‘Sir, we need to go. Someone’s coming.’ They both stumbled to a halt, taking in the scene. ‘Do you want me to handle her?’
‘She’ll kill you if you try, fool. Let her rot here,’ Jagon said, stumbling as they slowly withdrew. My former master paused at the door. ‘One day, Roksana. One day, when your king is dead, and I’m the only one who can keep you safe, then you’ll come crawling back to me.’
‘Out!’ I shouted, throwing the vial I’d grabbed earlier. It smashed against the closed door, shattering into hundreds of shimmering shards. I was alone, the oppressive feeling that had haunted me earlier was gone, but now something I couldn’t identify had replaced it.
Calm the fuck down, Sana.My heart hammered against my rib cage, and I was shaking like a leaf. Just as my knees were about to give way, the sound of heavy hooves thundered on the cobblestones of my yard, focusing my erratic thoughts.
‘What in Perun’s, pox-infested… Can’t a woman have a moment to fall apart?’ I muttered, pulling myself together to face whichever idiot had decided visiting me in the dead of the night was a good idea.
‘Viper!’
Only one person used that nickname, and despite the urgency and need I could hear in his tone, something loosened in my chest. A sob escaped when I heard the deep, masculine baritone, and somehow, I could breathe again. I rushed to the window, just in time to see a massive stallion rear back in my courtyard, the crash of its hooves easing my trembling.
Sat astride the fearsome beast was King Reynard, clad in gleaming armour, majestic and terrifyingly handsome. His messy raven mane and lupine mask only added to his allure. I wiped my hands on the apron I’d somehow removed, and rushed outside, only for him to jump down and take me into his arms, lifting me into the air.
‘Rey, I thought you left hours ago.’ My comment masked the tension lingering in my heart. However, when he covered my face with frenzied kisses, it melted away completely.
‘I was supposed to, but I couldn’t leave without seeing you. I should have kept you in the palace. At least then we could have been together.’
‘As if that would’ve worked.’ I grinned as he crushed me against his chest, lips brushing the side of my neck.
‘Why are you so tense? Are you still having nightmares?’ At my baffled expression, he smiled. ‘Ciesko told me. I may have been busy in the garrison, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t keeping an eye on my deadly little Viper. Not after what you went through.’
We’d spent the last week apart. After my ordeal in the Geas Chamber, Rey had rushed to the garrison, the preparations for war taking all his attention. I missed him, but the time apart allowed me to recover and reconcile everything I’d learned when the Geas Ceremony revealed my secrets.
Reynard had enough things to worry about without being burdened by my nightmares, and I’d always dealt with my problems myself. He smiled as my finger trailed over his brow, the faint web of wrinkles smoothing at my gentle caress.My wily king is exhausted. Has he slept at all since we parted? What prompted his sudden appearance?
I inhaled deeply, burying my head in the crook of his neck. Musk and lemongrass soothed my senses the way only Rey’s presence could. Yet I was unwilling to admit how much I needed this… neededhim, even for a moment.
‘I’ll be fine. They’re just nightmares,’ I said with false bravado, shrugging my shoulders and wriggling for him to put me down, but Rey tightened his grip. ‘Come on, Kingling. You can’t lead an army carrying me around.’
His eyebrows shot up. ‘Wanna bet, sweet Viper?’
The clouds decided it was the perfect moment for snow, the sparkling flakes landing in Rey’s hair, giving it a magical glow. I brushed them away with a soft chuckle. ‘No, because you’d do it just to prove you can.’ I gestured to him to lower me to the ground, but he shook his head.
‘I don’t want to. Don’t tell me to let you go, Viper. You’re wounding my gentle, manly heart,’ he said, leaning into my touch, his stormy-grey eye closing. ‘I’m torn between taking you with me or locking you in the highest tower to keep you safe. Which should I choose?’
The twitching at the corner of his mouth revealed his teasing, so I pretended to consider it. ‘How about the third choice? Get that limp-dick excuse of a dwarf off his throne, and when he’sbegging for mercy, tell him Sana sends her regards.’ My words were met with a burst of laughter, Rey’s gaze widening with amusement.
‘Limp-dick?’ He kissed the tip of my nose, his embrace loosening slightly before he let my feet touch the ground. ‘My beautiful, vicious woman, how I’ll miss your colourful turn of phrase during the campaign,’ he said before his smile faltered, growing more serious. ‘I’ll throw his head at your feet for what he did to you and Tova, but no shenanigans while I’m away. Whatever happens, it can wait until I return. Promise me, Vida.’
‘Rey, I…’ I was pondering telling him about the traps when something caught my attention. My viper hairpin, the one that had blinded him, was soldered to the gauntlet of his armour. Baffled, I grabbed his arm and raised it to the light. ‘Why? Out of everything you could adorn yourself with, why this?’
‘I wanted something of yours… and didn’t have anything else,’ he answered with a boyish smile. ‘It’s customary to take a token from your lady to battle.’ Maybe it was the way he said it, or more accurately, the curve of those luscious, bow-shaped lips tilted in a wry smile, but my heart fluttered in its cage.
‘This won’t do. Kneel,’ I said with a huff, mildly annoyed he’d chosen the weapon I’d almost killed him with instead of asking me for something more appropriate.
‘I don’t kneel on command,’ he said, but I swear the brazen man’s eye twinkled. ‘But for you, little Viper, I’ll make an exception.’ Rey looked me in the eye, the creaking of his armour the only sound as he dropped to one knee. I reached up to my neck, unclasping my new necklace.
Tova had made it for me. I’d told him about the geas and the visions of my mother, of not being entirely human. He’d stood there, silent, but when I’d finished, Tova wrapped his arms around me in an unusual display of affection. The next day, red-eyed and haggard, he’d presented me with this necklace.
The gold veins in its stone shimmered as I held it in my palm. The labradorite centrepiece, a vivid blue stone patterned with emerald green and gold streaks formed the heart of the necklace. In a moment of inspiration, I remembered it could store magical energy and raised the gem to my lips. When I kissed the gem, my aether flowed into its depths, binding itself to the stone’s core.
‘Protect him, guide him… and help him return to my side,’ I whispered, imbuing it with a tiny fraction of my power. It was a simple novice trick Ciesko taught me one evening after I’d strained my eyes studying to fill the gaps in my education.
The green streaks sparkled like lightning, and the rock warmed in my hands, making me smile.If nothing else, it looks pretty and will keep him warm, I thought, chuckling at the unexpected result. My hands slipped around Reynard’s neck, and as the clasp clicked closed, I leaned in and kissed his lips.
‘I don’t want the weapon that hurt you to be the only thing you have of me, Rey. Take this. It will protect you.’ I swallowed hard. ‘Tova made it to keep me safe; he said labradorite is the stone of Morana.[1] Legend says she bound the northern lights within its heart to protect her worthy champion.’
