Page 59 of Crown of Wrath

She chuckles as she slowly sits up with a groan. “I feel like I was hit by a full team of horses and the wagon they were pulling.” Each word sounds like it’s being dragged over sandpaper, and I immediately go to the bedside table to pour a cup of water from the pitcher for her.

“I’m sure you’re thirsty,” I say, handing her the pewter cup.

“Thank you,” she whispers, her voice seeming to fail as she takes the water and drinks it down. She looks up at me, her eyes wandering over my body, and she smiles. “I’ve missed you, Cole.”

“I never left your side.” There’s nothing else to say. “I knew you were going to wake up. I never doubted, not even once.”

She chuckles. “I doubted more than once. You made it sound like it would be easy, and it was anything but. Please tell me you have some food. I feel like I haven’t eaten in months.”

“It’s been six weeks since you… fell asleep.” The words come out of my mouth slowly. Carefully. I don’t know what she knows and what she doesn’t. Does she remember it wasn’t me that promised her to be here? Does she remember the thing that shattered her? “You’ve only eaten a little bit of porridge each day. I’m sure you’re ravenous.”

She looks at me with a sparkle in her eyes. “I’d say I’m ravenous, but we should probably eat first.”

I blink. That isn’t what I’d expected. “Let me ask our footman to get you some food.”

Without saying anything else, I walk into the sitting room and take a deep breath. She’s awake. She’s not dead. She’s not shattered. She’s awake and alive, and everything is going to be good again.

I still feel like a wave of shock is rolling through me, but I need to get Maeve some food. When I open the door, I tell the footman, “I need a tray of food that’s meant for three people. Get a little bit of everything. Some bread, meat, cheese, and fruit.”

He looks at me a little confused, but then he nods. I can’t remember his name, but he hasn’t shied away from us, even though most humans are terrified every time that I walk into a room with them here.

I close the door behind me as I walk back into the sitting room. I have to remind myself that nothing else matters beyond the fact that Maeve is awake and not broken. I’ll take things slowly with her. I won’t push her to talk. I won’t push her to remember things that hurt. I just want her to get her bearings before she has to come to any realizations about what happened.

When I walk into the bedroom, I’m shocked again. Maeve is standing in front of the full-length mirror, completely naked. “I’ve lost every bit of muscle, haven’t I?” she asks.

I can’t help but look at her. Her curves are gone, but it’s still her. It’s still the woman I fell in love with, and now she’s talking. Now she’s awake, and that’s the most beautiful sight I could imagine. “You haven’t eaten anything real in six weeks. Your body consumed your muscles to keep you from dying.”

She sighs as she stares at herself. “All that training. Months of it. All gone. I can’t fight now, can I?”

She turns to me and sees me staring at her, concern in my eyes, and shadows slide from her fingertips, a welcome sign. They crawl across the floor as she looks at me. I follow them as they climb my legs, staying on the outside of my pants. Then they cross my chest, wrapping around me and leaving my skin tingling.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

She ignores me, and the shadows become more solid. They swirl and glide over my chest, but then they slide under my pants’ waistband, so similar to how I would touch her body as the Shade. That part of me that has lain dormant for so long comes to life as I stare at her.

I’ve wanted Maeve for nearly as long as I’ve known her. At first it was a physical attraction, no different from how I’d feel toward any other beautiful female. Then it changed. It became something more. It became stronger until that desire was for so much more than just her body. The bond we share only facilitated that need.

I step toward her, and she says, “Not this time, Cole. This time, you’re not the one in charge.”

Her shadows tighten, holding me in place, and even if I were to try to move toward her, I couldn’t. Then I feel her in my mind at the same time. She stands next to the obsidian tower that hasmore cracks than ever since the crystal that had once flowed over the base of that tower has stopped growing while she slept.

Maeve presses her fingertips against the tower, and my mind is flooded with memories. All the times that the Shade manipulated her body. The way he’d teased her. The way he’d pushed her until she begged for his touch. The way he’d even tried to convince her to give into accepting a “shadow crown”.

Then I hear her voice in my mind as the shadows wrap around my physical body. They tighten around my cock, gripping me so tightly that I try to pull away. Maeve’s shadows have complete control over me, the thin tendrils supporting and restraining me.

The images in my mind continue to play, but Maeve’s voice sounds over it all. “The Shade told me that when I left my mind, he would be all mine. Is that still true?”

Her words terrify me in the best way. That scent of fresh rain—her scent—is everywhere, calling to me in ways that it never has before. “Yes. He won’t hold back.”

Her nails brush against my cheek, but all I can see is her bound in a forest, begging for more than teasing. “Good,” she breathes, and it’s like her words have become shadows, whispering over me and binding me just as tightly.

“You’re the Shade, Cole Cyrus. I remember everything. Your vows. Your betrayals. Your lust. Your love. I remember everything, Cole, and I don’t want the Shade. I want you.”

The memories stop playing in my mind, and my vision clears, leaving her in front of me, a hunger in her eyes that I can’t remember ever seeing before. “I remember the way you gave everything you were to save the world. I remember you accepting the blame when you were nothing but a tool. I remember you protecting me from myself and saving me and being the one person who always bore the burden. Cole Cyrus, you have been exactly what I need.”

Her nails run from my cheek to my throat, and then to my chest, a thin white line left in their wake. “You accepted your punishment once for what I said was a mistake. You accepted my blame and anger. You bore the pain of being the one person I could hurt. I treated you just like your father did, and that will never happen again.”

She smiles as her fingers move down my arm to my hand. “Show me your flames, Prince,” she whispers as her fingers brush my wrist. I’m confused at what she’s doing, but I do as she says, flames flickering to life in my palms.

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