“And that was the only thing that went to plan that day! We were lucky that the casualties weren’t greater.”
“Because I outfitted them with armor to protect them,” he yells.
My body trembles and I clench my fists at my side. The anger brewing in me heats my face and I scream, “And what about me! How the fuck were you going to protect me? You left me to go down into the cells by myself.”
“My warriors were on orders not to hurt you, Raelle.”
“Your warriors? Your fucking warriors! You were either Lucent’s general or Stigian’s prince. You can’t be both.” I turn around and move to grip my hair, only to find my crown in the way. I rip it off and toss it onto the tabletop. It slides across the surface and stops before it can tip to the ground. I swallow down the lump in my throat and say, “They were told not to harm me because I’m your parah. You knew what we were, and you said nothing to me. Instead, you told your mother. The woman you claimed to despise. She knew before me.”
Kyron shoves one hand in his pocket and cradles the injured one to his chest. With an unnerving calm, he says, “It’s in her best interest to keep my parah safe. I used that to your advantage.”
“No, you usedmetoyouradvantage.”
“Stop being so damn stubborn, Raelle. Your father was shackled to my mother’s throne! What other choice did we have?”
“Did you discover that before or after she had a Cognus unbind your memories? I bet it felt good to get back at the men who stole years of yourlife, made sure you wouldn’t return to your mother, and hindered you from taking the crown you were born to wear. And why not fuck over the person who would be their next queen and your new rival? What a golden bonus I must have been.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” he says, throwing his good arm in the air. “Tell me how you were going to get past the warriors here! You couldn’t just walk in, unchain him, and walk out.”
“Obviously there are some holes in the security, or you wouldn’t be bleeding right now, and we wouldn’t be locked in here together! So don’t tell me there was no other choice, Kyron! Don’t justify what you did with a bond that meant nothing to you and would have meant everything to me if I knew about it.”
“And don’t you tell me how I feel about our bond, or how I feel about you!” He runs his hand over his face and clenches his eyes closed. The seconds slowly tick by and when he looks at me again, calm has washed over him. “There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you, including shackling myself to Stigian. Believe me or not. I did it all for you.”
“No,” I say, stumbling back until my ass hits the edge of the table. I won’t let this be his excuse. He can’t claim to have done this for me while, hurting me at the same time. The two can’t coexist. They can’t.
My voice is hoarse as I say, “Including hurting me, because you should know that you broke my heart and left me in shreds.”
“I’m sorry, Raelle. I’m so fucking sorry.” He steps forward, closing the distance between us, and I grip the edge of the table, clawing for any spare inch I can to keep him away. Despite the pain it must cause his injury, he takes my cheeks into his hands and brushes his thumbs along the trail of tears running down my face. “Every day without you has been an infinite void, and the only thing that keeps me going is the unbearable pain that never eases. It’s all I have to remind me that you and I were real.”
“We didn’t have to end up this way,” I whisper.
“But we did, and I wish I could spare you the hurt I’ve caused.”
It’s more than just pain. For months, I’ve felt the kind of emptiness that is impossible to fill. But now with him so close and his power flowing between us, pulling us together, the hurt is soothed, and his presence fills the chasm his absence left in my heart. I close my eyes and revel in the sensation. My hands move of their own accord, and I brush my knuckles against his abdomen. When my palms ache to touchhim, I turn them and rest them to his chest, feeling the warmth he emanates.
With my eyes closed, I can push reality away and live in a realm where it’s only Kyron and me. He isn’t the blood heir to both our kingdoms. My trust in him isn’t broken, and my heart is whole. We’re not bound to duty and the lives of so many don’t rest in our hands. Everything would be so much easier if I could exist in this fantasy.
I push up on my toes and stretch my neck to brush my lips to his. They’re so soft and giving. He parts them, and I capture his bottom lip between mine and taste him with a stroke of my tongue. Tilting my head back further, he pulls me closer. I open to him and sink against his body, lost in the taste of cinnamon and the scent of pine.
Kyron lifts me to the tabletop, and my crown clanks to the floor. Unable to stop myself, my fingers grip the silky black hair at the back of his neck. His hand finds the slit at my thigh and slides up, bringing my leg around his waist and leaning me back on the table. He leaves my lips and kisses my neck, peppering it with laps of his tongue and the scraping of his teeth. I arch into him, feeling his hard cock pressed to the center of me.
“Oh, Statera help me,” I breathe as he rocks against me, sending jolts of desire humming through my entire body.
The way he makes me feel with the touch of his lips and the stroke of his hands is intoxicating. I want him to subside the ache between my legs, to remind me how spectacular it felt to press my naked body to his. I want to hear him moan my name and bury himself deep inside of me. I want to be one with my parah.
He lifts his mouth from my skin, and a rush of cool air washes over me. I open my eyes, searching for the reason he pulled away and meet his dark, passion-filled gaze.
His irises. Those black eyes with a touch of warm honey circling his pupil. I wish I could have seen what they looked like when they were all light brown, before he siphoned the gift of others… before he tookmygift.
I fight past the emotion building inside me and run my fingers over his swollen lips. “I missed you so much. It should have gotten easier the longer we were apart, but the anguish only grew stronger. But I’m learning to live with the hurt”—I push against his chest, forcing him to stand—“because in the world you built for us, we can’t be anything more than enemies.” I sit up and brush my hands over my dirty gown.
“That’s bullshit and you know it, Raelle. We aren’t limited by thesins of two kingdoms.”
I once believed that. I thought I could have himandserve my people. It was as simple as choosing to make it work, but the treaties, oaths, and bonds prove otherwise.
“That would be true if your kingdom didn’t believe in holding Cyffreds against their will, mine wasn’t fighting to free them, and we weren’t chosen to be their next rulers.”
“I will not?—”
