He peered down at her, his smile—an authentic, heart-meltingly genuine one—as wicked as it was handsome. “As I said,” he murmured, “you have but to ask for the world and I shall hand it to you, wife. Whatever you desire, it is yours.” He kissed her, and this time, there was no resistance; this time it was an all-consuming affair that sent electric currents skimming all over her body.
When they broke off, he swore the vow she’d asked of him.
Afterward, Kadeesha basked in the afterglow, reveling being encased in Malachi’s arms while he sank inside her without any barriers or uncertain intentions left between them.
“Go the fuck away,” Malachi bellowed when a knock sounded at the door.
She and Malachi both cursed when the knocking grew more insistent. “You’re about to lose your hand!” he barked.
He grunted when the door creaked open and then repositioned himself on the bed beside Kadeesha. She pulled the fur blanket up over her breasts as Trystin walked inside. He sported a wide, beaming grin and said, “Before you try to take my head for interrupting your wedding night, cousin, I thought you’d both want to know that Zayvier and Samira are awake in the infirmary.” He dramatically bowed behind the announcement, clearly amused by the astonished looks that sat on Kadeesha’s and Malachi’s faces.
“You’re most welcome, my king and queen,” he stated after he straightened. “And yes, I will take more riches and endless boons for being so brilliant with runes that I found a way to rouse them.”
Kadeesha’s eyes stung. She found herself crying, happy,shocked tears streaming down her face. “You—Are you serious?” she sputtered.
“Would I have risked this handsome face if I was joking? I know how testy my cousin can be.”
“Then you have my eternal gratitude.Thank you.”
Beside her, Malachi groaned. “Don’t tell himthat. Now he’ll become—no, he will bemoreof a pain in the ass and you’ll be sorry.” Despite his words, Malachi leapt from the bed, not caring about being nude. He strode to Trystin and clasped his cousin’s forearm. “Thank you,” he breathed. “I’d hug you but—”
Trystin made a gagging noise while shoving Malachi back a step. “It’s fine. Please spare me. The healers want them to stay a bit longer for observation, but Zayvier and Samira are both asking for each of you.”
Kadeesha flung the fur off herself as well. She was already rushing toward the door that led to Malachi’s massive bathing chamber, which held several armoires, intending to find a tunic to slip on, when a fresh pair of bootsteps sounded behind her and a feminine voice cried out, “We have a huge fucking problem!”
It was the ragged edge to Shionne’s tone, the positively stricken and rattled way the words rolled off her tongue, that had Kadeesha whipping around and knowing in her bones that something was catastrophically wrong.
“Was it … was it another attack?” she asked Shionne, a nauseating mash-up of rage and horror trying to claw its way up her throat.Great Celestials, so many had already died over literally nothing more than old grudges held between monarchs.
Shionne’s face turned ashen, Malachi snarled, and Kadeesha knew,she damn well knew what it was, before the female told Malachi, “Just about every surrounding residential sector is ablazeand scouts have spotted Rishaud, in the flesh, in our territory. He marches for the palace with thousands of soldiers fromallof the Six Kingdoms at his back.”
Shadows swirled around Malachi. Even more poured forward and invaded every corner of the room, dropping it into near-total darkness, save for the slivers of rising sunlight that seeped in from the window.
“How did he get this close undetected?” Kadeesha’s voice was barely above a whisper. “He had to have marched the army northward across the entire southern expanses of Apollyon territory to be upon the palace. His solar magic is powerful, but even he can’t teleport that many soldiers. And the strongest of transport runes couldn’t accomplish it either, right?” She directed the very last question at Trystin, even as horror was rooting her bare feet to the floor. Not for herself—she’d be damned if she displayed a trace of fear where Rishaud was concerned. But she’djustalmost secured a future where what he was doing wouldn’t be possible. Where an untold number of lives wouldn’t just be snuffed out on a whim and the devastation of this war that had been centuries in the making was mitigated. Butoceansof blood were still being spilled at this precise moment.
Trystin, who usually displayed a level of urbanity that Malachi rarely bothered with, radiated the same savage rage as the cousin who stood a few feet in front of him. “You’d be surprised what one can accomplish if they put in the labor to seek out the right rune.” His voice was startlingly even, but all the more malevolent for it.
“I am assuming that motherfucker,” Malachi said, the very floor beneath her feet shaking at the wrath in his voice, “has several generals among his army who are skilled in both teleportation and masking runes.” She’d heard him shout, growl,snarl, bark commands, and even issue threats in that coolly smug tone of his that often got under her skin. But Malachi stated the guess in a quiet voice that was as cold and eviscerating and utterly devoid of mercy as she imagined the black Void—where all life had begun and where all life ended—itself was. He followed it up with two simple statements that made her blood run cold.
“He’s about to regret having the balls to step foot on my lands or come after my wife.” He then let Kadeesha know, “If he’s here to retrieve you, which isn’t fucking happening, this counts as an exception, love, so we’re clear.”
It was right then that Kadeesha knew the unimaginable death toll had only barely begun if Malachi had anything to say about it. The Apollyon king would face down Rishaud and his army and try his damnedest to annihilate every soul who’d had a hand in taking additional Apollyon lives and who bolstered Rishaud’s advancement toward the palace and Kadeesha—Malachi’s wife.
And so many more would die because when fae kings like Malachi and Rishaud clashed, the result was cataclysm.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
“WHAT’S THE COUNT OF COURTIERS WHO ARE INresidence at this moment in the palace?” she asked Malachi, forcing the ice in her veins that had formed at his pitiless tone to thaw. It had been an innate response born of the most primitive, ancient sense of self-preservation. However, she didn’t have the time to let it linger. She also knew the murderous quiet fury he’d slipped into wasn’t aimed at her. It was aimed at their common enemy. And for Celestials’ sake, she hoped Rishaud was finally about to get his due.
Malachi’s gaze darkened. At first, she surmised he might shrug and remind her he cared nothing about the peacock nobles who usually preened around court. But then she thought about how that response would’ve been completely off for Malachi—a male who insisted on dominating every situation, who measured and kept track of small and large threats with ruthless efficiency, and who despised being caught unaware. So it was little surprise when Malachi told her, “There are exactly one hundred and twenty-five courtiers, fifty-two servants, eighty-one infirmary patients, eighteen healers, two hundred and twelve guards, and twenty-seven prisoners in the palaceat this moment. If you’re asking about how many I give a fuck about protecting, the number is four hundred and eighty-eight. The prisoners are the latest Niyarre and Tareek batches being interrogated and they can rot.”
“Remind me to never get on your bad side,” Shionne drawled.
Seriously?Kadeesha thought.How can she be joking at a time like this?
Because she’snotjoking, she realized. This was Malachi restrained, and there was still a bad side she had yet to see.
At first, she figured it was this thought that made her shiver. But then she realized cool air was brushing against her shins. Kadeesha looked down to see shadows swirling around her legs and floating upward. They settled around her from neck to thighs, draping themselves over her as if she wore a robe spun of void magic. Which, she guessed she did at the moment. Malachi, whom she now stood beside, shot a pointed look at the covering he’d offered so she didn’t need to waste time hunting for clothing right then. “You’re welcome.”
