Their souls were meant to be one.
She vaguely heard cheering in the background, but she didn’t care that they were putting on a show. She’d been dead that morning and now that she was alive, she’d kiss Matteo as long and as much as she wanted to. Licking his lips, she opened his mouth and deepened the kiss. His hands roamed through her hair as he added kiss upon kiss with bruising intensity. He gently touched the bandages around her neck and she gasped in agony.
Matteo finally pulled away, leaning his forehead against hers. “Nora, my heart, I am sorry that I took so long to get here.”
She moved her hands tohis dark curls. She loved running her fingers through his hair. “I know. You missed my wedding and my funeral. With your poetic talents, I was expecting a grand elegy from you.”
“What?!” he said, stepping back from her.
Nora felt happy for the first time since leaving Sania. It lifted a weight from her heart. “I’ll tell you all about it, but first, I think I’d best introduce you to my relatives.”
She took his hand and led him to the steps. “King Matteo, may I introduce you to my aunt Dowager Queen Maria, and my cousin King Alexandre of Kaul?”
Matteo gave a sharp bow, his beautiful lips unsmiling. His eyes looked murderous. Nora may have already forgiven the dowager and the prince for their part in her capture, but Matteo hadn’t. He probably never would. She squeezed his hand tighter.
She never wanted to let go.
26
MATTEO
Matteo’s mind and body felt numb. He couldn’t quite comprehend it. Nora was alive. Her hand was intertwined with his and he could still feel her kiss on his lips. It was like a dream. Yet she was standing beside him introducing him to the royal family of Kaul.
But not quite a dream.
Nora’s neck was covered in a white bandage, but blood and puss seemed to have seeped through it. Her face was a rainbow of bruises, and she had more bandages on her wrists. She walked like an old woman, which led him to believe that there were more injuries beneath her clothes. How had she survived her torture? How was she standing by his side?
“King Matteo, may I introduce you to my aunt Dowager Queen Maria, and my cousin King Alexandre of Kaul?”
Matteo’s opposite hand tightened on his sword. “Where is King Pierre?”
“He is dead, Your Highness,” the dauphin told him.
“How?”
The dauphin’s face was as pale as his white face powder. Matteo could see blood on his lace sleeves and dirt all over his silk suit. “He was killed—hung by the neck until he died by the hands of his own courtiers.”
Matteo’s eyes narrowed in on the dauphin’s own neck. There was dark bruising and a rope burn. “Yet you survived?”
The dauphin glanced at Nora. “She saved my life . . . she saved my life in exchange for peace with Urka. I intend to recall my navy from their shores.”
Even half dead, Nora was still intent on saving her country and her queen. And if the entire Kaulish Navy was attacking Urka, they would have taken most of the army as well. Perhaps that was why his soldiers had met with such little resistance at Nance and Cruese. The Kauls had overstretched themselves by creating a two-border war. King Pierre’s greed had brought about his own downfall. A part of Matteo wanted the man’s son to pay with his life for the crimes against Nora, as so many of his soldiers had paid with theirs, but Nora’s hand tightened in his. He met her eyes and he knew that she wanted him to spare both the new king and his mother.
“I have no fight with you, Dauphin, and will happily agree to peace between our two countries,” he said in Kaulish so that they knew how well he understood their language. “But you must make recompense for what your father has done. You will have to sign a treaty that returns both the province of Lyonese and Bourgoy back to Sania. As well as the price of two hundred thousand gold crowns.”
“You would empty out our treasury,” the dauphin protested, red spots forming on his white cheeks.
“That was the price your father promised the spy in my army,” Matteo said softly. Deadly. “Before he was killed.”
Nora blinked and glanced all around as if she were looking for a particular person. “Xavier,” she breathed.
Matteo could only give a curt nod. His best friend’s betrayal still cut too deep to be discussed.
Queen Maria gave Matteo a civil smile. “I am sure that a number can be agreed upon that is pleasing to both countries.”
Sighing, Matteo pulled out his sword. “I do not think that you are in any position to negotiate. Be happy that I have not asked for more. For your armies are defeated. Your navy is gone. Kaul is at my mercy.”
The older queen grasped her hands together. “We are begging for your mercy.”