Aleksandra watched him with new eyes. Watched the way he smiled for her, the way his hair fell into his eyes and the way his muscles shifted with every graceful move he made. She watched him the way any woman would watch the man she loved. And that was what it was, right? She loved him. She loved Aulfr Volsung in a way she had never loved anyone else. The only person she'd ever loved more was her father. Or her horse.

She found she was smiling back at him, and she rose to her feet when he extended his hand to her. She took his hand, but instead of shaking it she pulled him in for a hug, placing his hand solidly on her lower back. She wrapped her arms around him tightly and closed her eyes, giving a soft sigh as his warmth enveloped her. She was going to say it to him. The three words. It wasn't hard and she knew it. She was just afraid. And she'd done so many things she was afraid of with him.

She rose up onto her tiptoes and pulled him down, and even then she didn't reach his ear. That was okay. She settled for trailing a gentle line of kisses along his collarbone until she could hear him sigh. That one noise alone made her smile. She could make him do that. And more, once she could past her fear. She was looking forward to every sigh, every growl, every laugh. They were all hers. She stretched up and pulled him down even farther and just barely managed to kiss him. Then she let go.

She turned away and gently pulled the khopesh away, making it clear that she was going to show him something important. She started working slowly through a few moves so he could watch, and continued talking all the while. "It might also be a good idea to employ a whore to teach some of the more willing women how to seduce men. [i]I love you[/i]," she mumbled, "It could be a useful skill to have, especially for loosening a drunken man's tongue. Plenty of pretty maids in this castle," she continued, mostly hoping he hadn't heard her. That had been a bad idea.