Bee Among the Clover (222 page)

Shoving aside the bitterness that wanted to rise, he let his hands stroke over Roman’s hair, down his back. “I thought of you every second I was gone, Marcus, dreamt of you every night. I would’ve come for you. When Cate read me your letter and I realized you’d wanted to come with me….” Aron shook his head once. Gods, that had killed him, to know how badly he’d erred. “We planned to go to the magistrate, to try and ransom you, and if that hadn’t worked I would’ve come for you, one way or another.”
He leaned back a bit, tilting Roman’s face up. “I won’t leave you here again, Marcus. When my time here is done, you’ll be coming with me. You’ll be free again. You’ll see your home again. I promise you that.”
Roman met his gaze, and his hand came up to cup the side of Aron’s face. The tenderness in his gaze made Aron’s heart clench. “And I promise you this, Aron Sverrison. When you leave, I won’t fight you or mislead you. I’m going with you and I’m going to be free with you.”
The force of Roman’s promise struck Aron to the core, and he gave his darkling a shaky smile. “Gods, darkling, how I love you.” He pulled him close, laying them both back in the grass and clover. He didn’t know how they were going to accomplish it, but for now, he didn’t care. He just wanted to hold his darkling in the sun and let the afternoon in each other’s company chase away all of the shadows that had been haunting them both.