Page 59 of Blackwarden
He took a sharp breath, as if my proximity was too much, too intense. It wasn’t fear, it was...longing. I leaned closer, brushing my lips over his, the heat of him soaking into my blood. When I shut my eyes, he was there, with gold-stained lips from the last revel. Sprawled out on a futon at my feet. There was another male, almost superimposed. Gold chains, his skin beneath my fingertips.
I closed the distance, kissing him gently at first, feeling his tongue glide along my lips before I opened my mouth to him. Firewrithed through my veins—hot and delirious and terrifying. I needed more. I wrapped my fingers around his neck, feeling his pulse flutter against my palm.
I lost myself in the delicious scent of his skin, my fingers tracing the muscles of his arms to his neck and over his collarbones. A memory of a man sitting across a table—his hair was short, but the same color blue. He had black horns but was so pale. He smirked at me with daring eyes.
I knew him.
The Blackwarden strained against the shackles, pressing his body against mine and deepening the kiss. A soft moan vibrated through him into me, igniting my entire body as my hands trailed down the sides of his torso. Firm muscles flexed beneath my touch. So soft. His skin was so soft. I’d felt this skin before. Pale skin, a beautiful face.
I knew him.
When I finally...reluctantly stepped back, his silver eyes glowed a dangerous white, his lips still parted as he stared at me with more wanting than I was prepared for. The need in the way his shoulders rose and fell with each ragged breath he took broke me in half, yanking a piece of my soul to leave at his feet.
“You need to go,” he growled, as shadows built behind him, swallowing his wings and reaching around him like twisted fingers. “Please.”
I blinked a few times, not fully registering what he said. Slowly his words settled over me like new snow, cooling the heat that writhed through me like a boiling river. I turned and ran, not looking back, not bothering to close the door behind me. I ran through the empty hall of Bevgyah’s palace with tears obscuring the lower half of my vision and a fading memory of a man who looked like the Blackwarden.
I didn’t make it far.
As I rounded a corner I ran square into a guard and stumbled on to my backside. Shaking away my momentary double vision, I found myself looking up into the armored mask of one of Bevgyah’s guards. It was the one with orange skin hiding beneath his visor,the one who had dragged me to the queen before. He lunged for me, but I scrambled away, slamming my back against a wall and pressing the breath from my lungs. Choking, I tried to sidestep, but he was faster and a hot hand clamped down hard on my wrist.
“Her Majesty has been looking for you.”
Something about the way he nearly yanked me off my feet was different and dangerous. There was conviction as he dragged me back down the hall I’d just come. My feet scraped over the stone as I writhed in his solid grip. I wasn’t strong enough, and after a moment of struggling against him, I changed tactics.
“What does she want with me?”
He didn’t answer, instead he jerked me along harder, sending threads of pain down my arm. I’d managed to escape Bevgyah’s hungry hands, but how many times had it been her Blackwarden stopping her? And if he wasn’t there to help me because he was shackled in his room...?
I’d seen what she did to him, it wasn’t hard to believe she would do the same or worse to me. With renewed fear simmering in my stomach, I tried to pull away from the guard again, but his hand squeezed tighter, bruising my arm. I had no choice. I was going to the queen whether I liked it or not.
He knocked before entering then thrust me to the ground, my knees slamming into the unforgiving stone. I yelped in pain as I collapsed in front of Bevgyah where she sat on a plush sofa, twirling a braid of hair around her index finger. She was alone, a glass of golden wine in her other hand.
“Ah, my favorite pet. We have much to discuss.” She waved away the guard, and he pulled the door closed behind him. “Tell me, have you touched my Blackwarden without my permission?”
I was frozen in terror. I had. I’d kissed him when I found him chained up in his room. I’d run my hands over his gorgeous body. I’d longed for more. How had she found out, I’d only just fled from his room? Was there some way of knowing? Some Fae magic that could reveal the shadows of my fingers on the Blackwarden’s beautiful skin?
“He was chained up in his room,” I slammed my hands over my mouth. I hadn’t meant to speak. The words had tumbled from me before I could stop them.
Her eyes narrowed. “And what were you doing in his room?”
She stood, walking with slow deliberate steps in my direction, every sway of her hips mesmerizing as I tried to think of the answer to her question that wasn’t absolutely ridiculous. I’d been there because I’d had a bad feeling. But how could I explain this to her when she was the reason for the bad feeling? She traced her fingers over my bare shoulders as she walked around me then stopped abruptly, smoothing over the spot on my neck that the miniscule Fae had pointed out when I’d first woken in this place.
“I haven’t noticed this before.” She pushed my hair away, running her fingers through to the ends. “Where did this mark come from?”
My breath hitched. How was I going to explain this? I didn’t remember where I’d gotten it. Only that the little Fae female had been concerned enough that she’d concealed it.
“I don’t know, your Majesty.” I swallowed hard. “I had it when I arrived.”
She sucked in a sharp breath across her teeth. “I see.”
She circled me again as I started trembling beneath her merciless stare. “Sweet Tesanna. I have only a few rules for my maidens.” She stood in front of me, anger glittering in her eyes as shadows seemed to swirl up her legs to her torso. It was the same magic she’d used to restrain her Blackwarden at the last revel, and it only made my trembling intensify. “The most important being that you cannottouchmy Blackwarden without my permission.”
I couldn’t move as the shadows curled around my legs, freezing the blood in my muscles firmly in place. I just stared into her frigid eyes, my heart racing, body rigid. She would kill me, or worse, she would punish me as she’d punished him.
And I deserved it.
Chapter 30 ~ Broken Rules
