Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 107763 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107763 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
“Really?”
“Really,” he said.
“What are these various ways?”
“If you undress, I shall show you one now.”
“Wilhelm! The doctor said we are not to engage in such activities until you are completely well.”
“I am well enough, I assure you. Can you not see?” he stated, and I glanced down to the bulge in his breeches.
“You will need to control yourself; you were greatly hurt,” I replied, kneeling down before him to help him take off his boots.
“Your current position does not inspire control,” he muttered.
“What?”
“Nothing.” He sighed dramatically before lying back on the bed. “At the very least come lie next to me.”
“That is the least a wife can do, I suppose.”
“Would it be much of an imposition if I asked you to lie naked?”
“Wilhelm!”
He chuckled. “Surely you cannot blame me for asking, since I do not know how long it shall be before I am graced with the sight of your divine beauty again. Have pity on me. I am but a mere man at your mercy.”
I tried not to laugh, and I could not help but do as he asked. Before him, I began to strip, layer by layer, until I stood before him utterly naked. I allowed him to look at me for only a minute before dashing quickly into the bed beside him, pulling the sheets up to my neck.
“Now you are shy?”
“I am not shy; it is merely unfair that I am the only one so…undressed.”
“True, I shall rectify the situation at once,” he replied, sitting up to take off his clothing as well. Though he needed some help to avoid reopening his wounds or undoing the dressing of his bandage. When he was comfortable against the pillows, he pulled me closer to him.
I wished to stay like this forever. I did not wish him to leave. But at least I knew for certain that we were together. We had won; our love story had won.
“Now, how am I supposed to bear you leaving?” I whispered gently.
“I wonder the same,” he replied as he stroked his hand down my back. “I shall be back as soon as humanly possible.”
“You must miss me horribly, but not so much that it ruins your health.”
He chuckled and nodded. “Any other orders?”
I sat up and grabbed his face, forcing him to look at me. “No more drawing other women. From now on, the only lady’s naked form you should ever see is mine.”
“That is reasonable.” He pinched my nipple, making me jump and giggle, but he held me. “May I dare ask to draw this form?”
“You shall get your answer when you return.”
“For that reason alone, I must discover a way to fly back.” He kissed my neck, seeming to inhale the scent of me.
He kissed from my neck up the side of my face. “Wilhelm, we can’t—”
His lips interrupted my words, his tongue already in my mouth, licking mine. That familiar heat spread through me. My eyes closed and my mouth opened wider for him. My body moved closer to him. All of me wanted him.
He took hold of my waist and pulled me as close to him as our bodies would allow. I could feel his manhood, standing tall, and brushing against me.
“Tell me to stay,” he whispered when our lips parted, cupping the side of my face.
“I cannot,” I whispered back, holding on to his hand. “I fear I cannot win another battle with your mother. She has accommodated us enough. You must go.”
“Shall you not miss me terribly?” he teased, though he did not seem to realize the gutting feelings it stirred within me. And I did not desire to cry; I’d cried far too much this year as it was.
“I shall not think of it now when you are right before me,” I replied, kissing his lips quickly.
“I love you, Hathor.”
“As I love you, Wilhelm.”
Neither of us slept. We spoke of nothing important. We laughed about nothing funny. We prayed time would slow, so we would never have to let each other go.
Epilogue
Hathor
“He takes after you,” I whispered as I pinched the little brown cheeks of the baby boy before me in his basket. “Evander must be pleased.”
“No matter what he looked like, Evander would have been pleased,” Aphrodite said as she moved to lift him up. The boy clung to her happily. Since we’d arrived this morning, I had yet to hear him cry or fuss. Instead, he grew silent with all the new faces around him. Another thing he’d taken from his mother. “You should have heard the names he wanted to choose. You’d think he was naming a future king. I had to beg for something subtle.”
“The name Antoninus Charles Maximilian Eagleman is subtle for a baby? Isn’t Antoninus the name of one of the five good emperors?”
She sat carefully in the chair by the fire. “It’s also the name of an ancient philosopher. And he can carry a nickname like Antony or Tony.”