“This is my bed, you know.”
“Yeah, well,someonewouldn’t let me sleep in my own chambers.”
“I told you, it isn’t safe there. Besides”—his voice dips—“what kind of king would I be if I let my lady be cold?”
My lady.
I should be repulsed, but I’m not. My traitorous little heart stutters. Heat prickles under my skin as he traces a lazy line along my arm and presses a soft kiss to my shoulder.
“Don’t,” I breathe, half warning, half plea.
“Don’t what?” he asks, amused, and ghosts another kiss below my ear.
He shifts downward until we’re face to face, a breath apart. “If you want me to go,” he says softly, “I will. Just say the word.”
The space between us hums.
When I don’t answer, he kisses my forehead, his touch soft and reverent. Then lower, just beneath my ear. Then the bare slope where his shirt hangs loose on my shoulder. His breath stirs the hair at my neck. His hand draws slow circles along my arm—not demanding, but grounding.
“Bastard,” I murmur, turning to give him my back.
Big mistake.
His laughter rumbles through his chest into me, a second heartbeat under mine. As I turn my head back, his hand finds my jaw, thumb brushing my lower lip. My breath falters.
“Tell me what you want, Fire.” His voice is rough velvet.
“I want—” I start. I mean to say,to go. Orto be alone.Something safe.
But the thought of him gone feels like breaking.
“To sleep,” I whisper quickly. Then, smaller: “But… not alone.”
His arms tighten, drawing me in—no hesitation, just warmth—wrapping me like a promise I didn’t know I still ached for. His legs tangle gently with mine beneath the sheets, anchoring me in heat. In him.
He doesn’t speak again. But I feel it anyway, in the way he holds me:You’ll never be alone again.
The realization spears something deep in me. Deeper than the dragon. Deeper than death. Because that’s the fear, isn’t it? Not burning, not failing, but being alone. Unseen. Unloved.
And with five unspoken words, he offers me what I didn’t know I still needed to believe.
Keiren isn’t just a king. He isn’t just a curse.
He’s a man.
And from the moment we met, he’s offered me more than a throne or survival or anything so shallow. He’s offered me a place by his side. A shield between me and the dark.
Not just tonight, but all the nights to come.
I let out a shaky breath and close my eyes. In the quiet of his hold, wrapped in the shelter of him, I finally drift off, not into dreams, but into peace.
Chapter 31
Wrath
Morning spills like honey over the long stone table, softening the courtyard’s edges. Fairies flit through rose-laced trellises, scattering pollen and bright, prickly magic, their wings humming like bee-song.
I sit with Mariel, Cassy, and Seraphina. Our plates gleam with pastries and sliced fruit, but we only push the food around. The final Trial hangs over us like a vicious icicle.
