Ocean's Breath Plateau The wreck of the day

His relief was so swift and strong that it stole his breath away. She understood, then — and that meant he was still the man that she wanted him to be. And, then and there, he was sure that he was the man he wanted to be as well. Still, her tears brought him pain, and he was quick to sweep her up against him. He did his best to clean the tears from her cheeks, at first only listening, as Chakliux had suggested.

But when her words cut off with some finality, he gathered his own together and spoke:

"If you must be sorry, then I forgive you," he said, not wanting to throw the apology back in her face even though he wanted badly to disregard it altogether. "But I am not angry. We cannot hope to know all there is to know about each other yet. But I will tell you: I wed you with my heart and my body, with no thought of another wife somewhere down the line. And if it had been a possibility? It would not be now. How can any man look for a second wife if his first is not blissfully happy? — both before and after."

He thought of Cen again, and what Chakliux had said about caribou wives.

"And I will confess," he breathed, simmering in anger once more, "I wanted to tear that man's eyes out when he looked at you as he did."