Page 22 of Conflicted Fate
I was shouting at the top of my lungs by that point, but I didn’t care. Perhaps that was what I needed to do to finally get things through his thick skull. So far, I’d been careful not to burst, but nothing else had worked. I cared too much to let him just walk away over some perceived fear of what it might mean for me to be with him.
“Now,” I said, calming myself with effort. “We’re going to talk about this. Openly and, more importantly,rationally. Like adults. Without trying to end the conversation. Without walking away. Or telling the other person they’re wrong. Because this is already becoming a thing, and it shouldn’t.”
“How can you say that?” he said into the short silence that followed. “I’m … Jada,everythingthat’s happened to our people since that day is my fault.”
“Oh, really,” I scoffed, shaking my head. “Did you force Lycaonus and the others to bind Fate to the stones? Was it only at the tip of your sword that you beat them into submission and, against their will, made them into immortal tyrants?”
“You damn well know that’s not what I meant,” he growled, his temper shining through as I stripped his arguments bare and tossed them on the floor. “Besides, it was my—”
“And you know damn well they weren’t just willing parties, Kiel. Theywantedit. They lusted after the power from the very start. Because that’s who they were on the inside. With or without you.”
To my surprise, Kiel looked away with a frown. “I … I’m not so sure that part is true.”
“Stop being so conceited,” I said. “It’s not just about you.”
There was a knock at the door and a voice followed, saying, “The prince has made his decision. You will come now.”
Kiel’s eyes met mine. Frustration simmered in the depths of those delicious blue circles along with desire. Hewantedit but was too caught up in his martyrdom to swim free. A whirlpool he couldn’t escape.
Not on his own.
I grabbed my robe from the bed, shucking it over both shoulders. Kiel eyed my body as it moved, and my pussy throbbed from the lust that he couldn’t hide, which was merely an echo of the full thing. I wanted it all. I knew that much. I hadn’t planned on being the forward party, the one pushing through walls, but then again, he’d had centuries to put them up. I could wait longer.
But not much.
Striding forward, I leaped at him, legs wide, arms around his neck. He caught me instinctually, and I smashed my mouth against his without warning. Just like grabbing me mid-air, he reacted without thinking, kissing back, the heat of his lips, of his body, stealing the air from my lungs momentarily.
As soon as he gathered himself and pulled his head back, I slid down his body and out of his grip.
“This conversation isnotover,” I growled at him as I put my robe back on. “But just know that you donotget to cut me off ‘for my own good’ in some sort of weird, self-punishment thing. I’m a grown woman, Kiel, and you need to respect that. I can make my own decisions about who I care for. About who I love.”
I pushed past him, frantically trying to remain calm, to keep any panic from showing on my face or in my walk. Those last words had just slipped out. I’d absolutelynotmeant to say them because that just took a fire and threw a heaping pile of dried brush on it.
The door shuddered under a more insistent knock, and I went for it, yanking it open.
“We’re coming,” I snarled angrily enough to send the surprised soldier scurrying backward several steps.
Walking out into the hall, I headed back the way we’d come, not bothering to wait for the others. They’d catch up. And by the time they did, perhaps I would have recovered from my massively inadvertent slip of the tongue.
Love. Had I really said that? Where had that come from? Was I falling in love with Kiel? Things had been moving so fast, so much happening, how could I truly know. Did I even know what lovewas?
I walked into the throne room a step ahead of the soldier sent to fetch us and three steps ahead of Kiel.
By the time we reached the far side of the room, the soldier had scurried ahead, and Kiel had caught up to me, walking at my side. He didn’t say anything. I didn’t look at him either, instead staring ahead at the prince, the giant ogre who watched us with those beady eyes filled with a dark intelligence.
“I have thought about your proposal,” he said without preamble. “It is enticing. For generations, the Alphas have launched attacks across the river. They have stolen our people. Killed our people.My people!”
The room echoed with the thundered anger as he slammed a meaty palm on his arm rest.
“We have tried to kill them. They’ve been run through with swords, arms taken off, and worse. Yet they always come back. They always heal. And then they take more from us. When all we want is to live free of their interference. That is not something they can live with. They must have ultimate power, and so, by wanting nothing to do with them, we defy them. And they kill us for it.”
I was waiting for the “but” to come. There was no way enough time had passed for him to send a runner into the empire to discern the truth about Arcadus. Which meant he’d come to a decision on his own. Likely a negative one. He was too cowed by the Alphas, too unwilling to strike out for fear of the reprisals. Not that I could blame him.
“All my peoples, all free peoples, would rejoice to see one of the Alphas brought down.” The prince grinned wickedly. “If it were my warriors who did so, that would be beneficial as well, of course.”
“So, you’ll help us?” Kiel asked.
“I have received word from a … friend,” the prince said, choosing his words carefully. “One who can travel fast.”
