My scar burning, I ask softly, “And did you come to a conclusion?”
Fear flashes across her eyes, but her voice is strong and full of conviction. “A monster is not capable of love.” She glances at my queen. “But you love her.”
Arienna gasps as she tugs on my arm, wanting me to face her. “You do?” When I don’t turn, she looks at Deirdre. “He does? How do you know? Did he say that? He hasn’t told me yet. Why haven’t you told me, my king, if you lo–”
Spinning to face her, I cup my palm back over her mouth. “This is not the time.”
“So it’s true?” she mumbles, her eyes light while I’m still reeling over the thought of my little sister having asked our friends to look afterme… the man who killed her.
Does that mean I believe Deirdre’s words?
“Is it?” My queen kisses my palm, then stills, waiting for me to answer. Though ‘stills’ is a stretch. She’s positively rocking on her feet – buzzing, really.
My skin crawling, I try to force myself to give her what she needs despite Deirdre’s presence. But wewerefriends once. We shared hopes and dreams in a place that destroyed such foolishness. She knows that I’ve never uttered those three words, not to my ex-fiancee. Not to my sister. Not to anyone.
But my queen is looking at me with so much happiness, I want to say them to her. I’ve been wanting to say it for so damn long, but I don’t know how.
My throat tight, I nod.
Squealing, Arienna throws herself against my chest and wraps me in her arms. “I knewit! I love you too.”
“I know.”
She frowns as she looks up at me. “You’rereallystill not going to say it?” She glances at Deirdre before looking back at me. “Is it because she’s here?”
My lips tighten.
Her lips just as tight, Arienna turns to Jace. “Jace, get rid of –”
She looks so serious, I smile. The tension bleeding from my shoulders, I grab her chin and force her gaze back on mine. “I... I love you,” I whisper, and her massive fucking grin makes my chest hurt.
Unable to stop myself even if the gods ordered me, I kiss her deeply. Giving her a part of my soul. Letting the weight in mychest wash away with every stroke of her tongue. Every moan of her lips. Every whispered, “I love you.”
My voice tight as I lift my head, I say, “Release her, Jace.”
He tosses the knife at the table. It lands with its point in the wood, standing upright between the other knives. “Sorry about that, darling. Did I nick you too deep?”
Deirdre lifts shaky fingers to her neck. “No deeper than you’ve done during sex,” she breathes as she drops onto her heels. She stays pressed against the wall for a moment even when Jace steps back. Then regaining her composure, she looks at me. “She’s good for you. Aurelia would have loved her.”
“Deirdre,” Jace says lovingly as he moves away from her. “Speak of her again tonight and I will cut out your tongue.”
She pales further but lifts her chin as she glares at him, her usual fire back in her mix-matched eyes, one orange, one green to allow her to see into the world of Purgatory. In a world where death is constant, where enemies and friends shift like leaves in the wind, one has to learn not to take such knives-to-the-necks personally. So we are good now… until the next time we aren’t.
“You love my tongue,” she says, flicking it out to lick her lips.
“True,” he says as he turns back to her. “It would be very regrettable. Now let’s play a game.” His eyes run hot down her body. “I could use a good fuck.”
“So could I after all that.” She lifts a hand to her neck, then slides the blood down her throat, teasing him.
As my wife hurries over to the table of knives, Jace’s eyes shift to her. I step up behind her, a warning in my eyes. He’s too on edge for her right now, and she is way too innocent for his tastes.
With all these mentions of Aurelia, he is moments away from spiralling into a darkness that even makes me uneasy.
Meeting my gaze, Jace holds it as a pain moves behind his teal eyes. A split second later, he’s smiling at Deirdre, light and carefree, moving to pick up the six lilac blades.
My lungs easing, I head back to the bar to check on the food. With everyone now relaxed, it’s time to feed my queen. The handle green, I open the cabinet, then frown when I see nothing but a blue sheet of paper inside it.
Is this for one person? Two? Four? A hundred? I’ve told you countless times to write the fucking number.
