Lukas took a step back. I opened my mouth to protest, and it died on my tongue when he stripped off the rest of his clothes and stood before me in all his naked perfection. My gaze moved down his body, and I averted my eyes when I caught myself lingering on a certain part of him.
He reached out and gently turned my face toward his. “I love it when you look at me.”
I swallowed hard. “Lukas… I’ve never been with anyone else.”
“Do you want to stop?” he asked softly.
“No,” I blurted. “I thought you should know in case –”
I didn’t get to finish because he pulled me flush against him and bent his head to speak gruffly into my ear. “Feel how much I need you, Jesse. By the time this night is over, you will never again doubt that you are the only one I want.”
He kissed me, slowly at first and then deeper until I could no longer remember why I’d been afraid. I felt drunk when he broke the kiss long enough to slip my top off over my head. His expert hands freed me from my pants, and I shivered when his warm fingers brushed against the bare skin of my stomach.
Picking me up, he placed me on the bed, and I knelt facing him. Smiling, he ran his fingers through my hair and let it fall across my shoulders.
“I don’t know what I did to please the goddess, but she blessed me when she brought you into my life, Jesse James.”
My throat tightened, and I choked out the words I had been holding close to my heart for so long. “I love you.”
“I love you, mi’calaech,” he said huskily. Then he lowered me to the soft coverlet and spent the whole night showing me how much.
Chapter 18
From my seat on the right side of the throne room, I watched Lukas speak quietly with the king, Korrigan, a male I recognized as one of the king’s advisors, and a female I didn’t know but who looked familiar. Their voices didn’t carry to me, but their solemn faces told me the conversation was not a pleasant one.
The advisor said something, and Lukas responded with a firm shake of his head. This prompted the female to turn her head and shoot me a look of angry resentment that was so much like another’s I knew immediately who she was. Dariyah’s mother, Marceline. That meant the male advisor beside her was Dariyah’s father, Tyrion.
I had heard Dariyah’s parents’ names mentioned numerous times in the week since the incident in the gardens. Word had spread quickly, and soon the entire court had been buzzing with the deliciously scandalous story. The people who didn’t like Dariyah – and there were many of them – were delighted to talk about her fall from grace and speculate on how it would affect her parents’ elevated positions at court.
By now, everyone had heard about how Lukas had run after me, thrown me over his shoulder, and carried me to his quarters. We had emerged a day and a half later and had spent every available hour together when he wasn’t dealing with court business.
I was too happy to care about the rampant gossip. I spent my nights with Lukas and woke up every morning in his arms. Soon, I’d complete the job Aedhna had given me, and the damage to both worlds would be repaired. I couldn’t wait to tell Lukas everything and bring him home to visit my family.
I met Lukas’s serious gaze as he crossed the room toward me. He sat beside me and leaned in to say in a low voice, “They are bringing her in now. It’ll be over soon.”
As he spoke, the king took his throne, and Korrigan stood behind him on his left. Dariyah’s parents moved to sit opposite from us on the other side of the room. Normally, every seat would be occupied for something like this, but King Oseron had limited it to only the people involved out of consideration for his friend Tyrion. As long as the end result was that I no longer had to deal with Dariyah, I didn’t care how it was done.
The door opened at the back of the room, and Dariyah entered escorted by Faolin. It was the first time I’d seen her in a week because she had been confined to her quarters. Her arrogant demeanor was gone, but she walked with her head high, her gaze straight ahead.
They stopped ten feet from the king, and she dropped into a graceful curtsy. When she rose, she lowered her eyes to the foot of the throne, and silence fell over the room as we waited for the king to speak.
“Dariyah.” King Oseron said her name as if he was speaking to a misbehaving child. “I have known you your whole life, and it saddens me greatly to have you before me like this today.”
I tensed at the familiarity with which he spoke to her. He didn’t sound like someone about to mete out a punishment.
Lukas’s hand covered mine, and I relaxed a little. He had assured me Dariyah would not get away with her actions this time, and I trusted him. I didn’t have the same faith in his father, who, until now, had favored Dariyah as a potential mate for Lukas.
“Fafnir confessed his part in your scheme and provided Faolin with the name of the elf servant who gave Jesse the drink laced with menak.” The king’s expression changed to one of censure. “Under interrogation, the servant admitted he was also the one to slip Jesse acca berries on her first night here, making her very ill. He said you had threatened his family with banishment when you became consort if he did not carry out your bidding.”
I gasped audibly. I wasn’t surprised to learn Dariyah was behind the acca berry incident, but to threaten banishment to a servant if he didn’t go along with her schemes was beyond cruel.
“As king, I have many responsibilities, but none are more important than protecting the welfare of every Unseelie citizen, no matter their station. Causing harm to another or using a position of power to threaten someone weaker than you are two things I cannot condone.”
Dariyah appeared to shrink under his reproachful stare. Watching her, I realized that until this moment, she thought she would get off with a slap on the wrist. Her father was a close friend and advisor to the king. She had been raised to believe she was better than most and groomed to become the consort one day. I would bet she had never been punished for a single wrongdoing in her life.
King Oseron pressed his lips together as if it pained him to say what came next. “You will leave here tomorrow morning and travel to your family’s estate in Galia. Henceforth, you are forbidden to return to this court.”
Dariyah made a small choked sound and looked at her parents. Her father wore a grim expression, and her mother couldn’t have looked more devastated if the king had sentenced Dariyah to death. Lukas was right. This was the worst possible punishment Dariyah could have been given. It didn’t matter that she would live in luxury at her family estate and be able to come and go as she pleased. The one thing she wanted would be forever denied her.
“This will not sever your ties with your parents. They are free to visit you whenever they want,” King Oseron told her kindly, clearly misinterpreting the reason for her distress. “Your father is needed here now, but I will understand if he and your mother wish to live with you away from court after the barrier crisis is over.”
I watched Dariyah’s parents for their reaction. Tyrion’s expression hadn’t changed, but Marceline looked decidedly uncomfortable. Based on what I’d heard about her this week, she loved her prominent status at court, and she was quick to remind people that her mate was one of the king’s most trusted advisors. She was not giving that up for anyone, including her own daughter.