Total pages in book: 140
Estimated words: 132625 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 663(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132625 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 663(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
Gripping my hips, he lifts me onto the vanity, sending bottles and pots crashing to the floor, his mouth never leaving my skin as he steps between my legs, the heat of his bare chest seeping through my thin gown. I let the world fall away, become sensation, aware of nothing more than the scrape of his callused fingers, the heat of his breath, the soft press of his lips. Across my clavicle, along the top of my sleeping gown, over the ribbon between my breasts.
When he pulls away, he closes his eyes and touches his forehead to mine.
“What are we doing?” I ask, chest still heaving, as if I haven’t bothered to breathe for the last two minutes. I squeeze my eyes shut. “This isn’t right.”
“Before you were back in my life, nothing felt right. When I touch you, it’s the only thing that does.”
I trail my fingertips across his forehead and along the tattooed crown he keeps glamoured away. “Why hide this now that I know?”
He takes a beat before answering, as if trying to pull himself together. “It draws too much attention. The glamour wasn’t about deceiving you.” He cups my face and traces my jaw with his thumb. “I wish I’d handled it all differently. Not just you but . . . my sister. I’ve always been so sure I was making the best choices, but now I feel like I was a fool for thinking I knew enough to lead my realm into a new era. Maybe it was never meant to be me.”
There’s a lump in my throat. I hate that his feelings for me have made him doubt himself. “When did you get it?” I ask. “I mean, you didn’t always know you’d be king.”
“It appeared after the oracle told me. But now . . .” He shakes his head.
“Now what?”
He steps out from between my legs and gently helps me off the vanity and back to my feet. I don’t take my eyes off him, but don’t rush him to speak either. He studies the mess on the floor and sighs. “Now it’s fading, and I’m not sure what that means.”
“Do the others know?”
“Natan, Remme, and Skylar do. They know almost everything relating to the throne.” He stoops down and begins picking up the bottles of tonics and pots of face creams, placing each carefully back in their space. “Crissa was the first queen the oracle named in centuries, and I was the first king. My job was to protect her, and I’ve failed in that. I can’t even find her.”
“You used a tracking spell to find me. Have you tried one for her?” It hurts to ask, and that hurt makes me mad at myself. Why does it matter that Crissa will be his queen when I won’t be around much longer anyway? Crissa deserves someone amazing to protect her, to live by her side and give her a good life. Kendrick saved me in those dungeons, but I wouldn’t have been around to be saved if Crissa hadn’t been there first.
“I don’t have anything of hers to do it.”
“Like what?”
“For Felicity, we used the blood that was on the clothes she wore when she was looking for the Hall of Doors. Of course, she wasn’t here or in Elora, and when we started checking other realms the blood wasn’t fresh enough to be as effective. Misha was instrumental in bringing her back. I don’t even like to think about the number of minds he broke into to track her down.”
“What did you use to find me?”
“We used the blood you left on my pants the last time you visited me.” He frowns and finally looks at me again. “What was that from?”
I let out a shaky breath as I remember the wolpertinger fighting back, spikes tearing into my hand. “The creature I used to overcome the sickness from the ring.”
He nods, but I can tell his thoughts are somewhere else. In Elora, perhaps, or perhaps with the oracle. “It’s not impossible to track someone without their blood, but we haven’t been successful.”
He turns to the bed and pulls back the covers. “You should get some sleep. I’ll be here if you need me.” He nods toward the chair.
“Kendrick . . .” I don’t know what I want to say. That I want him to share the bed with me? That I changed my mind and maybe being together isn’t a mistake? That I hope he finds his queen? None of that is a lie, but none of it is fully true either.
“I’ve not been fair to you,” he says, voice raspy. “I won’t be asking for anything you aren’t ready to give.” When he turns to me, there’s so much sadness in his eyes. So much sadness that I’m responsible for. And I’m only going to bring him more. “Get some sleep, Slayer. The sun will rise again tomorrow,” he says, but for the first time there’s no conviction in those words.