She made a small noise in her throat. “Sore.” She turned her head to smile at him. “In a good way.”
She was officially perfect. “It’s nearly five,” he said. “I was thinking we should get dressed, make some dinner?”
“That sounds lovely.” She sat up and stretched, unselfconscious in a way he found unbearably attractive. His little buttoned-up schoolmarm was anything but.
After what they’d just shared, he almost couldn’t bring himself to put his plan into action. But he was doing this for Aurelie, he reminded himself. “But first, maybe you could show me around campus?”
“I didn’t know you had such an interest in the university,” she said as she slipped into her shift and stockings. Watching her dress was almost as delightful as watching her undress.
“I didn’t, before,” he said as he reluctantly stopped admiring her to pull on his own tunic. “But it’s where you’ve spent most of your life. I want to see your world, Aurelie.”
She turned to smile at him over her shoulder. “That’s maybe the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.”
He bowed and held his hand out to her. “Then lead the way, my lady.”
As they finished dressing, Des was unable to resist helping himself to a few kisses in the process, and then Aurelie wrapped her hand around one of his fingers and led him outside into the lavender twilight. They walked past Easton Hall, through a small arboretum, and down a hill to an old cemetery, where the gravestones slanted in the soft earth like crooked teeth.
“Why is there a cemetery at a university?” Des asked, inching away from an aboveground tomb.
“There was a church here, around two hundred years ago. The clock tower is one of the only remaining parts. But no one was willing to build over the cemetery, so it remains.” Aurelie ran her hands over a tombstone, apparently feeling none of Des’s unease. “When I was little, I asked if my parents could be buried here, but Uncle Leopold explained that there was no room left. They were buried in our old village, or so I was told. I’ve never been back to see their graves.”
“And what’s this?” Des asked, pointing to the grotto.
“It used to be a fountain. It’s mostly dried up now.”
She opened the iron gate in front of it. “It’s never locked anymore, but it would have been at some point, to keep out lusty students, I assume.” She waggled her eyebrows and took a seat on the small stone bench, patting the seat next to her. “Join me?”
Des hesitated. “Here? It’s somewhat... damp.”
“Afraid of getting your trousers wet, are you?”
Des laughed. “Hardly.” He took a seat next to her and she immediately snuggled in against him. He kissed the top of her head.
“Do you want to tell me about the ceremony?” she asked.
“It was dull. Military protocol, a lot of big words with very little said. But it did feel nice to be recognized for all the work I’ve put in over the years.”
“Nice? I imagine you must be immensely proud, Des.” She twined her fingers through his. “I know I am.”
To hear her say she was proud of him was so bittersweet he had to clear his throat. “A few weeks ago, I was assigned to a new, elite unit, the Iron Swords.”
She sat up to beam at him. “That’s amazing, Des! Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I thought you’d be upset.”
“Upset?” She twisted her lips in a wry smile. “Des, I know what you do for a living, believe it or not.”
“It’s our mission to killveritaand capture their creators.”
At that, Aurelie stiffened, and he wished he could take the words back. “Have you?”
“Last week was the first time.” He angled his body so he could look her in the eyes. “I would never do that to you, though.”
She furrowed her brow, looking entirely unconvinced. “Why? What’s different about me?”
Aside from the fact that I’m utterly obsessed withyou?“I know you’re not trying to hurt anyone, for starters.”
“Now. But you didn’t know that before. If you’d arrested me the first time you met me, you’d think I was just as bad.”