She looked up at him, and he stared back at her. Her heart thumped heavily in her chest. And then he did the last thing she expected. He bent and pressed a hard kiss to her lips before tucking her closer under his arm, and when he lifted his head back to the guards, there was a bright gleam in his eyes.
“It’s true,” Luka informed them. His grin was sharp and full of teeth, and the gray of his eyes was ringed with the gleaming green-black of his scales. “I’ve been with Izabel.” And then he smiled, the exact same smirk that she remembered.
He’s lying.
Of course he’s lying.
Her beast twisted restlessly in her belly.No, I mean, look at him. One hand in his pocket. Not blinking. Staring straight at the guards, lip twisted up on one side. And lying.
Gods, now she couldn’t help but see it. Her mind dragged up the memory she’d just pushed away—Luka telling her he didn’t want her, one hand in his pocket, lips pulled up on one side. Had it been a lie then too? Was it all a lie? Why would he do that? And where did that leave her? She swallowed and forced herself to smile at the guards. “Exactly, and now we should go to see our queen.”
Chapter
Twelve
Fuck.Luka had let his beast get too close to Izabel, and now it was riding under his skin. Pushing him to say things—do things—that he’d held back from all these years. He’d nearly wrapped her in his arms in her room and let himself drown in her. And now… God of Chaos. Now the entire castle thought he’d spent the night with her.
Thank the Mother, his beast preened smugly.
He’d thought that, as soon as they were in the castle, he could hide her in Shane’s office. But she’d announced that she would go with him to see the queen, and he couldn’t very well stop her, not moments after he’d told the guards she was a personal friend of the royal family. Not after she’d claimed him and he had claimed her back.
He was completely helpless to stop them hurtling down this path. It was like jumping off the high rocks into the sea. The cold water was rushing toward him, but there was nothing he could do about it.
The guards at the gate had tried to hide their expressions, but they were both shocked. Even the messenger they sent ahead to the queen’s rooms had blinked a few times, and the messengers were trained to be utterly discreet.
Luka could only imagine the gossip to come. He never brought women to the castle. Ever. He didn’t even bring them to his room. And now, here Izzy was, striding beside him, his hand gripped firmly in hers, like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Her skin is so warm. Gods of fire. What would her palm feel like on?—
Luka coughed, narrowly missing stepping on Izzy’s foot. He couldn’t think like that. Not now, almost at the queen’s personal reception room. Not ever. Just because she’d wanted him once, long ago, didn’t mean she wanted him now, and that was for the best. That was what he’d wanted to achieve. And, fuck, he clearly had achieved it. She’d been seconds away from telling the world she was sleeping with Shane. A flood of scales thickened over his shoulders and back. Just the thought of them together made him want to punch the prince. Repeatedly.
Good idea.His beast chuckled. Shane had pissed him off too many times over the last few hours.
Luka shoved his beast’s advice to the back of his head and tried to concentrate. Gods, he was a mess. While Izzy seemed just as calm and capable as ever.
If we could just taste her a little, his beast suggested,we’d be much calmer.And she might want us again. In fact, I think she still?—
Luka growled at his beast and ignored the way Izabel raised her eyebrows in response. They’d arrived. He let go of her hand to knock on the silver-inlaid door leading to the small, guarded antechamber that they would pass through to reach the reception room.
Captain Ryland of the night guard opened the door with a bow and a polite greeting. “Knight Commander, sir. Mistress Izabel.”
Izzy gave him a warm look. “Hello, Ryland, it’s good to see you.”
Ryland stood a little straighter and offered her a charming smile that did nothing to settle Luka’s beast. He dropped his hand to her back and guided her forward, scales flickering at his wrists.
Ryland’s eyes darted between them. Once Izzy had passed, he lowered his voice to speak only to Luka. “So it’s true. I’ll be honest, I never?—”
Luka glared at him, and Ryland shut up, thankfully. Luka liked him, respected him even, but they weren’t friends. Ryland reported to Luka at the end of the day. And, honestly, Luka had done his best to avoid friendships after Rayan died.
We’renevergoing to be friends if he keeps looking at Izzy like he’d forgotten how pretty she is,his beast muttered.
Luka shifted his weight to shield her as much as possible from Ryland’s candid appraisal and the interested gazes of the other two guards flanking the main door. “Are you coming in?” he asked Ryland.
“No, sir. I gave my report already.”
Luka leaned closer. “Anything I should know?”
Ryland’s expression turned somber as he lowered his voice even further. “Lady Narya is dead, but none of it makes sense. The Kwanam maid swears she never saw Narya return to her room, but then how did she get back? And the front of her dress is muddy and damp, as if she lay down outside somewhere. I couldn’t see any kind of wound, and there was no weapon or anything untoward in her room, other than an open balcony door… but we did find rope and a blanket on her balcony. It looks as if someone had planned to kidnap her.”
