Page 61 of King Elijah (The Zemiran Chronicles 2)

Her body didn’t care that his father was evil or that his own sins were many and notable. All it recognized was his warmth, calm, coiled strength, and it wanted him in a way she couldn’t understand. It wanted his body wrapped around her.

But her mind wasn’t having it. She would never forget that Elijah was the son of King Matthias, the man who slaughtered her people for over twenty years. He could tell her how different he was until he ran out of breath, but she couldn’t just forget that.

How could Aiden work for him? Janelle thought. Then again, it had been over six years since she and Aiden had seen each other. Perhaps Aiden had changed. He had to have changed, and not for the better, to work for that man.

“Janelle,” Elijah said, pulling her from her thoughts.

She turned, and he was facing her, his head resting easily on the pillow.

“I’m tired, Elijah,” she lied, her voice hoarse. “What do you want?”

His steely blue eyes sparkled in the faint moonlight that filtered through the window. Something about it made him look almost ethereal.

But the smirk on his lips told her he was about to say something snide and obnoxious.

“Are you going to kill me in my sleep?” he asked, his grin still pasted on his pretty face.

There was no doubt he believed she would and was capable of doing so, but he was willing to humor the challenge.

“I might,” she said, the side of her lips quirking up. “I’ve been trained all my life to ‌fight off a man. Even one as—”

Janelle stopped herself. She wanted to say, Even one as intense and magically skilled as the one in front of me, but it would only give Elijah more to tease her about.

“I’d like to suggest you not take my life,” he said, his tone lighter with amusement. “I would hate to have to pin your arms over your head again and teach you a lesson about what happens to someone who threatens a king.”

He was teasing her, acting playful, but there was an undeniable heat behind it, heat that built low in her belly, heat she didn’t want to acknowledge but couldn’t ignore. It was supposed to be a threat of violence, but the tone suggested it was a promise of something carnal.

Elijah’s smile seemed forced, pained almost, and his pupils were large and dark as he watched her. His lips were parted just slightly, and his breath came faster than was normal. Janelle could see that he wanted her; that much was obvious.

Fuck. Close your eyes and go to bed, you idiot, she said in her mind, rolling her eyes closed.

“You’re interesting,” he said, and she reopened her eyes. “It’s not a bad thing. When you aren’t trying to kill me or run away, you are indeed unique.”

“Unique?” she asked. It was a word that could be taken in many ways, and none were particularly complimentary. “Of course, you would be able to make a simple word sound like an insult.”

“Well, most of the women I surrounded myself with have cared more about their image or wealth than they have about anyone or anything else.”

“That’s pathetic,” she said. “In a world where there is so much destruction, that’s all royals and nobles care for. People who only talk about their wealth and status are a waste of oxygen for the rest of us. We should be fighting to survive this world while taking care of those who can’t care for themselves.” Janelle was passionate about the state of the world and how it got so dark and violent. It would only change when people changed it. The type of women he surrounded himself with were vain and shallow little buckets of greed with perfect bodies and hair. It made her sick.

He paused briefly before turning his gaze on her and saying, “I fight to survive too, Janelle. And you almost took that from me.”

She blinked as she turned his words over in her mind. She had truly been blind. That was becoming clear to her. Her only thought was to survive the worst fate she could possibly imagine, being wed to the evilest man she knew—so cruel, she couldn’t help hating him. If it was possible, she hated even more that her fate was to serve as little more than breeding stock, expected to spawn hybrids for such a man. That hate and fear had clouded any consideration for others.

Murdering Elijah would make her no better than Kieran. That monster did whatever he could, destroying anything and anyone, just to protect himself. He was arrogant and selfish. Inherently, that was his game, not hers. As she realized what Kieran had done to her mind, it filled her with regret, more than she could ever overcome. She had spent too long with Elijah to now pretend she didn’t recognize he wasn’t what Kieran told her. The truth was, at that moment, she knew she couldn’t kill him . . . not anymore.

Janelle wanted to tell Elijah all of this and see how it shifted their dynamic. Was it rational to expect the man she hunted to suddenly help her find her brother and protect her from Kieran? All because she asked him to? Would Elijah forgive her?

“Tell me more about Kieran and these hybrids,” he asked, changing the subject.

Janelle felt her train of thought derail at the interruption, but she was grateful for it. She was grateful to talk about anything other than her own feelings of guilt and shame.

“After Kieran’s parents died, Kieran’s uncle led the coven. He created the first hybrid elf. A little over twenty years ago. She grew much faster than they expected. When I joined the coven, she was only a teenager like me, but looked much older. A woman with Elven traits and magical abilities from coven blood. It became his responsibility once Kieran became old enough to lead the coven. He continued to breed the creatures as weapons only—an army at his disposal with heightened strength and power. They trained the hybrids from childhood to be obedient no matter the cost. I’ve watched these children train day after day. They know nothing of life except for fighting. He uses their strongest to fight anything that he deems a threat. Now, he wants to use them to battle the Shadow Creature, and he doesn’t care if they die by the droves.

“All he cares about is killing the beast, so he can expand his power over the borders of Myloria to other countries. The Shadow Creature poses the perfect cover for Kieran to rise to power as a noble hero. It has created such an ominous imbalance that no one will question his tactics or motives. He can exploit all kingdoms and countries if he moves to strike it down. Kieran already fancies himself king of all the peoples and kingdoms he sees. He was just waiting for the perfect disaster to exploit.”

She wrinkled her nose in disgust while watching Elijah’s expression fall, as if he was processing what she had shared.

“My father always taught me that the different species should not breed with those outside their kind,” Elijah said. “Elves have babies with elves and Fae with Fae. Humans with other humans. He didn’t say it was impossible, just that we shouldn’t. It was unnatural.”

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