Page 9 of Her King

His plan from last night runs on repeat through my mind. The risks, the fallout from what we plan on doing.

“It wasn’t supposed to be mine either,” he says quietly.

His voice is lower than usual. Rough. Like he’s been holding something back too long. “I could’ve died and now you’re talking about using me as bait.”

“But you didn’t die.” His hands brush my arms from behind. “Because you’re meant to do more. To be more.”

“I’m tired of being more,” I whisper.

I feel him press his forehead between my shoulder blades. A breath trembles out of him. “You don’t have to be more right now,” he says. “Just ... be with me. We’ll figure out the rest later.”

I turn in his arms. The look in his eyes is raw. No bravado, no shields. Just Niko, future king, warrior, Fae, man, offering me something I didn’t know I needed. He offers safety. Not from magik but from loneliness.

I rise on my toes and kiss him. There’s nothing soft about it.

His mouth claims mine like he’s starving. Like the world ended and I’m the only thing left worth tasting. I fist my hands in his shirt and pull him closer, until there’s no space between us, only heat and breath and magik flaring under our skin.

When he lifts me into his arms, I don’t resist. When he lays me on the bed, I don’t hesitate. There’s no fear. Just this need—this knowing—that whatever happens tomorrow, I want tonight to be ours.

His hands explore like he’s memorizing me. Not like a lover, like a devotee. Worshiping every curve, every gasp. His mouth trails fire down my neck, over my chest, down to my breasts, nipping and licking my nipples until they are turgid peaks.

“Niko,” I whisper, arching into him, overwhelmed and undone by this moment, by him.

His lips find mine again. “Say yes,” he murmurs against my skin. “Say you’re mine.”

“I was yours the moment I touched you.”

He pushes his cock into me slowly, not fucking me but claiming me. He rocks into me with long measured thrusts that reach spots inside me I wasn’t aware I had. His gaze is locked on mine, love shining brightly even though we’ve never said the words.

He opens his thoughts and emotions to me. I am slammed with images of the future he envisions for us. He sees me swollen with a child—our child—he sees us happy, fulfilled. He sees peace for this realm and the others.

My orgasm crests and sweeps me under dragging him along. For long moments after, neither of us move, just regaining our breathing and drinking in the moment.

His hand palms my cheek. “I love you, Cassandra. And I will do whatever it takes to keep you.”

Chapter Eight

The Awakening

Cassandra

I wake to silence. A strange kind of silence, too full and too still. The kind that feels like something is holding its breath.

Niko is still beside me, one arm slung around my waist, his breathing slow and steady against my shoulder. The early morning sun filters in through the balcony doors, but the room feels off. Like the magik in it has shifted.

No. it’s not the room. It’s me. I sit up slowly.

The sheets fall away leaving me naked, but I barely notice. My skin is glowing, softly, faintly, like moonlight caught in a glass jar. Purple-white pulses shimmer just beneath the surface, traveling like veins of stardust down my arms and torso, and down to my thighs.

“What the hell...” I whisper to myself.

I slide out of bed, my feet touching the cool tiled floor. Every step feels weightless. My fingers tingle and when I lift my hand, sparks flicker between my fingertips, elegant and controlled.

And then I hear the whisper. It’s not a voice but a pull. Like something ancient and buried has cracked open inside me.

“Niko,” I say, turning back. “Wake up.”

He does, instantly. His eyes are sharp, body tense, all warrior in this moment. His gaze falls on me right before his eyes widen.

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