Simultaneously, I narrowed my eyes at Kas and growled, “You fucking cheater!”
“Cheater?” Kaspian growled back. “You're my mate. I would never cheat on you.”
“Mate?” the other man whispered, his wings drooping. “I understand, Your Majesty.” He gathered his clothes.
“I don't mean me. I mean him!” I pointed at the angel. “You cheated onhim. And once a cheater, always a cheater.”
“What does that mean?!”
“I think it's pretty damn self-explanatory! I can't fucking trust you.”
The angel got dressed, trying his best to ignore us. Actually, as soon as he had his pants on, he was the most dressed man in the room. Kas and I only had cloaks on, and those things were flapping open amid our anger.
“I didn't cheat! He was my consort. A consort is the recognized lover of a king, but all consorts know they will be excused when the King finds his mate. I could not have stopped bonding with you if I had tried.”
I grimaced. “Right. Blame it on magic.”
“Itwasthe magic!”
“I'm so sorry to have caused trouble between you and your mate, Your Majesty,” the angel said. “Please, King's Mate, don't blame the King. I don't know why you don't understand this, but I do. I knew this day would come. King Kaspian is a good and honorable man. He would never cheat anyone out of anything.”
I gaped at the guy. “You're standing up for him?”
Kas waved at the man. “Because he knows that it's not my fault. I didn't choose to mate you. The magic drew us together.”
“You didn't choose . . .” I backed away from him. “Huh. I hadn't thought of that.”
“What the fuck is it now?!”
“You know what, asshole?! Give me a fucking second to process all of this! I just got torn out of bed, tossed into a secret government facility, tortured, watched you get tortured, watch you go dragon and kill everyone, then got flown through A FUCKING HOLE IN SPACE and wound up in another world!”
“I'll just leave now.” The angel crept out of the room.
I went on, ignoring him, “I'm adjusting! Trying to figure this shit out! And now I'm figuring that you didn't want to bond with me. This was forced on you.”
“It wasn't forced on me.” Kas tossed his hands up in the air, flapping a bit of cloak into his face as he did. He growled and yanked the thing off to toss it away. “I've been searching for you for centuries, Demetrius! You! No, I didn't choose you. I didn't know who you were. That's the whole fucking point! The magic knows more than I do. It sensed that you would be perfect for me, and I for you. It led me to another world—that's how certain the magic was. And Ensarena, the Dragon Goddess, tore a rift between our worlds to bring us together! How the fuck can you get upset about that? It's the most romantic thing that has ever happened to me!”
“Oh.” I took off my cloak and sat on the bed.
“OH?!” Kaspian flapped his arms about as if he was about to take flight.
“Still fucking processing!” I shot back to my feet. “And what was all that shit? Huh? What was with tossing me over your shoulder like a slab of beef? Don't you know how embarrassing it was for me to be carted through your castle like that? That's the first impression I made on your staff. Fucking bunk, man! A bunch of bullshit. And not a word from you to explain it. Then we get to your bedroom and an angel is waiting for you. A fucking angel!”
Kaspian's face twitched throughout my tirade, his tense body slowly relaxing and then going limp. Well, not entirely limp, but sort of drooping. “He's not an angel.”
“What is he?”
“He's an Okon. And I'm allowed to have lovers before you, Mate.” Kaspian's bottom lip stuck out.
Couldn't be helped—I snorted a laugh. “Look at us. Naked and arguing over stupid shit. I guess we're in a real relationship.”
Kas grinned. “So, we can fuck now?”
I made a startled sound and shook my head. “Well, you sure got over it fast. And yes, I'm all for having sex. But first, tell me what happened down there.” I glanced at the balcony. Yes, another balcony. “And how far down is down there?”
“The royal apartments are at the top of the main keep. Twenty-four floors up.”
“Only twenty-four?” I smirked. “Why not got for twenty-five?”
