“Marayke. If I could forgive you for almost killing my brother right before my eyes, then you can forgive me for having fallen in love with the King of Flames. It was beyond me, it was beyond us both, we were destined for each other.”
“I know you didn’t have a choice, I understand that. But even though I do feel less aggressive towards you than I originally did, I’m still not stopping. If I can’t have him, no one will.”
“You feel less aggressive towards me than in the beginning.” I narrow my eyes. “Why do you think that is?”
Her reply comes quicker than I expected. I hear honesty in it. “I suppose I’ve come to respect you. You’re soft, innocent, and maybe a bit naïve, but you’re not without strength. You’ve made Xerxes stronger. He came back from the Cemetery of Doom with new powers, from all the dark energy you channeled into him when you drained those creatures. But that doesn’t mean anything if he’s going to spend eternity being happy with you, while I curse the day I was born. This pain.” She hits her breastplate with her fist. “It won’t go away. And as long as I’m hurting, the two of you won’t be happy.”
What do you tell a heart-broken woman? I understand her so well, I can’t even get angry with her.
“Seems that I was right. You’re too heart-broken to hate me. But I will still ask you this—think things over before dawn, and while you do, consider this one thing. If I lose Xerxes because of what you and your brother forced me to do, I’ll be too heart-broken not to hate you. And I’ll stop at nothing to destroy you.”
Xerxes
THE DOORS OPEN TO LET me into the royal bedchambers. I walk in and stop, waiting for the doors to thud closed behind me, finally giving Cerys and me the privacy that we’ve been missing since our first night together.
Tonight, she’s finally going to be mine again. My heart surges at the thought.
I head to the bedroom, unfastening pieces of my armor and letting them fall to the floor. I only have the mail pants on when I step into the bedroom. My heart that was as cold as a rock only a few months ago, now feels like a ball of fire in my chest.
There she is, my beautiful Queen, my fated mate. Her blue-black hair ripples in the soft breeze, red light framing her. She turns around, stroking the black cat that nestles at her chest. She strokes him slowly, the way she always does when she’s planning something, or when she’s daydreaming. Then those honey eyes slide down my frame, and my cock stiffens. I ball my fists so hard I can feel my knuckles protruding white.
I’m standing at the foot of what will be our master bed for the rest of eternity, watching her walk closer. Nazarean jumps from her arms and pads his way out to the sitting area, and from there out the window onto the large ledge that separates this highest level of the palace from the rest of it. He can navigate his way down the outer walls so well, some people have come to call him Bat Cat.
A cocktail of feelings whirls in my heart as I look at Cerys, the veils of her gown hinting at the shape of her body underneath. By the cursed realms, how I want to caress my way up her body, let the young flesh of her thighs fill my palms. I want to throw her on the bed and kiss her violently, with all the passion I’ve had to restrain for weeks. She and I have only been together once, and I’m dying to drink from the sweetness of those lips again.
I’m dying to sink my face in the curly hairs between her legs, pushing my tongue between the lips of her pussy, the cheeks of her butt filling my hands while I go down on her. I want to be a slave to my Queen, lead her down paths of pleasure that she never even knew existed. I want to feel like I’m making her mine, because truth be told, I don’t feel she’s mine completely, even though we’re bonded mates, and now we’re wed.
When she stops in front of me, those pretty honey eyes hanging on mine, I can barely keep it in my pants. But this is our wedding night, and it can’t be any less than perfect for her.
Cerys places her hands on my chest, exploring my body slowly. The finest hairs along my spine stand on end, the sensation is so good. There’s quality to the way she does it, like a blind person reading the body of another, she does it like she’s feeling for my soul.
“I want the spirit inside this unbreakable body,” she confirms, slipping her fingers into my mail pants. She’s so close that her breath touches my naked chest as she speaks, and my blood runs faster. Thin rivulets of fire appear on my body as my blood lights up in my veins, my skin growing hotter by the second. But none of it bothers her.
She presses her soft lips on my chest, then starts kissing her way downward, but I grab her arms and pull her up.
“No,” I growl softly. “Tonight is about you.”
“Please, my King, I want to give you pleasure.”
“It’s the King that must serve his Queen first,” I decree, and pull her close, crushing her lips under mine. My kiss is more forceful than I intended it to be, but there’s no resisting this woman. I want her more than words can say.
My big hands wander wildly over her back through the thin veils of the red gown she is wearing, the gown that barely hints at her body, and yet drives me wild.
It’s been hell, keeping away from her for the past few weeks. Now I can finally still my thirst, and make her indisputably mine. And yet I can’t get the horror scene of her burning bouquet out of my mind, no matter how hard I try to. I try to tell myself it was her enemies who staged that in a desperate last attempt to stop this union, but I can’t help thinking, what if it was for real.
Considering the omen, this feels like stolen love, and that makes me deepen the kiss even more, wanting more of her, trying to become one with her. I can’t help feeling this is a love that’s doomed, a union that’s bound to be broken by death.
“Wait, Xerxes,” she says, trying to push herself away from me, but I lean in after her and reclaim her mouth. I grab her thighs and lift her up, giving her no choice but to wrap her legs around my hips, soft flesh over mail armor.
She is so fragile in my arms, I could break her way too easily. The feeling puts a knot in my throat. I spin around with her in my arms and drop with her on the bed, breaking the kiss and going down on her. I rip her red lace panties and sink my face in her pussy, just like I wanted to from the start, when thunder rips through the sky.
It’s a strange sound, like nothing I’ve heard before.
I jump to my feet, facing the large paneless window. As in all fae realms, we don’t like glass to separate us from our environment, we’re one with it, so I can scrutinize the volcanic landscape, and feel it in my flesh when I activate my powers.
“What’s happening?” Cerys yelps behind me.
“Something’s not right.” I turn to her.
Her lips quiver. She sits there on the edge of the royal bed, her nipples piercing through the half-transparent red veils of her gown. She’s completely naked underneath. If this sound means what I think it does she needs to change, she’ll need much more protection than that gown has to offer.
Thunder rips through the skies again, and any doubt I had vanishes.
“Quickly, get dressed. We’re under attack.”
“We’re what?” She jumps from the bed, her eyes wide.
A vision of the bouquet runs through my head, the white petals burning away as if devoured by ash and ember.