“Anahima?” Maxur asks.
Curious, I glance up at him as we circle each other slowly. “You know her?”
He makes a noncommittal sound with a sidelong glance to where the king is standing, arms folded over his broad chest. I follow his gaze and ignore the unwelcome leap of my pulse at his commanding form.
“She’s the king’s sister,” Maxur says.
Sword forgotten, I blink in disbelief and think back to the kind woman I’d met, the one the king himself had chased off with his temper as if she were nothing but an inconvenience to him. He’s so consumed with his own importance that he doesn’t even care about his own sibling. I scowl, remembering why he’d rubbed me the wrong way from the start. Stars, the arrogance.
There’s little resemblance between them. Ani is a sweet, bookish, skinny, blue-eyed brunette. The silver-haired dictatorial fiend standing a few lengths away is the size of a house with an ego to match and has soulless eyes that reflect the abyss from which he was undoubtedly born.
Maxur barks a shocked laugh. “Tell me how you really feel.”
Sands, had I said that out loud? I flush and then shrug. “They don’t look alike at all.”
He shrugs in turn. “The king had dark hair until he ascended to his magic and the crown.” He screws up his nose in thought, mischief flashing in his hazel eyes. “And maybe he’s the size of a house because he likes lifting heavy things.”
“Sounds like someone might be infatuated,” I grunt sourly, though I’ll take the small fact that I agree about the king’s formidable figure to my tomb. The man’s muscles have muscles. I’d felt them when I’d so brazenly poked him, seen them flex when he’d loomed over me like an unforgiving god, and practically crashed into them when I’d lost my balance. Thank the stars I’m too sweaty to blush.
But Maxur grins, seeing right through me. “You can admit it. Everyone says he’s easy on the eyes.”
Committed to my lie, I heft my sword and grimace. “Not to me. I don’t go for the domineering, calculating, ruthless warlord who likes to order everyone around.”
“I hate to break it to you, but he is theking. All that goes with the territory.” Maxur grins, then crouches into an attack stance, coming at me in a rush that I sidestep easily. “So pray tell, my lady, what typedoyou prefer?”
“That’s a hard one.” I duck, slashing out, and pretend to think about my options while spinning, my steps bringing me around him to attack from the back. “Maybe a somewhat handsome, average-skilled, unwashed general with the pungent smell of overgrown onions.”
His eyes sparkle with mock outrage at my teasing; he ducks, narrowly avoiding my blade. “Bite your tongue, lady! I am better than average, and I smell like roses. Glad you think I’m handsome, though.”
“Somewhathandsome,” I say with a laugh, blocking an upper swipe of his blade as I veer right to avoid his natural downswing. “Definitely courtable.”
We both freeze at the low, ferocious snarl that interrupts our light banter. The sparkle vanishes from Maxur’s eyes, and his entire body hunches as if he’s shouldering some kind of invisible blow. I glance over my shoulder to where the king is fairly glowering at us.
Even from where I’m standing, I can see the gold shine flash in his stare.
I frown. “What’s wrong with him?”
Maxur shrugs, standing straight again, though all his earlier playfulness has disappeared. “We’re all fighting an animal inside. Now, attack me again.”
Chapter Fourteen
THENIGHTKING
My beast is fucking feral.
All he wants to do is to rut, to breed, to claim.
But try telling a very insistent, primitive part of yourself that his soul-fated mate is off-limits, especially when he has caught the starsdamnedperfectscent of her. A mate bond is divine, a treasure to be guarded and cherished, and in any other circumstance, it would be. Though not for me... because of this fucking curse.
The creature will rip her delicate mortal form to shreds.
He roars his displeasure every hour of every day, nearly tearing from my skin and battering my iron sway of him, but as long as I stay in control of my emotions, I remain in control of my body. I remain in control ofhim.
And for all our sakes, if the realm is to endure, I have no choice but to resist his most primal instincts—to keep chaos deeply buried. I have been here before and know the cost.
She is our downfall.
I must reject the bond... or one of us will die.
