Page 45 of The Bone King and the Starling

His gaze returns to mine and his mouth opens, but he doesn’t say a word. Instead, I watch in fascination as his cheeks flush the brightest pink. He comes forward, towards me, and I don’t back away. Not even as he stands less than half a pace away from me and brings two of his blood-coated fingers to my right cheek. He makes a single downward stroke from my temple to my jawline before repeating the motion on the other side of my face.

I know the mark and its meaning. It’s a warrior’s mark. I’ve only seen it delivered once, when Winterbren was raided when I was young and a then-young Viccra killed one of the raiders. He hadn’t been to Ithanuir then, but he still managed to best a male.It was his first kill and Olec had given him this mark. Viccra had been celebrated that night. To receive a similar mark now makes me feel a little horrified but also…so seen.

I’ve never… A warrior? Me?

I begin to stutter, but stop when I feel something hard touch my hand. I look down to see that he’s returned my dagger — his dagger — to my fingertips. I take it.

The king’s hands then move to my face and mold around my ears. He grips me tightly and moves our foreheads to touch. His breath caresses my nose and mouth and chin, smelling of the wine Moira gave him, yet it did not seem to impede his fighting abilities at all.

I wonder if it’s me or if it’s him that shakes.

“Calai,” I say in a rush.

He sucks in a breath as if he’d been holding his, waiting for me to speak. “You ran from me.”

“Yes,” I say, starting to shake. I cobble together a thousand apologies in my mind, but I can get none of them past the gate of my teeth. “I know you…”

He cuts me off, his voice a deep and loud boom that acts as a hook in my stomach, pulling everything up. “And then you came back,” he whispers.

“Yes.”

“To save my life.” His hand moves down the side of my body, fingertips trailing over the outside of my arm until he reaches my hand. He squeezes my fist around the dagger and when he exhales, he sounds even shakier than I am. “Thank you, little bird.”

Thank you is not what I expected to hear from him now, and the terror it lifts from my bones is enough to make me fall to my feet. He catches me. His hand slides around my lower back and he pulls me up against his body, not seeming to care at all for the dagger I still hold in my fist. I release it, knowing that I wouldnever — could never — use it against him. This man isn’t here to hurt me. How could I have ever thought he was?

“I couldn’t let him hurt you.”

He presses his mouth to the edge of mine, tasting me, but not enough. Not enough… “You were so brave.”

His beard brushes my much softer skin, almost too roughly as he seeks to be closer, ever closer. He’s pulling at my low back, at my face and neck, pressing his cheek to mine. I breathe him in and though I’m frightened, I feel a sudden…desperation. For him. For this. It may just be my crashing nerves or the battle lust the men speak of when they fell their opponents, but I need…everything.

“I was so scared…”

“But you were more afraid for me than of me.” Violent towards you or violent for you? There is a difference.

I nod, tears I didn’t know needed release crashing down now. “Yes. I’m sorry, Calai. I didn’t…”

“No, no, shh… Shh.” He gathers me to his chest, lifting my feet off of the ground and bringing me entirely into his heat and his shadows. He wraps his arms fully around my low back and shoulders, encasing me in his warmth as he is careful not to touch my center back. “It is I who am sorry, little bird. My queen. I should have taken better care. I exacted a revenge I wanted for acts committed against you. I revenged for me. It was wrong. I should have asked you what you wanted. I will not make that mistake again…”

“I just… When I saw your violence… You reminded me of my father, of Rosalind, of everyone who’s ever raised a hand to me. I feared you’d just become another… That if I ever displeased you, you’d cast me aside or worse. I have nothing, Calai. I cannot stop you.”

“You can. You always can. We come from two worlds, just as Raya and Ghabari do. But it is Raya who turns Ghabari’s headand stays his hand, just as you can mine. Do not allow me to displease you, little bird, and I vow that I will not ruin your tenderness with violence.”

I wrap my arms around his neck and squeeze him with all the force that I have. He squeezes me back to the point that I can scarcely take in more breath. He says to me gruffly, “You are strong, and you are powerful and I am yours to command, my queen.”

“I’m so sorry, Calai. I should have found courage earlier…”

“You found it when it counted.”

“I should have trusted you…”

“Shh.” He strokes my hair. “There will be time for that.” And then his voice breaks. “If you’ll still have me?”

I force distance between us and look up at him, our faces so very close together. I hold his cheeks between my hands and smile, choking on my next laugh. This is not at all how I expected this meeting to go, and I am so grateful to the insidious Tori for having ruined my earlier plans.

“I’ll have you, Calai, if you’ll still have me?”

He smiles and shocks me by betraying a gloss to his gaze that was not there before. “I will have you every day, for the tender, beautiful, strong, courageous, brilliant and bloodthirsty thing that you are. You are my queen and you have my heart.”

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