Page 34 of To Claim a King

The weak golden filigrees coming out of her hands went blazing gold, and hefelther breathe out easier immediately. He followed them back and eastward, this time, feeling himself growing weak, but feeding as much as he could through the bond. If they died together, so be it.

His own flesh unexpectedly regained some energy; that bond, hedidrecognize. Vincent. He didn’t have to turn to know that his cousin, though far from them, and unable to fly, was also emptying himself of whatever life force he could spare, and sending it to him

Xandrie may not have managed to rebuild the wall if the foundations laid by his mother hadn’t been there. And she would never have managed to do half of it, untrained as she was, without his help, and Vincent’s, too. But between the four of them, they somehow did get a shaky, rocky, uncertain barrier going.

By the time they were done, the dark figure had run back to its woods, chased away, for now. Rhey knew, without the shadow of a doubt, that it would come back.

They didn’t land as much as crash on the floor, but their men had their backs, so they felt free to collapse. It was nightfall before any of them woke up.

Xandrie was already up, and sitting next to him, when Rhey regained consciousness. The first thing he did was cup her chin in his hand, and growl a low, threatening, “Never again.”

She wasn’t going to put herself in danger like this again. She just wasn’t.

The damn woman just laughed.

“Right. Or,every single timesomething comes at us, I’ll just get better at kicking their asses.”

He had a few things to say about that, but first, and more importantly, he had something else to do. His lips captured hers - finally,finally -and devoured them, unwilling to let her go. Ever again.

This was everything that mattered, he felt it down to his entrails, sealing their bond forever, by right of flesh.

“I’ll wed you soon,” he swore, “But when I get you home, I’m going to feast on you and fuck you until the morrow because, Alexandria, you’re mine. And we’re alive.”

Thanks to her.

“I’m okay with fucking. Please. Pretty please.”

The woman was going to be the death of him, of that, he was certain.

Nathos saidtheir wall would hold.

“You’re sure? Because I basically had no idea what I was doing. I just pushed energy through the marks I could feel between each guard post.”

“And that’s exactly what it needed - living energy. Joda did an incredibly powerful thing, but it was fading and she wasn’t there to rekindle it. We’ll reform the guard here, but you did good. We’re safe thanks to you.”

By the time they’d made it to Tenelar, the word had somehow already spread, and they were greeted by the entire Kingdom, kneeling before their King, their Prince, Princess, and their Rider. Xandrie looked awkward, but took the honor graciously, collecting each flower thrown at her on her lap.

Then, they were finally home - with three thousand servants, seven hundred residents and as many guests - but none of those mattered.

He helped her down from her horse, and wordlessly took her hand, leading her away.

“My King…” Nathos started.

“Not now. Day off. Two of them. Call me if the whole world burns.”

Alive

He didn’t thinkthe world burning might actually have stopped either of them now. He had his hands on the woman that, not even a day ago, he might have lost; the woman who belonged to him. He wasn’t gentle, and nor was she.

Rhey had only meant to kiss her before they’d reached his door, but she jumped on him and wrapped her long legs around his hips, plastering her heat against his – groaning against her, he cursed out loud and pinned her to the closest wall, his hand seeking the warmth of her flesh under the fucking stupid armor.

“You’ll wear a shield, next fucking time,” he growled.

He wasn’t great at removing battle gear – people did these things for him. He made such a mess out of finding all the hooks and bolts that she somehow managed to stay dressed until he’d reached his den.

They were both laughing at his door, but when he pushed it open, Xandrie just gasped in astonishment.

His lair took over the entire basement of the palace; for close to a mile there was nothing but mountains of gold.

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