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"Are you okay having this conversation here or do you want to go somewhere else?" Cain wasted no time on small talk, the look in his light blue eyes intense.

Though she struggled to hold his gaze, DG couldn't look away from him, a part of her scared he'd disappear if she did. "I can put up a silencing spell but the Innkeeper or his wife might come in from next door," she found herself saying. "My room would be more private."

She was nervous and he could see it. Cain lifted the hand he still held to his lips, pressing a soft kiss against the back of it, which caused her to sigh. "If you're comfortable with that, it might be an idea."

"I'm okay with it," she said quietly, a pretty pink colour rising in her cheeks even as she managed to meet his gaze. "I trust you, Wyatt."

Whether it was her choice of words or the sound of his first name on her lips, Cain found himself needing to take a moment. His eyes closed briefly, opening only when he felt her other hand against his cheek. "Gods, I've missed you, DG."

"I've missed you, too, Tin Man." Her smile was shy but genuine. She dropped the hand that had been at his face and got to her feet, tugging on their still joined hands to get him to follow her.

They walked in silence up the stairs to her room. Cain locked the door behind them and felt his skin tingle as she cast a silencing spell so they wouldn't be overheard.

DG started to pull her hand away but he was quicker, tightening his grip seconds before giving one forceful tug. She was caught off balance by the move and he let go of her hand only so he could steady her with his hands on her waist, drawing her swiftly against him.

For a long moment, he just held her the way he'd been dreaming of. Ever since he'd walked away and left her on her balcony at the palace, he'd imagined their reunion, picturing the moment he was free to hold her this way and feel her soft warmth against him. She tensed for only a second, relaxing against him with a sigh as she lifted her arms to rest her hands against his chest, her head tucked under his.

"I'm sorry," DG murmured, her voice muffled against him. He could hear the tears in it and moved his hands to the small of her back, pressing her closer. "It's all such a mess, Cain. I'd completely understand if you wanted to leave and not come back."

"Hey now." He reluctantly pulled away just enough so he could look at her. When she didn't lift her head, he moved one hand between them to her chin so he could tilt her face up to his. "We agreed to put some time and space between us, and we did. If I recall, you said I'd be able to find you when I wanted to, and I promised you that when I did, I wouldn't be lettin' you go again. No ones gonna be leavin', Princess."

She tried to smile but it didn't last long. "If we had a choice in the matter, it would be that simple. But we might not. I might not. It would be hugely unfair on you to string you along in the hopes that this Prince decides he doesn't want to go through with the marriage our parents arranged." She broke away, frustration and despair fighting for dominance in her eyes before she turned away from him and walked towards the only window in the room, wrapping her arms around her middle. "I won't do that to you, Wyatt. It's not fair."

"You're not doing anything to me, DG. You've made me aware of the situation and it's my choice to stay." He followed her to the window and reached out to wrap his arms around her, drawing her back against his chest. Now he'd started touching her, he couldn't seem to stop himself. "You said yourself; we don't know if he'll insist on the agreement being honoured. If he does or if he doesn't, I'm not wastin' what time we've got together waitin' to find out."

"But what if he does?" She leaned back against him, her hands covering his. "I don't want to marry him, Wyatt."

He couldn't tell her she wouldn't have to, not without lying to her. He didn't know the details of the Queen's agreement with the royalty of IX, though he'd already made his mind up to interrogate Glitch on whatever details the Advisor knew. If there was a way to get her out of it without risking war between the two countries, he'd find it.

He let his cheek rest against the top of her head and stifled a sigh himself. "We'll figure it out, Deege."

"But what if I have to?" Her voice was small and uncertain. "What if we spend the next however long we've got getting to know each other again and then he turns up one day and demands I marry him? What will we do that?"

"We'll figure it out," he repeated. He lifted his head so he could turn her around in his arms. "No matter what happens, I'm not leavin' your side, Princess."

"I wish things were different." She let her hands rest on his chest over his vest. "I wish –"

"What, Deege?"

"I wish I could love you the way I want to." She wouldn't lift her head to look at him, her gaze fixing on the line of his throat as he swallowed. "When you left, I told myself that if you chose to come back, it meant that there really was a chance for us, that you might be able to feel for me a fraction of what I already felt for you."

Cain cleared his throat, but his voice was still a low rumble when he spoke. "DG –"

Her eyes shifted to him for a brief moment. "Please let me finish. If I don't say it now, I don't know if I ever will." She dropped her gaze when he gave her the smallest of nods. "I told myself it was silly to think you could. Feel that way about me, I mean. I thought maybe you might have thought you felt something you didn't because I was the one to let you out of the suit but you'd realise you didn't if you spent some time away from me. So I promised myself that if you did come back, I wouldn't let anything get in the way of us exploring whatever this is between us. And now you're here, and I can't keep that promise, and I don't know if I can stand it."

"What I feel for you has nothin' to do with the suit." He exhaled slowly, moving to rest his forehead against hers as his hands moved from her waist to cover hers against his chest. "You were right in sayin' we needed to take some time apart. If we hadn't, things might've moved too fast, and then we'd be right to question it. How I feel about you hasn't changed. If anythin', I feel more strongly about you now than I did when I left. And I might not be able to court you the way I'd intended, but we've still got time, darlin'. We can get to know each other, take it slow. And we'll get through whatever happens next together. You have my word on that. I'll be beside you no matter what, DG."

"Even if I have to marry someone else?"

He didn't hesitate. "Even then."

Words failed her, so DG pulled back just enough to look at him. She watched him as she stood up on her toes, closing the gap between them slowly. Cain dipped his head and met her halfway. The kiss was soft at first, sweet and unassuming. As his hands slid her waist to pull her closer, hers rose to his shoulders, fingers curling into him as she made a soft sound against his mouth.

It was all the encouragement he needed to deepen the kiss, his hands gripping her almost hard enough to bruise as he clutched her to him, unwilling to let even the smallest sliver of space get between them.

Later, he wouldn't be able to say which of them moved towards the bed, just that they tumbled onto it, hands exploring bodies through the layer of their clothes as they continued to kiss, trying to sate their hunger for one another, the desire and lust that had built up over the cycles they'd kept themselves apart.

He rolled them over, so she was underneath him, his hands in her hair as he took all she had to give and still asked for more. DG whimpered beneath him, her hands scrambling under his clothes to get to the skin underneath, the touch of her fingertips against his skin making his head spin as she traced nonsensical patterns on his back.

"DG," he murmured, tearing his mouth away from hers only to start kissing her neck as she squirmed against and beneath him. "We have to slow down, darlin'."

She made a small noise of protest but immediately withdrew her hands from under his shirt and vest, lifting one to rest against his neck and play with the short hair at his nape. "I want you," she told him honestly, her eyes dark and earnest when he pulled away to look at her. One of her legs had risen to wrap around his and she tightened it, pressing him more firmly against her in a move that was as torturous as it was pleasurable.

"And you've got me," he assured her, leaning in to steal another kiss. "But we're not doing this. Not here, not now."

Not when they didn't know what the future had in store for them, not when they were so desperate for each other that there would be room for regret once the twin suns rose again.

The frantic pace of their kisses slowed, eager touches becoming gentle caresses. Cain rolled onto his side and spooned DG up against him, his arm a steady weight over her hips keeping her pressed against him.

They fell asleep fully clothed and wrapped up in each other.

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