If Hallbjorn's newly restored eyes did not recognize the creature of fire that stood before him, his heart did. He let the sword slip from his fingers. The blade fell to the ground with a clatter, but it did not hold Hallbjorn's attention in the slightest. He was too glad to see Kara again to question the turn of fortune that saw him instantly healed without having to suffer days of regeneration. She was there, in front of him: his mate, his love, the soul that matched his own.<br/><br/>"It seemed like a trap at first." Hallbjorn told Kara, working his large, strong arms around her and holding her tightly to his chest. "Tarek claimed you wrote a letter, and that he had read it, but in his escape djinn guards mutilated him and the letter was lost." One of his hands cradled the back of Kara's head and he lowered his cheek to nuzzle it against the top of hers. "He said that in the letter you wrote that you loved me better than peanut butter cup ice cream. At the time, it seemed unbelievable." The big man teased Kara gently. But coming from Tarek's lips and the way they had parted . . . Hallbjorn had disbelieved. He had watched every moment she spent crying in the rain, and watched every step she took down the long driveway until she passed the gate of his mansion. Every step he had wanted to stop her and ask her to reconsider. "But I knew if there was even a small chance that Tarek was telling the truth, I had to come."<br/><br/>"It was for love of you, Kara. I did not want to stand between your home, your people, and your father. I thought that was the choice you had made - those things over me." His grip on her grew stronger as he said that, forcing her more tightly against his iron-like body. "And I am sorry that I hurt you." The large man said. Then he loosened his grip upon her, and he hooked a finger underneath her chin to raise her face to him.<br/><br/>And then he kissed her. He showed her that he loved her. His kiss was everything that romance novelists strove to capture in their prose. It was his love, his passion for her in the meeting of their lips. The hand at her chin moved around her neck to cradle her nape, and his other hand was splayed low on her back. The kiss was full and strong and deep, and Hallbjorn found it bittersweet because he could taste her tears as well as her lips. When their lips parted again Hallbjorn was out of breath for how long he kissed her, and his eyes were grey and sad for how much he had hurt her.