Page 210

“You’re safe, the bond is complete. I’ve got you.” He holds me there, one hand at the small of my back, the other sweeping my hair from my face. He cradles me in his arms, stroking my hair, pressing kisses to my temple, “You’re mine. I’ve got you. Rest now, my little mage.”

I try to answer, but my limbs are heavy, the warmth and exhaustion crashing down all at once. And the last thing I hear is the sound of his voice, soft and sure, as darkness pulls me under.

CHAPTER 61

• Alessia •

THE KNOCKING GROWS loud enough to drag me from the sleeping world into reality.

I don’t move, unwilling to drag myself from the bed. My entire body is relaxed, and for the first time in ages, I don’t wake up to cold dread.

My body is wrapped in warmth, my limbs still tangled with Kylian’s, and for a moment, I try to ignore the noise, hoping whoever it is goes away. The knock gets louder, and Kylian stirs, his hand absentmindedly rubbing my back as he drags me closer and rests his chin on my head.

“Kylian,” I mumble against his chest, not lifting my head, not loosening my hold on his waist because I don’t want to get up.

His exhale turns to a groan, before rolling on his back and glaring at the ceiling, and I feel his hand move slowly along my ribs before dragging me on top of him. “I hate mornings,” he grumbles.

“Well, Eagan must love them because he keeps knocking,” I yawn into Kylian’s shoulder, and the vibration of his answering laugh rumbles beneath my cheek.

“What is it?” I call out, just loud enough to be heard over the banging.

As soon as the hammering stops, I drop my head in relief, certain it’s Eagan on the other side. None of the servants would dare disturb a closed door with the king inside. And certainly not with me here, still naked, hands lazily stroking the flat slab of muscle.

So when the door creaks open anyway, I’m nowhere near prepared. Kylian’s hold tightens around my back, but I lean over and peer in Eagan’s direction.

But it isn’t Eagan.

All at once, the blood rushes from my body.

Arlo is already halfway through the threshold.

“Ali, are you in here? I woke up and you were—” His voice chokes off, mouth still half-open from the unfinished sentence.

We lock eyes, and his shoulders straighten. His gaze flashes across the two of us—me, naked, sprawled across Kylian’s bare chest, Kylian contentedly cradling my hip beneath the blanket, my hair fanned in a wild mess across us both, and the evidence of Kylian’s bite marks still visible on my neck.

I knew that I would have to tell him. I feel like I’ve been trying to tell him for days, but I never wanted him to find out this way. There is no pretending.

The muscles of Arlo’s jaw flex so hard they nearly tremble. “Are you fucking kidding me?” His tone rakes across my ears. “All this time, I’ve been begging you to go home with me, and he’s just been . . . You’ve just been . . .”

I bolt upright so fast the sheets tumble away, and I don’t even notice. All my attention is trained on him, the way the color has drained from his face. “Arlo, please—”

Before I can finish, Kylian whips the blanket around my front, bundles me up, and sweeps forward to seat himself upright. His body shields most of me from Arlo’s view, but there’s nothing to protect me from Arlo’s disgust.

“It’s not what you think,” I say, but it sounds weak, insubstantial. Arlo wavers between a thousand facial expressions: outrage, betrayal, stony disbelief.

“Arlo, we haven’t been . . . This was the first—”

“Don’t, I don’t want to hear any more lies.” He turns for the door, then pauses swinging back around. Arlo’s fists flex. “Was it ever real for you? All these years, were you just leading me along? Was I just someone to lean on until—”

“Arlo, of course it was real. Please, just let me try to explain. It’s not that simple.” I stand abruptly as he turns to go.

“You don’t need to explain anything. You owe him nothing,” Kylian says.

Arlo scoffs and stops in the doorway. “But she owes you, right? Because you bought her. You fucking own her. She doesn’t want you. She never did. The Alessia I knew would never touch a monster like you.”

Blood thunders in my head so loudly I can barely breathe, but Kylian cuts through the haze with the kind of death-cold calm that prefaces a bloodbath.

“You should choose your next words carefully,” Kylian warns calmly, but there is nothing calm about it, because beneath the surface, the rage engulfing him promises violence.