Page 65 of The Princess and Her Grand King

Countless times, he had almost crossed over to the human world to get her. To bring her back. But guilt always stopped him.

How could he want another woman so desperately, when his lifetime bondmate lay beneath the ground, dead because of his failure to protect her?

How could he desire a human so fiercely?

How could he lie awake at night, not thinking of Evie, but of Emeriel? Thinking about her in his bed, wondering what the future would have felt like with her.

He had felt like the worst kind of traitor. Torn from two angles, and neither was merciful.

And when he finally stood at the great mountains, ready to cross over and bring Emeriel back, the crushing guilt had tripled tenfold, nearly suffocating him. So, he had turned back, returning to face his broken kingdom, and his even more broken self.

TheSoulbondhad torn him to pieces.

But if it had been that excruciating for him, Daemonikai shuddered to think how much worse it must have been for Emeriel.

She had carried the bond longer, nurtured it more deeply.

"Are you alright?" Her voice brought him back to the present. She was standing in front of him, her expression cool, but her eyes searching.

No. No, I’m not, Emeriel.

She was stronger than he’d ever given her credit for. Far stronger than her delicate frame suggested. Not just physically, but in every other way.

She had walked through fire, and it had changed her. Hardened her. It was evident in every aspect of her being–the way she moved, spoke, looked. The guarded expression in her eyes.

Will she ever forgive me? Will she ever give us a chance?

Daemonikai let the bow and arrow slip from his grasp, clattering to the ground, and in one fast move, seized her shoulders and spun her around.

Moving with lightning speed, he pressed her against the rough bark of a nearby tree.

"What are you doing!?" Emeriel gasped, startled.

"I need you to listen to me, Emeriel," Daemonikai said quietly.

"No, don't." Fire blazed in her eyes, and her fists clenched against his hold. "Donot!"

"I need to—"

"Let me go! I do not want to hear it." Desperation seeped into her voice, her tone rising… frantic. "Idon’twant to hear it!"

"But Ihaveto."

She began to struggle, fighting him with a fierceness that surprised him.

Twisting away, pushing him, snarling at him, scratching anywhere she could get her hands on.

Daemonikai hadn’t expected that physical strength. Or how angrily she fought back.

But he easily subdued her, pinning her hands to her sides, his body pressed firmly against hers, caging her in.

"Let me go," she whispered, her head tilted back against the tree trunk, resignation replacing her struggle.

Her eyes were squeezed shut, as if trying to block him out. "Just let me go."

"I'm so sorry, Emeriel," Daemonikai said, words tumbling out with raw emotion. "From the depths of my heart and the bottom of my soul, I am so sorry. I should have never sent you away. I should have handled it all better."

Only the sounds of birdsong and rustling leaves answered him.

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