“Thank you, Kavin,” I managed to say, and passed out.
ALTAIR
For two years, I’d lain in a bed wishing I could die. Knowing that if I could manage that, it would be the best thing for my island and my people. Now, lying in bed with the miracle who had saved me from that living death, I wanted more than ever to live. To live for her, and with her, and invite her into my court.
She was already in my heart.
Thorn had succumbed to the effects of the poison, and Icarus had lapsed into unconsciousness again as well. Kavin, whose vast knowledge of herbs was as impressive as his skill with a blade, had mixed up a batch of cofi root water for the two of us.
“It’s not what I gave Icarus. This is weak, more like a morning stimulant,” he explained. “But we’ve had a hell of a long day, and I don’t think it’s over.” His eyes flew to the narrow window. Outside, people were fighting, the battle we had begun raging on. Gullen had escaped, and I knew I would have to find him and kill him before I could really be free to live with Roya. If we lived, that is.
I pulled my shirt off, and wiped the signs of battle from my limbs. I would come into my Omega’s nest clean. “Kavin, what you said earlier. That Roya doesn’t want you.” His lips twisted, but he remained silent. “You’re wrong. Her eyes follow you wherever you go, almost as much as Thorn. She loves talking with you about herblore, boring histories, military strategies—”
“I deceived her by omission,” he said, wiping his eyes with the back of one hand. “I should have told her who I was the minute I met her. I wanted her to love me, to see me for who I am… to see if she could love me, even if I’m not a great warrior, or assassin, or prince, or fucking dragonkin.” His laugh was devoid of humor. “I know I don’t deserve her. Why would she want me?”
I clasped his hand in mine. “Kavin, look at you. You’re young, strong, intelligent. I’m the weakest of her Alphas, physically. I can’t keep her safe here, in my own home. Even if I kill Gullen, if this island is a haven for her… What can I offer her, a pretty song?”
“A throne?” he joked.
“Does she strike you as the type of woman who wants one?” I despaired, staring at the woman I had fallen for the instant I’d seen her, the moment she had vowed to slaughter my enemies. “Kavin, you may have kept a secret, but Roya will forgive you.” I took a deep breath and said the words he needed to hear. “We all admire you, and want you to be with us. Please… if I lose consciousness like the others, you’ll have a choice. You can walk away, defeat my uncle, and live your life…”
“Without her? That’s not life,” he said quietly. The room filled with a strange silence, until he spoke. “If she consents, I’ll try my best.”
“What if she’s unconscious, Kavin? Please.”
He was still for a moment. “I’ve lived my whole life watching my father. Paying close attention to what he did, his ethics, his boundaries.” I wasn’t certain where this was going, but Kavin kept talking. “He didn’t think I was worth much, as far as sons go. My younger sister had it worse, but I was a grave disappointment. And he was the same to me.” His turquoise eyes shone with passion and banked anger. “I was meant to take Roya in Verdan City, against her will. My father doesn’t care much about what women want. Or sons.
“What Thorn said, just before… He said he wouldn’t take her choice from her.” He struggled to keep speaking. “I wish my father was a man like Thorn, one who honors women. And if I must choose a model for how I treat the woman I love? It will be Thorn. I’ll have her consent before I’ll claim her, Altair.” His eyes flew to the door. “No matter if I live as a failure in my father’s eyes. It’s not him I must live up to.”
My heart ached for this proud, broken young man. “Remember, the Goddess will let you know if Roya accepts you. Even if she can’t speak, her body will tell you the answer.” I grasped his hand once more.
“You think we may die,” he croaked. “You think you three won’t be enough.”
I didn’t speak; I couldn’t say the words I knew were true.
That we all might die anyway.
As I finished undressing, Kavin rolled Thorn to the very edge of the nest. “I have a strong feeling that we were called to Roya, all four of us, because we are exactly what she needs. No more, and no less.” I smiled. “Now, to the corner of the nest with you and turn around if you don’t mind. I haven’t done this in a very long while, and I don’t need anyone judging my performance.”
“I might need a few pointers.” Kavin returned my smile as he slung an arm over Thorn’s body, anchoring him to the mattress next to Icarus. “Remember, I’ve never done it at all.” His blush spread all the way to the back of his neck as I laughed.
“Well, it’s good that you’re going last, then. My first time, I blew after three thrusts. It’s not the sort of thing one wants an audience for.” I crawled into the bed beside Roya, still laughing, and fed a few more drops of the cofi root water between her lips. She swallowed, her state more like a fevered sleep than near-death now. Maybe I would be enough.
I stroked her hair back from her face and gave her more water, waiting to see if she would surface. “Larkial, can you hear me?” She didn’t move, but her eyelids twitched as if she were dreaming. “Your fever is going down. Thorn and Icarus are carrying some of the burden. But I can help, too.”
She took a shuddering breath, and her voice was weak and quavering. “No. You. Too much poison.” I tried to put together what she meant, but Kavin called out softly.
“I think she’s worried about you. That you’ve already been poisoned for so long.”
I pressed a gentle kiss to her lips, and rolled her on her side, whispering into her mouth. “You’re my poison, sweetheart. You are in my veins, my heart, my soul. Don’t make me live without you. Let me save you. Let me claim you.”
A smile flickered over her lips, and her eyes opened. They were normal blue, not gold… but also not bloodshot and vacant as they had been.
“Claim me, my prince,” she whispered.
I laughed and lifted her up, so that she was sitting on my lap, my back bolstered against the line of pillows closest to one wall. Her back was pressed to my chest, and I dotted her neck with kisses, my hands moving around her, memorizing the curves and shapes of her breasts, hips, and thighs. “I’ll take my chances with the poison. If I die, I die a happy man, my love.”
Her body began to respond to my touches, her breathing quickening, her pulse strumming a steady, rapid beat. I let my teeth linger over the mark Thorn had given her, and teased the silvered, already healed lines Icarus must have left earlier in the day. When my fingertips skated over those areas, she shivered. When my teeth met them, she moaned.
