“I was at the Royal Gateway. I watched Legend open it with the blood of his palm. I know now that what you said was real and I should be, I don’t know, grateful that you’re not just a liar or some shit. Or maybe you’re concerned things have changed because when I stepped through that thing in your brother’s arms, it wasn’t sand I found on the other side and now you’re afraid things have changed.”
“Have things changed?”
I mask my surprise. Honestly, I didn’t expect him to just come out and, well, not admit, but def thought he would deny or feed me some royal riddle shit.
“If they had.” I cock my head, watching him closely. “Wouldn’t you already know…mindman?”
He’s silent for several seconds, but when I try to sidestep him he moves with me, his features blank.
“Be careful, Haide,” he says slowly. “Knives are useful. But the sharper they are, the easier they cut the hand that holds them.”
“That’s what gloves are for.”
Creed studies me for a long moment before he finally steps aside so I can pass through the doorway. Still, his attention—heavy and assessing—stays pinned on me as I pass. Like I’m a spark in a room full of explosives.
“My brother is a smart man, Haide,” he calls at my back, but I keep walking. “Eventually, he will see you for what you reallyare, and when he does, he will turn against you.”
I look over my shoulder because I can’t stop myself, frowning at the certainty in his eyes. He smiles then, a full curve of his lips that sends a shiver down my spine.
“Legend will destroy you from the inside out and I can’t fucking wait to watch.”
I start walking again, giving him nothing and believing not a damn word.
Legend would never turn against me.
Right?
Chapter Twenty-One
Legend
The door swings open before I can even reach for it.
Haide stands at the threshold, arms folded and a fucking grin spread on her face. I love to fucking see it. Especially when I know she’s been sleeping with one eye open since our own fucking people tried to attack her seven moons ago, if we’re tracking in giftless time.
They might have been Argent-born, but they still belong to us. We—Iam still their fucking King and she is mine. They don’t know it yet, but I have their parents in the cellar back in Rathe—the one and only reason I allowed her to walk through the Gateway and back to campus alone. I might free them one day, but the jury’s still out.
Pushing closer to her, my nostrils flare, and I swipe my bottom lip. “You smell of Fae juice. I take it you met Emmie?”
She steps aside and I kick the door closed, waiting for it to seal and vanish before crowding her again.
“Mmhmm.” She ties her hair back, the little jewels embedded in her temples gleaming when she turns to me. “You’re lucky I didn’t kill her the moment she knocked on my door. Smooth, by the way, and brave of her. Sending her to me before I could change my mind about your little ‘ball.’ Not that I still can’t.”
“But you won’t. You want to walk in there on my arm.”
She remains silent for several seconds as she watches me. Finally, she says, “She smelled like you.”
Her tone isn’t that snappy, bratty, kiss-my-ass-or-don’t she usually uses with me. It’s soft and, dare I say, hesitant.
Iloveher attitude and crave the way she fights me. But right now the bond pulses wildly in response to her reaction; and I swear the thread between us grows a tiny bit stronger.
“I’m yours, little mate,” I say, the words an unintended whisper.
I wait while she studies me. Maybe this is the moment she caves. That grabs hold of that feeling she must have inside her and refuses to ever let it go.
The only reason my scent was on another woman was because I hand chose the dresses she brought down for Haide. Still, I fuckingloveher jealousy.
She looks away with a blink. I guess today isn’t the day she gives in. Maybe I was too soft with her the other night and she’s still unsure about it. She enjoys me wild. But where my mate is concerned, I will always reserve a separate part for times that she needs it.
