Bile tickled the back of my throat as my sight blurred with tears, but I didn’t move. Didn’t make a peep. Sidrick and Artton’s muffled sounds doubled, and I wished more than anything that they’d just shut up. Stay still. It was hard enough as it was without the constant reminder that there were witnesses to my debasement.
Thaddeus stepped away, drinking me down with a. “I must say, Lady Time has done you justice.”
I shuddered as he used magical tendrils to slowly trace my curves as if they were his hands, and I panicked as they softlytugged at my cornet braid, releasing the pins to the ground with a softclink. Within seconds, the weight of my hair lifted from my scalp as it cascaded down my back in a blanket of wavy mahogany.
His eyes darted to the side of my head, and I held my breath as he took in the pointed proof of my transformation. Crossing his arms, he tilted his head to the side ever so slightly.
“Interesting,” he said after a painfully long moment. “I suppose that accounts for why you gave Lothar and Njal a run for their coin.”
Reaching for me, I flinched. He clicked his tongue in disapproval and snapped a warning glance my way. I clenched my fists hard enough to draw blood.
Gingerly, he tucked my hair behind my right ear, then my left ear. “How?” he asked, voice almost reverent.
“The Mother,” I managed.
“Really?!” he said, pulling to confirm the truth in my eyes.
I nodded.
“When?”
I swallowed. “Shortly after I left you.”
Did I have to sayyou? No, I did not, but fuck him and his fucken god complex.
Grabbing my waist, he stepped into me, pressing his heat against my body as if reminding me who was in charge here. “I wonder,” he mused, releasing one hand from my side and tipping my chin up, “if you taste the same as a fae.”
I didn’t have a chance to respond before his mouth crashed on mine. I froze, shocked at the sudden contact—even though I’d known where this was headed. Now gripping the sides of my face with both hands, he tilted my head back a little farther, his tongue sliding across the seam of my mouth, requesting entry. When I didn’t oblige, he released a hand just long enough to snap his fingers, and I heard the muffled choking sounds behind me.
A tear slid down my cheek as I closed my eyes and opened my mouth for him.
He moaned as he claimed me like a starved man, and deep shame washed over me as I let him do as he wished.
Hands roamed. Clothes were tugged. But I was no longer there. No, I just let myself fall into a haze as I internally repeated,just let it be over,again. And again. And again.
Time lost all meaning until a loudbangsounded, drawing a scream from me like a sleepwalker being startled awake.
My gaze drifted toward the sound, and had I not been bound, my knees would’ve given out as my eyes laid upon Endymion—and I prayed to the gods that this wasn’t some cruel trick of the mind when hope came crashing down on me.
Chapter 52
An Unlocking
“What in the seven hells is going on here?” Endymion demanded.
I searched his dark expression for any hint of the male I’d come to know and sagged when he didn’t so much as glance in my direction.
“Don’t make me ask for a second time, your Majesty,” he warned.
Despite him feeling a world away, my heart cried out to him, begging for his help.
I realized with a start that I’d broken my vow to anchor to nothing and no one—and I silently hated myself for it.
Thaddeus’ cool laugh scraped down my last shred of sanity, and I began shivering hard enough that my teeth chattered. It was then that those depthless sea-blue eyes finally snapped to me before darting back to the king, who finally answered. “Just having a little visit.”
Endymion’s eyes flared with power, but that was the only sign of emotion as he said his next words with perfect calm. “You are not permitted to be in here unsupervised or without permission. And with good reason, it “I shall remind you, King Thaddeusthat while we respect your honorific, you hold no official standing in this court and are only here at the pleasure of the High Lord as dictated by our contract, which offers you refuge from the time fluctuation in the human realm. Nothing more.”
“I’ll remind you, Commander,” Thaddeus said in a warning tone as he stepped past me, “if it weren’t for my knowledge that she’d carry her old blades like the sentimental little girl she is, you would’ve never found her.”
