Page 80 of Phoenix Falling
“The people won’t accept her.”
As his queen? The Archai had their prejudices, but my guess was, if Sun was happy, they’d accept her despite her issues. If Sun fought for her, they would acquiesce. It was all contingent on his attitude.
“That is up to you, not them.”
“Is it?”
“Your people followed you even when you defied their king. What do you think, Sun?”
He rubbed a hand down his face. “I think I don’t deserve that kind of loyalty, not after what I’ve done to my own mate.”
My patience evaporated in an instant. “For fuck’s sake,” I barked, “snap out of the self-pity. It doesn’t suit you.” Right now we needed the Sun who was an arrogant asshole, not the soft side. The emotional-mate side.
Sun laughed. Granted, the sound was a bit sickly, but I’d take what I could get here. “I mean it, Grim. I don’t know how to fix this.”
“You fix this by taking charge of Risk just like you have everything else in your life.”
He shoved his fingers through his hair. “Something tells me she’s not going to just lie back and let me do that.”
“That’s why you’re king. You get the tough jobs.” And Risk was going to be a tough job, no doubt about it. She wasn’t a female to simply roll over and let Sun take charge. But that was exactly why she was perfect for him. “She’s your mate. Your entire life—and maybe your people’s lives—depends on the outcome of this battle. Do whatever you have to do to win it. To win her.”
“And don’t fuck it up too badly?”
“You said it, not me.”
The sound of footsteps hurrying across the cobblestone path from the throne room had us both turning in that direction. I flipped my hood back over my head a second before Nala’s petite figure appeared at the cave entrance.
“My king.”
Sun’s growl was more vibration than sound. I hoped Nala was too distracted to notice.
“Is something wrong, Nala?”
She acknowledged me with a nod. “I’m not certain, Aomai,” she said respectfully, “but possibly.”
“What is it?” Sun asked.
She fiddled absentmindedly with the bracelet encircling her wrist before responding. “I went to visit the new female, to check that she was all right.”
Sun groaned in my mind. I braced myself for a coming reprimand. Nala might appear timid to some, but I knew better. When it came to her charges, she wouldn’t hesitate to admonish a king.
“That female—” More fiddling. “Sir, I’ve seen her before.”
“You have?” I asked. “Where?”
“On my first visit to the coffee shop to meet with Raine. They are friends.”
Oh shit.
“Risk is friends with the female who escaped an Anigma attack?” Suspicion filled Sun’s words. “Why?”
Nala’s brow creased. “I don’t know. But I think it’s something we need to figure out.”
Sun strode toward the exit without another word, headed, no doubt, for his mate’s cell. I hurried after and prayed he remembered what I’d told him, but somehow I got the feeling that, when it came to Risk, the only way Sun operated was by instinct. Which likely meant fucking up all over again.
Badly.
ChapterThirty-One
