Page 56 of Queen of Ashes and Scars
The feathers are powdery and knitted closely together, and Arielle grazes them with wonder. “By Nyx, you’re…”
“He’s magnificent,” Keenan says from the other side of the room. A lonely tear slides down the angel’s cheek, his body stirring weakly on the sofa. “You’re…more than I could have hoped for.” A sheen of sweat covers his forehead and neck, stressing out exactly how wretched he must be feeling. “Now…I need to rest for a while.”
We help him to the bed, the scent of him twisting my insides, and Arielle shakes as she wraps her arms around me. “Thank you for giving me the opportunity to help you through this.”
“Thank you for being here.”
Shivering in each other’s arms, we wonder at each other. I ramble about the shimmering colors in her irises and the freckles on her neck. The impossibly delicate nuances of her skin that I couldn’t see with my human eyes… She marvels at the strength of my new body, the birth of my wings, and yet the still familiar scent and warmth she so loves.
For a moment, nothing else exists but us, and while I’m okay with sharing her, I’m glad to have her to myself for a while. And I know, no matter what happens, or the ocean that’ll soon separate us, everything will be alright.
Chapter27
Queen of Kings
ARIELLE
The next morning, I wake up groggy in Leo’s arms. The rhythmic loud pounding on the door screams at me that I overslept. “Your Highness, the Prime Minister is heading to your rooms to see you.” Bella warns through the closed door, my loyal servant quickly becoming my best confidante.
“How much time do I have?”
“Jude is stalling him as long as he can, but not much.”
Damn. It’s one thing to be found in bed with both of my lovers, but to be discovered naked in Keenan’s bed with both the angels passed out beside me would be harder to explain. I throw on Leo’s discarded shirt and scurry down the corridor to Alec’s quarters.
I wrench open the door and close it behind me.
“Alec! Are you here?”
I erupt into the nursery, floored to see my deadly bodyguard cradling his nephew to his chest, and the sight warms my body from head to toe. “Good morning,” I whisper for the sleeping baby’s benefit.
The royal guard hands the baby over to the wet nurse and falls into step with me. “What’s going on?”
“Get me to my room. The Prime Minister is heading there right now.”
Power comes in trenches. The crown. The government. The soldiers. The staff. They all have their own type of power—whether insidious or overstated. The people can only take so much change at a time, and I can’t be seen as a hare-brained, ditzy queen that passes out in guest beds without telling anyone about her whereabouts, and the newly appointed Prime Minister is a…compromise. In a show of good faith, I let the government name him to soften the loss of Peter’s immense influence on the crown.
Alec and I get into my royal chambers through the back door at the exact same time as the Prime Minister, Axel Brooks, knocks on my door. “My queen, an urgent matter has come to my attention.”
“One minute,” I answer loudly.
Alec helps me put on my long, velvet queen robe and ties the sash around my waist as Sebastian sits on the bed, a grin landing on his lips.
“Rough night?” my husband asks with a smirk.
He knows I’ve spent the night with Leo and Keenan, but he’s totally getting the wrong idea. “Don’t look at me like that. Keenan passed out is all, and I fell asleep in Leo’s arms,” I say quickly. “That’s all.”
Both male vampires snort at that, and my mouth opens in outrage. I quickly motion for him to cut it out as I inch the door open.
“The first step toward a new era is to draw a truce with Pereira, so I suggested he should send an emissary, but he decided to come himself—” The interim Prime Minister announces, spooked by Alec’s sudden appearance behind me.
My lover raises a brow like he can’t quite believe his luck. “Felipe Pereira came himself?”
“Yes.”
“To this court?”
“Yes,” Axel repeats with a hint of annoyance.
