Page 186 of Hidden Kingdoms

Returning to my task, I ran my fingers over the small piles of jewellery that littered the sideboard, sliding on more rings before I moved on, drifting to the bookshelf that was crammed with all manner of things. A crystal jar full of feathers I had found on my walks sat next to a sad-looking plant in a hand-painted pot. Large, white towers of selenite were being used as bookends, and old dusty bottles of forgotten perfume were lined on the top shelf. Books from romance novels to dog training manuals filled the rest of the space. I pulled out a few I knew I hadn’t yet read, weighing them in my hands, unsure when, if ever, I would end up back in the library at the palace.

Did I want to go back in there?

My eyes flitted over the titles of my romances I had picked out as I wondered if my newfound power worked on all books.

The romance ones would be especially interesting.

They were added along with a carved wooden box that held jewellery, one of many that were dotted all around my house. I didn’t bother opening it to see what was inside. After a moment of hesitation, I pulled a bag of spare tools from a shelf, knowingthere would be offcuts of gold and misshapen gems rattling around the bottom.

I could sense Kaius as he moved around, taking in all the details of my world before he came into it.

Deciding I was done in my room, I left, stepping over the shattered remains of my door—ignoring the grind of wood beneath my feet. I headed for the bathroom, knowing it was pointless taking toiletries when everything had been provided for me, but I was going to anyway.

Tugging on the pull cord, the lights flickered on, and I caught my reflection in the mirror above the sink. Moving closer, my hands gripped the cold porcelain as I stared at myself, the contrast to what I had seen the last time I looked into it to now, was vast.

I could see more of the little girl who struggled to find a place in the world in the polished surface than ever before, though the eyes that looked back at me held none of her youthful wonder.

I’d had no idea what was waiting for me as I fell into that fitful sleep. I was still none the wiser on what was waiting in the days ahead. My eyes drifted to the coils of white hair that was escaping its confines, the light lashes that framed my dark eyes, slightly larger than most people’s. The face that had always been a little different, that had ensured—even as a child—I had always been somethingother.

I should of paid that closer attention.

Polly had been the only one to step closer, to join the strange world me and Nanna had existed within.

I pulled myself from the ache of a childhood excluded, finding my gaze drawn to the crystal jar where I had put the necklace Nanna had gifted me. The one I had snapped only hours before everything in my life changed forever. Now it was empty, only the white expanse of the sink showing through the bottom.

One hand still gripping the warming porcelain, I turned slowly, scanning the room for a sign that anything else was amiss, but there was none. Nothing else had been moved or taken, same with the rest of the house.

I found myself in the mirror once more, unsure how to feel about the brightness shining from my eyes, or the way my skin glowed just a little, and the need for my own things, to be in my own home continued to bleed away.

What difference would it make if I used the shampoo in the half-empty bottles lined along the tub instead of the ones back at the palace? Neither would help me find the truth in who I was, and in some ways, being here muddied that even more.

I left empty-handed, moving through the hall on autopilot until the gentle ring of the wind chimes from beyond the front door halted me.

From where I stood, poised on the edge of my bedroom, a sliver of the front door was visible. An exit, freedom. I could run now. From the Fae waiting in my room, from the uncertainty of what I was returning to.

He’d just find me again.

It wasn’t an easy thing to accept that I didn’t want to run. I wanted to find my place.

To go back in there and see the grin on Kaius’ face directed my way, feel his hands on my skin, taste his lips on mine. I wanted Marcellus to help me control the power that flowed within me and stay in his strange orbit that pulled me closer.

I was even ready for another round with Bastian if necessary; wiping the smirk off his smug, handsome face would always be worth it.

Turning from the false promise of freedom the door provided, I returned to my room to find Kaius laid out on my bed—boots dangling off the side with his hands clasped behind his head as he sunk into my pillows. Empty-handed, I peeredinto the holdall next to him, pressing my lips together hard to suppress a grin at the obscene pile of frilly underwear I had definitely not added.

Arching a brow, I poked through it, pulling out a highly impractical navy teddy. My body came alive as his eyes dragged over it, then me. “I don’t think there’s enough in here, you should add some more.”

With a speed that caught me off guard, Kaius lunged up, his height meaning he easily reached me. I squealed as he grabbed my waist, pulling me onto the bed until I straddled him. My hands landed on his hard chest as I steadied myself laughing, the teddy abandoned on the bed beside us.

“Well, why don’t you model some for me, and that way, I can pick my favourites,” he suggested, hands tightening on my waist despite the excess fabric that hung around me from his oversized jumper, and heat flooded my core at the constriction.

“I thought you said we didn’t have long,” I teased, fingers trailing over the collar of his own black jumper, just barely brushing the tattooed skin of his neck.

“We can make time.” His voice was a low husky sound now as my fingers continued their journey, feather soft over the hollow of his neck.

“For all that?” I followed the path of a vine that climbed the column of his neck, just slightly dragging my nail over the sensitive spot below his ear.

Kaius surged forward, my breath catching as his hand grasped the nape of my neck, pulling me into him and kissing me hard. I met him eagerly as our mouths moved with each other, tongues stroking.

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