“Do you think that’s enough for me?”
“I’m not here to satisfy you.”
“No,” he said hoarsely. “You’re here to torture me.”
I stood, my skin prickling with the intensity of his stare.
“I spent the entire night lying next to you, dying to touch you. You know what kind of hell that is?”
Heat flooded through me. Yes, I did. I’d been awake too, burning with the need to close the gap between us.
Wanting Kairos meant trusting him. Trusting him meant giving him the power to hurt me. When Vaeris abandoned me, at least it proved that he’d neverreallywanted me. Our forbidden love had never been real, so it didn’t break me.
But Kairos wanted to devour me in front of everyone. He’d given me gloves made of dragon hide and asked about my life like my answers mattered. What if I let myself believe it? What if I was just a temporary obsession, and it only looked like something more?
I couldn’t survive that.
“Get dressed,” I whispered, stepping back.
He stood slowly, his face tight with frustration.
I turned away, rummaging through the closet. I pulled out a dress and changed quickly behind a screen, my hands fumbling with the laces. I made sure to slip the dragonhide gloves inside the pockets.
When I emerged, Kairos froze.
A muscle ticked in his cheek, but he was breathtaking. Even exhausted, he was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. Cold, deadly, and utterly magnetic.
My hands trembled. “Ready?”
His eyes finally met mine. “Are you?”
“I’m nervous.”
“You’re a mortal stuck in an underwater palace. Everyone will expect that.”
“It’s not just that.” I swallowed hard. “They’re going to know what I am.”
“They won’t.” Kairos adjusted his collar. “Vaeris doesn’t want you exposed any more than I do. They’ll assume this is a pissing match between kings.”
“So I’m…a prize you’re fighting over?”
“Yes, which means you act like you chose me.”
My heart hammered. “What if I can’t do this?”
His hand caught mine and squeezed. “You survived Skalgard. That makes you tougher than half the people in that room.”
“Vaeris used to say I was too soft for court, that they’d eat me alive.”
His gaze hardened. “Vaeris is an ass. Ignore him.”
I heaved a sigh. “Okay.”
He threaded our fingers together. “Come.”
33
THE DROWNED COURT
