Radiance (Wraith Kings Book 1)

eyes to stare down at the royal dressmaker

That’s us, you know,” she said.

“What is us?”

“The scarpatine and the potato. Better together than alone. At least I think so.”

“Ah, my Ildiko, what a practical soul you have.”

“I consider it an attribute, not a fault. More people could use a dose of practicality now and then.”

“And here I thought I’d married a shy, blushing maiden,” he teased.

“And here I thought I’d married a shy, blushing maiden,” he teased.

He slipped under the covers and pulled her against him.  Her braid slid across his arm, a colorful serpent.  He captured it and wound its length around his forearm before letting it unwind and fall away to shelter behind Ildiko’s slender back.

“I’m not human, wife,” he whispered into the darkness.

Shock rounded his eyes at Ildiko’s response, slurred with sleep and nearly incoherent.  “But you’re still mine, husband.”

He had become precious to her.

Her teasing lightened his heart. Though she wasn’t easy on the eyes, she was easy on his soul. He kissed her forehead. “You’re a good wife, Ildiko.”

“But you please me more surrounded by things of beauty than things of war.”

An intuitive sense of the vibrant soul and great heart that lay behind the ugly exterior?