Page 14 of A Kingdom of Death & Darkness
Three blankets cover his legs and chest, each one thicker than the last, so much so that his flesh isn’t cool to the touch like it normally is.
“Christ, you’re sweating,” I whisper as I lower down at the edge of his bed.
I didn’t even know vampires had the ability, but Seven isn’t just a vampire, I suppose. I peel back the first layer of the blanket I know Thorn must have brought to him after my petty request that he have more. I shove it haphazardly to the foot of the bed and then focus my gaze on his sleeping face.
Shadows ring his eyes, aging him when he’s only ever looked youthful and alive. Now he looks like he may very much be half dead.
“Seven, can you hear me?” I whisper with a touch of sorrow cutting through my words.
My fingers drift back and forth across the dips of his knuckles.
“I think I saw Rorrick yesterday. It was a raven. A squawky little bird that was much too hefty to truly catch the air like it did.” A half smile pulls at my lips, and I know he’d find just as much amusement in the idea of Rorrick shifting into such a strange and curious little creature. “Maybe I just wish it was him though.”
I do. I wish it with every creature I come across in this kingdom. A cat lives outside the kitchen windows every morning, waiting for the trash to be taken out by the King’s chefs. I admit I tried talking to it on more than one occasion, but it’s much too scrawny to be my brooding vampire.
The raven, that one’s well fed. Even if I’m being a bit dululu about it being Rorrick, at least it fits his profile.
I try to smile to myself, but the emotion turns on me, drowning in a wave of sadness I can’t escape.
How can I? How can I expect myself to just... forget about them?
“Please wake up,” I beg on a breath of a whisper. “Please.”
His lashes never flutter though. His breathing continues on. And still he remains.
We both do.
I swallow down my burning sorrow with every hard step I take through the castle. The King’s quarters are on the top floor. Of course, they fucking are.
I arrive on the upper floor slightly annoyed and even more slightly out of breath, but I try not to let it show as I knock on the large imposing double door. Not a single sound greets me. My hand lifts, and my knuckles rap across the wood a bit harder this time.
Nothing.
Finally, I grip the crystal knob on the righthand door and carefully push it open.
“Thorn?” I call out. “Are you–” and every single word that has ever existed in my brain falls out across the bedroom floor and lands at the very naked feet of the King of Thorns.
All seven feet of him stands before me, nude and impressive like a statue of Adonis or a painting of Icarus or a fucking dirty mortal porno that I’ve never been lucky enough to see.
“Yes?” he asks, shifting his long black hair over one shoulder to reveal even more skin than there was before.
Dark spikes kiss on his shoulders and run down the center of his spine like a weapon. Bronze skin highlights the lashes of old scars that only seem to accentuate the curves of his muscles and the panes of his chest.
Jesus fucking fae cock. Put it away, my dude, so my brain can function once again.
“Um...”Okay. Great start. Really good. Now just close your gaping mouth and maybe add a bit more to that fantastic thought, Crymson.
A pair of folded pants lay at his side on the foot of the bed, but instead of reaching for them, he folds his arms across his broad chest and only emphasizes how hard his muscles are in his upper body.
His head tilts to one side, and a shine of amusement twinkles in his eyes.
“You’re... attracted to me,” he says. He’s stunned and happy all at the same time, it seems.
He’s practically giving himself a round of applause right now.
“I–” I breathe out a sarcastic laugh. Then another one for good measure and force myself to look away from the shining dark thorns that pierce their way down the veering lines of his hard hips, but I truly can’t form a full fucking sentence to save my life here. “No!” I shout a bit too loudly.
“Really?” he asks with far too much mischief shining in his pale eyes.
