“Really?” Chloe blinked, pondering Silvan in a new light. He was a handsome man, and it was from his genes that Dageus and Drustan had come. Behind his scholarly mien, she suddenly realized, Silvan MacKeltar probably concealed a lot of things.

“Aye. Truly.”

“You have too many clothes on,” Chloe complained breathlessly a few moments later.

He offered her his dirk to cut them off, but she took one look at those snug leather trews and decided there was no way she was letting a sharp blade get near what she knew was inside them.

So she borrowed another of his delicious tactics and undressed him mostly with her mouth.

Chloe was deliriously content. Curled with her backside to Dageus’s front, his strong arms wrapped around her, she was blissfully sated.

He loved her. He’d not only told her, he’d shown her with his body. It was there in the way he stroked her cheek or brushed her curls from her eyes. It was there in his long, slow kisses. It was there in the way he held her in the aftermath.

With that resolved, she was impatient to lay all her concerns to rest. With such love between them, she knew they could face anything together.

She squirmed in his embrace, slipping around in his arms to face him. He smiled at her, one of those lazy, melting smiles he gave so rarely, and kissed her.

Sighing with pleasure, and before he could distract her again, she drew her head back, breaking the kiss. “Dageus, I’m ready to know about the curse now. Tell me what it is, and tell me what you’re looking for.”

He kissed her again, lazily, sucking her lower lip.

“Please,” she persisted. “I need to know.”

He smiled faintly, then sighed. “I ken it. I’ve wanted to tell you, but it seemed you needed a bit more time.”

“I did. So many things happened so quickly, that I felt like I needed to catch my breath or something. But I’m ready now,” she assured him.

He stared at her a long moment, his eyes narrowed. “Lass,” he said softly, “if you tried to leave me, I fear I wouldn’t let you. I fear I would do whatever I had to do, no matter how ruthless, to keep you.”

“I consider myself warned,” she said pertly. “Trust me, I’m not going anywhere. Now tell me.”

He held her gaze a bit longer, silently assessing her. Then, capturing her hands in his, he twined their fingers together and began.