The bitterness burned my tongue and I spit it out on the floor, holding the muffin out in front of me in horror.
“What? What is it?” Rema demanded, sliding off the couch to kneel in front of me, his hands reaching for me.
I held out the muffin to him. “This is poisoned. Those bitches tried to poison me,” I sneered, throwing the muffin across the room and coming to my feet. “How pedestrian! I mean, really. It’s fucking insulting.”
When I looked to see if Rema agreed with me that poison was such a pussy way to murder someone, I was met with a cloud of coarse, blistering rage, cold enough to burn the roof of my mouth as the emotion scorched its way across my senses.
Rema rose slowly to his feet, his face thunderous as he brushed my face with the back of his fingers, his other three hands wrapping around my shoulders, drawing me into him with gentle deliberateness. “Are you okay? Did you swallow any of it?”
I shook my head. “No, I spit it out as soon as the taste registered.”
His chest rumbled against me. “We will still have you see a healer, just to be sure. Come.” His voice was a hollow controlled thing, the fury in his emotions not ebbing even a little, despite how calm he sounded.
Someone was going to die today.
Chapter 23
Rema
Patty’s solid warmth didlittle to thaw the sharp, frigid wall of his fury at someone once again threatening her life.
She was watching him as he carried her down the long hallway that led to the healing quarters. He had already notified Immainthe via his link before we’d even left our room, and Imma had told him where his aunt and her daughters were being held. As soon as his Patty was cleared as healthy, he would be paying his kin a short visit. Before, their insults had warranted aquick death, advancing to a more drawn out ending when they’d set an assassin on Patty.
Now? Now he was going to beat them to death with his bare hands for daring to try and take his wife from him.His wife.With a godsdamned baked good on the rising after they’d consummated their union. They should be basking in bliss, not rushing to the healers.
No. Now they would die slow. His aunt would watch her daughters screaming before he deigned to end her pitiful excuse of an existence.
His hands tightened around Patty, his jaw clenching with the bubbling aggression flooding through his veins.
“Woah, Rema. You better cut that shit out right now or my poor abused pussy is going to get all wet and needy, thus ruining all your excellent after care,” she told him, patting his cheek with her hand.
He stopped walking to stare down at her, his brow furrowing. “What?”
She giggled, twirling a lock of golden brown hair around her finger, a flower blooming on her wrist.
“Your rage on my behalf, it's turning me all the way on, Rema, and as you’ve so graciously reminded me, I can’t take you again right now.”
He blinked hard at her, his mouth working but no words would come out. She was pouting, her lower lip pushing forward, her forest green eyes heated and teasing all at once.
The feeling of his skin being too tight for his body relaxed, though his anger didn’t cool, and humor managed to thread its way through, followed quickly by a different kind of heat all together.
“You are insane, female. I really don’t know what to do with you sometimes,” he said, chuckling almost against his will.
Patty shivered in his arms, her head falling to his chest with a soft groan. “God, Rema, you taste like fuckingsinright now.”
He could smell her flowers blooming, the scent of her arousal growing stronger with each new bud, but he kept his control and didn’t look down at her to count them. Instead, continuing down the hall, and finally into the healers quarters. Two gray winged female Neldres were already waiting, as well as a furious looking Dhenea.
“Really? A poisoned muffin? Could they be any more juvenile?” Dhenea said, moving aside so he could place Patty on the red stone examination table.
“That’s what I said! I mean, the assassination attempt was still pretty half-assed but at least they sent a pro, but this? This is just so desperate and sad.”
Rema crossed all four arms, glaring at the two females. “Would you two stop making light of the situation?”
Patty snickered, jerking her head at him. “This one is going to murder someone for me. Isn’t it romantic?”
A headache was forming, and he rubbed at his temples with his upper hands, sighing.
“Imma presented me with the six severed heads of my enemies as a courting gift. I still have the cleaned skulls in my quarters.”
