**
"They are. I replied"
"Karin's still here." He added.
"Well yes, until she's sure we won't rasp their heels into inland mistakes." I answered.
He pushed off the door, came close, and rested his forehead against mine without asking for more. "In the light, then."
My hands found his sides. "In the light. Not a harvest performance. Not a full-pack spectacle unless the dens demand it. Enough witnesses that the mark is public. Enough quiet that it stays ours."
"But Sigrid will want a date she can put on a slate."
"Sigrid can have a date after I speak to the dens that need to hear it from my mouth before they hear it from a bench rumour." I pulled back enough to see his eyes.
"Tomorrow I start those conversations. Not because the horses arrived. Because I meant what I said when you were inside me and I still mean it with both feet on the floor."
I added.
Magnus's mouth found mine and gave me a kiss, it was firm and brief, a seal and a moment that I cherished.
