Ducking my head, I murmur in her ear, “Then sit down and spread your legs for me, my queen. Have you noticed how these tables are the perfect height for me to kneel at?”
“Ah…” I can almost feel the shiver running across her skin. “There’s a lot of people here.”
“There are.”
She swallows. Then spins away from me, but her hand brushes across my cock as she does so. Grabbing her wrist, I spin her back around.
She squeaks.
“Shall we visit one of the brownie’s stalls and find a toy for you?”
“For later?” I shake my head. She blushes hard. “No?”
“So you’d like a different punishment then.” I nod.
She whines, “What? No! Why?”
“For being a brat.” Smiling, I peck her on the lips, then spin her around. “Now walk.”
Grumbling beneath her breath, she marches onwards.
“Oh! Those are so cute!” Arienna says a few minutes later, running towards a Vylian’s stall. She looks up at me, her pale-pink eyes, the colour of a cloudy sunset, lighting up more beautiful than any sky. “Can I have this absolutecutietoo?” She holds up the plush toy of a godsawful creature.
A leffington rat, it has a squished, upturned nose, wide pale-yellow eyes that look more like large puss-filled sacs, and a mostly bald body with just the smallest tuffs of black fur patches. The expression sewn into its ugly-ass face makes it look like it’s the unwanted offspring of two blood siblings. That was thrown out of the window immediately after birth. And managed to hit every branch face-first on its way down.
“Of course,” I say smoothly. Insulting the Vylian would do nothing to soothe over the pain between our kingdoms. Besides, at least I now know my queen will still love me if I become horribly disfigured. Things can’t get any uglier than that “absolute cutie”.
Hoping she doesn’t want to display it somewhere in our room, I gesture for one of her hands-in-waiting to pay for it and bag it.
As we continue to walk the market, my paranoia starts to ease. Surely, if the Court was planning something, they would have done it already. I glance at the Dragons beside us. None of them have tried talking to Arienna for a while, but they haven’t tried to move away from us either. Some of them have even bought a few things, one of which was a notebook from a Vylian stall.
The guards roaming the crowds have quickly dealt with any squabbles, and though the tension is still thick in the air, it isn’t suffocating. Today has gone better than even I dreamed it would. Perhaps Raza will not be as slow to heal as I thought.
Grabbing Arienna’s hand, I pull her towards the castle. “We’re done for today,” I say. “It’s time to eat with the ladies and lords.”
She moans. “Thank gods. I’m absolutely starving.”
My eyes narrow as I pull her to a stop. “Why didn’t you tell me you were hungry?”
She waves a hand. “A good brownie never asks to be fed.”
Lifting her chin, making sure she damn well hears me, I growl, “A goodqueenalways takes care of herself. The next time you’re hungry, get something to eat.” My grip tightens as I dip my head to hers. “Forget that, and I will fill your stomach myself.”
Her breaths skitter out, swirling in the small amount of air between our lips. Heat electrifying my skin, I press my lips to hers –
“Down!” Jace shouts as he shoves me away from the Vylian stall. Wrapping my arms around her, I tackle her to the ground. Arienna gasps against my chest – a noise lost beneath the sudden explosion.
Something sharp pierces my right calf. I concentrate on the pain, trying to discern if the projectile has gone through me and into her.
“Arienna!” I shout, but she doesn’t respond.
Calloused hands pull me to my feet. Looking down at my leg, I’m relieved to see nothing on this side. Screams ring in my ears as our people scatter, running away and taking to the air.
“Put out the fire!” Jace orders. The witches in our guard twist their hands in the air. Water is pulled from the leaves of our tree and poured onto the blue flames roaring from the Vylian’s stall.
Metal rings on metal. Screams mix with the grunts of my soldiers. Snipers hover overhead, taking shots where they can, shouting warnings when they can’t.
Spreading my wings, I take to the air with my queen.
