lifted my hand delicately and kissed
it.
    I didn’t know what to
say. I didn’t wish to be silly and let either of us freeze in the
night. I also didn’t wish to appear indecorous and agree to lie
beside him. Additionally, I didn’t like appearing indecisive about
the matter, lest he think I was leaning one way or the other when
both decisions held such potential repugnance.
    “You look upset. I’ve
upset you, haven’t I, with my boldness? Aenna, I’m truly sorry, I
was swept up in the moment with your beauty—”
    “Please,” I said,
unsure from where the words came. “Please don’t be sorry.” My heart
was on the verge of breaking if he should regret the kiss, but I
couldn’t tell him that. I could not be so bold. How ironic, that he
thought me so brave and bright, yet my mind was shaken to pieces by
a simple kiss.
    Then I noticed he was
at an equal loss for words. “I’m not sorry, but I am, well, sorry
for being so bold.” I found his stammering endearing, for it must
mean he was as delighted and alarmed and as confused as I. “Not for
the kiss, unless if offends you, because if it offended you than I
would be sorry for that—”
    And that’s when I
seemed to have lost my mind entirely, for I did something so
brazen, so unexpectedly forward that to this day I don’t know what
demon or deity inspired me. As he rambled apologetically, I threw
my arms around his neck and pulled myself up to him, smashing my
lips hard against his and kissing him with every dream of passion
fuelling the rush. I believe I startled him as much as myself, for
at first he threw his arms into the air in