"M-my Lady," Hugo stammered, momentarily caught so off-guard that he completely forgot his etiquette lessons and how he should respond to such an extraordinary offer.
"I, I won't let you down," he said several heartbeats later as he scrambled off the bench to kneel at her feet, folding his hands over one knee and bowing his head low. "For as long as my service is acceptable to you, I'll follow your every order. You can rely on me for details large and small and you can trust that I'll never act against your wishes."
For a moment, Ashlynn said nothing. She could hear the sincerity in his voice, and she could feel the deep desires that drove him… But beneath that, she also heard terrible pain, and every word of the oath he swore spoke of the deep wounds that his father and Owain had carved into Hugo's heart.
