Her pupils swelled.

“Become the Kurkan King,” Leah said affectionately. “And I will be willing to follow you.”

This time, she would abandon being princess and go to the desert with him. This time Ishakan would not have to threaten her; she would agree to his kidnapping for love. Leah imagined how happy they would be together, and his name bubbled to her lips.

“Ishakan.”

The boy’s face was as red as his apple. But this time he didn’t correct her.

“I will come back for you, Princess,” he promised. “I will become a Kurkan to match you.”

He kissed her ring finger. It was like a marriage proposal.

“And then you will be my wife.”

Leah smiled.

“Yes, I will wait for you.”

For a moment, the two gazed at each other, enraptured, and then a husky voice interrupted.

“Wait?” Leah started awake and looked up into golden eyes. “Who?”

She wasn’t sure what was real.

“Am I a grown-up again?” she mumbled sleepily.

“Wake up.” Ishakan squeezed her cheek between his fingers as she slowly came back to reality.

Before her was a grown Ishakan with a perfect body, and she gazed at him for a moment.

“Ishakan!” She threw her arms around him, relishing the heat of his body and his fresh scent. She was beaming. Her husband had come home. “When did you arrive?”

“Now.” He glanced at the window. It wasn’t yet dawn. “I’ve missed you.”

She buried her face in his chest.

“What did you dream?” He asked softly.

“About you,” she said, which always pleased him. Her pride in him shone in her eyes, pleasure that he had appeared in her dream. “You were young, and you asked me to marry you.”

“Oh.”

“Also to go to the desert together.”

“So?”

He was not reacting as she had expected.

“I accepted, of course,” she added. She could never refuse a proposal from Ishakan. He frowned.

“You’re intending to leave your husband?”

“It was a dream,” Leah said, feeling aggrieved. How could she defend herself for what happened in a dream?

Her lips pursed, and Ishakan gave her a small smile as she took his hand. The wedding band she had placed upon it was there, and she caressed the silver ring.

“Wherever I meet you, I will always fall in love,” she murmured.

“I know.” Ishakan pushed her back onto the bed. “Even if you were Byun Gyeongbaek’s wife, it wouldn’t stop me from touching you.”

He licked the small gold ring on her finger, making her giggle at the shock of sensation, and he licked his lips as if suddenly ravenous.

“I guess I’ll have to prove it until Lesha wakes up,” he said, removing her clothes.

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“I’ll be quick, trust your husband.”

Leah trusted her husband in many things, but not this. Ishakan bit her cheek at her skeptical look, as if he found her adorable beyond words.

“You don’t believe me?”

“No.”

But she couldn’t refuse him. She had missed her nights with him. Her arms went about his neck and their tongues coiled together, heating their joined bodies.

I hope the sun rises late today, Leah thought.