Page 27 of A Kingdom of Death & Darkness
Emotion pools in my chest, and I swallow it down, realizing quickly that he’s intently focused on my feelings far more than he’s ever cared about his own, probably. The breath that fills my lungs is imposing and painful to accommodate, but I do. I breathe in. I breathe out. I repeat the action until I feel like I can speak.
He waits. He holds me. He doesn’t pry, and he doesn’t say empty words to make me feel better.
“Take Seven to the gardens this evening. Just before sundown,” he instructs instead.
“Why?”
“I think you should test him. See what he’s capable of. In the sunlight.”
It’s quiet in my bedroom as I wait for the sun to drift a little further down to the horizon before waking Seven. He rests peacefully in my bed. Thick heavy blankets cover his chest all the way up to his chin. He’s the same but different. Delicately beautiful. But darker now. Like all the hell in this screwed-up land is bleeding through his veins, staining his skin like jagged cracks along porcelain.
I’m so intently focused on him, only the sound of light tapping against the glass pulls me away from the beautifully broken man. Beady black eyes look up at me. The little creature ruffles its feathers at me as its head turns this way and that, assessing me through the thin glass of the window.
“I know it’s you,” I whisper.
My eyes narrow, and the little raven doesn’t say a single word back to my accusation.
What if I’m crazy? What if I’m just talking to birds now like a crazy person?
I make my way closer, and ever so slowly, I turn the old lock at the center of the window. The panes separate at the middle slowly as I push open the one on the left ever so slightly. Scattering wings flutter for a moment, and my heart leaps at the thought of the little bird soaring away from me.
But he doesn’t. He calms down, hopping forward little by little. Curious little eyes never leave mine. Warily, he watches me with every tiny hop. My heart thunders as he intently makes his way through the crack of the two windows.
He teeters there on the edge for several seconds on thin legs.
And then, heat overtakes the room in a wave of motion I can’t even see. A shift of magic soars through me. I’m blown back into the end of the large bed behind me. Window hinges cry and glass shatters as the windows burst wide open. Seven stumbles quickly from the bed and is at my side in an instant, ready and waiting for whatever attack has just struck through the room.
Both of us stand numbly with our mouths open as we look through the cloud of dust and magic.
A giant of a man stands before us.
Completely naked.
“I fuckin’ missed you so much, Crymson,” Rorrick murmurs just before his big arms wrap fully around me, and he holds me against his chest like he’s never letting me go.
My lashes close softly against damp tears suddenly filling my eyes, and I cling to him too. I melt into the strength and familiarity of his body. He feels so good. He feels like home when I’ve never even had a home to call my own. Strange when we barely had any time together in comparison to our time apart.
Soft footfalls sound through the room, and we separate just slightly but refuse to fully let go. I look back at the man standing in the doorway just to see Carver’s lean frame with cruel amusement shining in his bright eyes.
His smirk pulls into a dangerously sharp smile just as he says...
“Thorn’s going to be absolutely fucking furious, darling.
SEVENTEEN
Rorrick
To my immense surprise,the fae cunt—I meanking— takes the scroll from my hand.
“Where were you even carrying such a thing?” he asks with a disgusted curl of his lips. It’s a fair question, I suppose, considering I still haven’t put on any pants.
He unrolls the paper, his eyes scanning Christian’s written words like he doesn’t fully have time to read such mundane correspondences between one royal kingdom to another. I suppose now’s not a great time to tell him I dropped the letter the moment I was close enough to touch her. I kissed my way down her neck and breathed her in like she’s the only air I’ve tasted in centuries. Not a great time to tell him how badly I wanted to bury my face between her thighs and hide there until the world swallows us up.
Suppose I’ll save those fun facts for later.
“What does it say?” Crymson asks.
She teeters at his side on her tiptoes to try to read over Thorn’s shoulder, and it isn’t lost on me how the other fae manoff to the side keeps eyeing her. He looks at her like... like he fuckin’ loves her. Like she owns him mind, body, and soul, and what the fuck have I missed in the few months since she’s been here?
