Page 42 of Blood of Two Crowns

To blend in.

I’d been hiding in plain sight my entire fucking life.As had Nakoa.

Nakoa’s brow tensed as if urging me on, and I didn’t miss the disappointment that flashed across his face. As his head began to turn back towards the crowd, my heart cracked and my beast threw itself against the wall I’d built up around him as we watched my window of opportunity begin to close.

No.

Every cell in my body lit up with my magic and that fleeting, searing pain of the shift as I allowed my drakonati to take over. Shouts and cries rang out as my drakonati’s head rose high above the crowd. I had to crouch down low so as not tobreak through the ceiling of the throne room. Lords and Ladies screamed, chairs screeching and toppling as they tried to flee.

Nakoa and hisolana kah’heicraned their heads to look up at me. With the exception of Nakoa and Rumiel, everyone’s jaws dropped.

Nakoa swiftly tucked his wings in close to reveal his monstrous and formidableolana kah’heistanding closely behind him. The Lords and Ladies among the crowd began to angrily shout their dissent as my soldiers roared their approval.

Clearly infused with magic, Nakoa’s voice boomed throughout the throne room.“Silence.”

The room grew so quiet you’d have heard a coin drop.

“I welcome those of you who deem me unfit to rule to challenge me.”

Nakoa raised a black-clawed hand. “I’ll even do you a favor and glamor away my nephilim form to bolster your courage,”he called out as his features turned fae, “but I implore you to ask yourself one question: are you ready to greet Mors?”

Chapter

Twenty-Two

NAKOA

I’d chosen to forgo the ritual of hosting a feast after the coronation. It feltwrongto celebrate anything without Mareina here. Without her, there was no reason to celebrate, and it had become increasingly obvious to me that I would fail to even become half the king I’d always dreamed of without her at my side.

For the first time since I was a faeling, I woke up in a puddle of my own cum after a dream of Mareina—and sharing her with Malekai—filtered through my still-waking mind. Something within me was still powerfully resistant to the idea, but I also couldn’t ignore that something about the idea had begun to feelright.

I cleaned myself up, taking a quick shower after opting to pull my own soiled sheets off the bed to spare one of the palace staff the task. As I dressed, my eyes caught on the crown now sitting in an elegantly carved, velvet-lined wooden box.Waiting.

Embrace the King you are destined to be,my Knowingness whispered.

Though my guilt had greatly lessened since my conversation with Malekai, a shadow of shame seeped into my veins as my logical mind reminds me of the fact that I disrespected anddishonoured my ownsoulbound. Woundedher on every level. Took advantage of her. And now, because I had endlessly abused her trust, she was gone just as Miroslav had warned.

Desperate to escape the weight settling on my chest, I left the crown in its box as that voice in my head whispered my unworthiness.Perhaps that was why my visions had become so infrequent lately.

I sigh in relief when I hear a knock on the door, a welcome distraction from the glaring reminder of my misdeeds.

Having wanted to avoid guards listening in on me at all hours of the night and day, I opened the door myself to come face to face with Malekai. There was a slight tension between us and I couldn’t help but wonder if he’d had the same dream as I did.

Did Mareinashare the dream?

“Zurie requested one of the guards fetch you, but I’d heard you’d dismissed them… So I thought it might be better if I came to get you.”

His eyes wandered to the bedroom behind me, nostrils flaring before a knowing smirk tipped up a corner of his mouth. The exceedingly unfamiliar sensation of embarrassment had blood rushing to my cheeks. He graciously pretended not to notice and merely clapped me on the shoulder before walking away. “Me too, buddy.”

“Hello, Zurie.” Zurie’s features tensed, mouth curling in a barely-there frown. “Nakoa.”

My eyes lifted to Thalia, who gave me a guilt-less smirk that made my hackles rise. “As unseasoned as I may be at this court posturing bullshit, I can’t imagine stealing a prisoner is the best way to go about gaining allies.”

Thalia’s bored look shifted to an entirely different person that took me several moments to recognize.

Keres.

Malekai, who stood beside me, huffed an unimpressed laugh. Rumiel’s expression gave nothing away to belie the anger I felt pouring off him in waves. Whether it was towards Keres and Zurie, or just Zurie, I had no idea.

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