Page 31 of A Kingdom of Death & Darkness
“I know that,” she says. “It’s the only reason I’m not raging at the door right now.” Finally, she turns those bright eyes to me and meets my gaze. “I’m okay. I promise.”
I reach up and cup her chin. “I know you’re strong, Crymson.” The raindrops on the windowpane start to move faster at my touch, and it pleases something deep inside me to know she reacts to me the way I react to her. “But you don’t have to be.”
She snorts. “I’m in a completely different realm with vampires and fae kings. Of course, I have to be strong. You of all people know that I can’t let down my guard in this place.”
She’s not wrong. While the Fae Kingdom seems brighter and gentler than the Blood Kingdom, it’s not. Shadows live in both places, and outside, the Dead walk. There are no safe places here. There are only safer options. I’m still not sure I’m one of the safer options, even if I want to be.
Here in the Thorn Kingdom, I can pretend to be. At least here, neither one of us have to worry about the Blood King.
“What do you think they are?” she asks me on a quiet thought.
My brows tense, but I know what she means.
“I heard a maiden once say that the Dead outside are broken promises the King didn’t keep. I believe they’re the women he uses and disposes of. It started with his wife, the Fae Queen, and it hasn’t stopped since then.” I push her hair back from her face,and I want to pull her close and tell her I’ll never let that fate touch her.
So far, I’ve succeeded. Even if it means she’s been locked away here in a slightly less dangerous cage than she had before.
Big green eyes stare up at me with worry darkening her features. I stroke her hair back once more, and a small smile pulls at my lips, but it doesn’t change the sadness hanging at the corners of her mouth.
“That’s never going to happen to you,” I whisper against her lips, leaning closer and closer until she’s forced to give in to me.
She relaxes in the palms of my hands as she murmurs back, “How do you know?”
“Because I’mnevergoing to let the Blood King touch you ever again, Crymson,” I promise on a possessive growl that I can’t contain.
My lips brush along hers, both of us drinking each other in but never fully kissing.
Lightning flashes behind her, and it highlights her red hair, making her look more brilliant than anything I’ve ever seen. She looks healthier here, better fed, and stronger. She would never have survived the Blood Kingdom. For fuck’s sake, we couldn’t even feed her properly. But here... she belongs here.
As much as it pains me to say that.
“We’re alone now,” she comments, glancing back out the window. “No audience.”
My lips pull into a smirk, and a needy sort of feeling fills my chest. “We are.”
My lips press achingly, slowly along hers, tasting her the way I want to fuck her for the rest of the night.
But as my fingers brush against her smooth shoulder and push at the thin strap of her dress, the lightning strikes hard outside with a violent boom that rattles the windowpanes. Weboth look up with a gasp. Right behind it, a large bell rings throughout the castle, chiming with eerie clangs.
Her eyes widen. “That’s the doorbell.”
My shoulders tense. “The Blood Prince has arrived.”
And with him, trouble the likes I’m sure we’ve never seen.
TWENTY
Crymson
When the bellstarts to ring, at first, a thrill of excitement flies through me. Followed by it is a little bit of panic. Christian and I have a strange relationship, if you can call it that. He gave me away here, and while I can admit to myself that it was the right choice, it still stings. He didn’t even fight for me. He’s barely even touched me.
And yet the hunger I remember seeing in his eyes, the desperation, it stays with me.
I don’t wait for Seven to follow. He can keep up with my very human legs. I rush through the castle hallways by instinct now, no longer getting lost, as I take the stairs two at a time to land in the foyer where everyone else is waiting. Thorn is standing with his wings tucked regally behind him, his expression hard as he glares at the door. Aerin is beside him, in full armor, notably in front of Delilah as if the man on the other side of that door isn’t her brother. Carver leans against the wall across from them, hisarms crossed, his expression smug as I slide into the area with the rest of them, Seven right behind me.
Carver’s eyes flicker between the two of us. “I hope this isn’t...interrupting," he purrs.
I narrow my eyes. “Wouldn’t you like to know,” I grunt.
