Page 27 of The Curse of a Kingdom
Panicked, Nava kicked and pulled, and the man slammed her into the wall again. She picked up her leg and kicked his metal-clad crotch.
Even though protected, the metal screeched under her strength. The man hissed and briefly let go. She gasped for air, but before a scream could leave her lips, he was back on her, his magic overtaking her senses.
She flailed under his grasp. Her strength was so low, she didn’t have it in her to fight. It was as if her life was being sucked away. A fresh sense of panic took over before the weight of the man flew off her.
Nava fell to the ground like a boneless pile of meat. The surrounding commotion was unmistakable. Footsteps running toward her, wind blowing over her face with the scent of cayenne.
Nava was too cold to feel much. However, she opened her eyes and focused on the looming shape of a man with ebony wings. Warmth spread through her body as relief took over, but it wasn’t her relief.
“You shouldn’t have done that.” Arkimedes’s voice was colder than the magic that had been used to attack her. For a moment, Nava thought he was speaking to her as the gentle caress of his glove touched the side of her jaw. His features sharpened when their eyes met. Arkimedes frowned before rising to his feet and turning away from her. “What made you think you could touch her?”
“Your Highness.” The man’s voice shook with fear. Nava guessed he wasn't so cocky now that he was face to face with her soulmate. Arkimedes grabbed the fae’s neck, so fast Nava had a hard time following from her spot on the ground.
He slammed the guard against the wall, much like the man had done with her a moment ago, and his armor bent under such force. “Answer me. I’m not a patient man.”
“We found her outside her room!” the fae said, trying to inhale behind Arkimedes’s hold. “It’s the law. We . . . execute . . . if we find a prisoner outside their cells!”
“She is not one for you to punish!” Arkimedes slammed the fae again, and the helmet caved before it fell to the ground with a loud crash.
That’s when Nava took in the man’s features. He was gorgeous, with a pointy nose and wide, round eyes partly covered by red wavy hair. His lips twisted in a grimace as his skin turned from golden to gray at an alarming rate.
The mane on his head reminded her of Cameron so much. She tried to speak but gasped at the sharp pain that awoke at her attempt to prevent Arkimedes from killing this man. Bringing a shaky hand toward her throat, she tried again, but the sound was croaky at best.
“I thought . . . she . . . was . . .”
“You thought wrong!”
She wasn’t sure why she cared if this man died or not. He had been trying to kill her, no questions asked. But his bright blue eyes were so close to the ones of her brother—she couldn’t allow it. “Ark—”
The second guard approached her with reluctant steps and reached out a gloved hand. She recoiled against the wall, trying to avoid his touch. Her heart drummed as adrenaline bounced in her body.
Arkimedes’s gaze snapped back to her, and the swarm of anger that took over her body wasn’t hers. “Stand away from her,” he growled, and the other guard put both hands up and took a few steps back.
Her soulmate dropped the redheaded guard and was kneeling by her in a matter of seconds. His warm touch was gentle on her shoulder, and his eyes studied her closely. “Get Fael and Leela,” he said to the standing guard, who bolted out of there so fast, all she could hear were his retreating steps.
Her gaze met one of green moss, and he reached over, picking her up like she weighed nothing at all. It didn’t take him long to get her to her room. Nava had been so eager to leave, never imagining being relieved to be back.
He laid her on the bed, and a gasp of pain escaped her lips when the fabric of her covers touched her raw back. “I will get a healer.”
“No,” she said, not wanting any fae to touch or tend to her. However, her voice was a whisper; it hurt too much to speak. Nava rolled over, and the burning ache in her back subsided. Arkimedes gasped a moment before she felt tentative fingers over the uninjured expanse of her back. She had come so close to dying, and now, as she lay in bed, her adrenaline was fading, leaving behind her shaking body.
“You are cold.”
“I’m fine,” she whispered, closing her eyes, letting her body drift away into a more peaceful time.
“What were you doing outside? How?”
“Magic,” she answered. Her limbs were too heavy, and she was too tired to care whether or not this got her into trouble.
He was quiet for a while, probably assimilating the fact that she all but admitted to doing magic. “Why leave when you must have known there were guards outside?”
“I got lonely.” She didn’t hear this reply as sleep pulled her under.
CHAPTERTEN
NAVA
The night before had been a blur of people coming in and out of her room. Besides a couple of the royal healers and a few female maids, Arkimedes had been hovering around most of the morning.
