by Ella Fields
I gave him a flat look, and he shook his head with a grin before jerking it to a set of stairs over by the edge of the countertop. We climbed them, finding a few small tables perched before a floor-to-ceiling triangular window overlooking the dark street below. Grime and stars knew what else covered it, but even so, I could still make out the rows of lights, the city of Vordane beyond.
Dade kicked a chair out for me, and I took a seat as he rounded the table and slumped into another with grace a male of his height and muscular build shouldn’t have. The chair didn’t even groan.
He poured us each a glass of what smelled like vanilla frosted wine. “You scared them off.”
Confused, my eyes shot to his, but he was smiling down at his glass. “The females.” He popped the crystal stopper back on the decanter and lifted his glass to his lips, his gaze to mine. “You acknowledged the bond, made sure they could scent it as well as see it.”
Ice trickled down my spine. “I did no such thing.”
Dade half rolled his eyes, his throat bobbing as he swallowed and sat back, one knee tossed over the other. “I’d be inclined to believe you if it weren’t for the fact that I have a fucking nose, sunshine.” With a pointed look, he stated coldly, “I scented it, too.”
How I hadn’t, unless I hadn’t been able to when I was the one emitting a silent threat, I didn’t know.
Dade set down his glass, already just a long sip from being emptied. “I suppose the visit to Olivianna’s riled you up, primed you.” He smirked, a dimple appearing. “It matters not. I rather liked it.”
I guffawed, lifting my glass to gulp two much-needed mouthfuls, and nearly moaned. “Shit,” I breathed, lowering it and staring at what remained. “This is delicious.”
“I thought you might like it.”
“And you can bed whomever you like,” I blurted, unsure why but knowing I didn’t want him thinking I cared more than I was willing to let on. “Most kings do.”
Dade’s upper lip curled, fingers clenching around the stem of his glass. “You dare insult me?”
“How have I insulted you?”
“Honest answer?” he said to which I nodded. “By suggesting that I would bed someone else, especially when we both know what we know…” He let his words trail off, and I was tempted to put voice to what he hadn’t said, so that perhaps others could know the king wasn’t the bed-hopping animal most believed him to be.
Of course, I couldn’t. A better, more cunning female would have ensured the news had spread through half the kingdom by now.
A better princess would have stuck an iron-infused knife through his heart and ended this insanity already.
“Why?” I finally asked what I’d longed to, still not entirely sure I believed him. The way he’d touched me, kissed me, tortured me all said it couldn’t be true. Yet the rational part of my brain said otherwise. That it was instinctual, a desire so wild, our inexperience in matters of lust and sex had no room to breathe. To exist at all.
Knowing exactly what I was referring to, Dade tortured me some more with a knowing gleam in his eyes, seeming to mull over my question. Noting my growing impatience, he rubbed his lips between his teeth, then exhaled a loaded breath. “It’s a distraction, swan.” He swallowed, his lashes dipping with his simmering eyes to my mouth. “I know that now more than ever.”
Something began to fizz inside my chest, my blood, at hearing that clipped admission. That I was a distraction, yet here he was, this almighty king, just allowing it…
I coughed, asking low with my words lumping together, “So you mean to tell me that you refused any offers?”
“Offers?” he said, humor soaking the word. “Most are too terrified to so much as try, and those who dared were only interested in my”—his nose scrunched a little—“many titles, I suppose.”
“Oh,” I exhaled, slouching in the chair. “Okay then.”
He stared, unblinking and still quietly bristling.
I bit my lip to keep from smiling. “If you’re waiting for an apology, you will be waiting for all eternity.”
He snorted, draining his wine and thumping the glass onto the table. He leaned forward, voice soft and eyes hard. “What I’m still waiting for is that kiss.”
I raised a brow. “Why don’t you skip around the corner to Olivianna’s and ask for one?”
“I do not skip.” Dade’s brow furrowed, and he sat back, studying me for a moment. His eyes swept up and down my frame, and I looked away as he said, “Our friendship truly bothers you.”
I stared out the window, watching a flock of birds fly below the moon. My bones itched with the desire to do the same. “If that’s what you wish to call it.”
Dade was quiet a moment, then he hummed. “She is extremely pleasant on the eyes, and she curses like no warrior I’ve ever battled with.”
My hands fisted. I brought them under the table. “That’s lovely.”
He said thoughtfully, “She is lovely, yes. Though I do wish she hadn’t cut her hair. It was much better before. You see, she could bend down before me and undo my pants without one of those ringlets bouncing up—
“Shut up,” I hissed, standing so quickly the chair screeched across the floor.
Dade gazed up at me, one arm slung over the back of the chair, a finger lazily rubbing at the bristle beneath his bottom lip. “Something the matter, swan?”
“You,” I whispered heatedly. “You’re the fucking matter. I cannot stand you. Take me home.”
He grinned. “Home?”
I growled, and he laughed, raising his hands. “But of course, your majesty. Lead the way.”
My teeth glued together as I did my best not to stomp down the stairs, rage a fire burning each breath as I ignored the few patrons brave enough to remain and hurried outside to the carriage.
“Insufferable beast,” I muttered, letting myself inside before he could manhandle me.
“Beast?” he asked, climbing in after me and making sure his giant body nearly squashed mine as he stuffed himself on the other side. “I thought you golden ones were the creative type.”
“You could’ve gotten in on the other side,” I huffed, snatching back the skirts of my dress he’d sat upon. I gave up when I thought it would tear and stuck my nose to the window, pleading for the night air to cool me down before I did something foolish, like smack the king of wolves across his smugly handsome face.
“Where’s the fun in that?”
I swallowed a myriad of colorful curses. My annoyance with the barbaric king, with myself, kept me from enjoying the scenery. The jealousy and the embarrassment kept me from being able to see much of anything at all.
The savage laughed, sudden and sharp enough to still the air in my lungs. “Fuck, stop it.” I glared at him, then squeaked as I was hefted into his lap, the carriage jostled. “I was only messing around. I meant none of it.”
My glare was erased by a blink. “None?”
The humor faded from his face. Those taut cheekbones lowered with his softening smile, his touch cruel in the way it so gently curled a thick tendril of hair behind my ear.
His gaze followed, his finger then falling down my arm with deliberate slowness as his eyes met mine. “None at all. Olivianna is my uncle’s youngest cousin, and he knew of her ability to craft fine clothing, so he hired her not long after her babe was born to make me whatever I desired.”
She was young then, as suspected, but not so young that she would take advantage of a king to better her life when she knew the bargain she’d struck was already more than she’d have ever dared hope for.
The same could never be said for myself, and for that, I almost envied her. Not only for her freedom to create for a living, to live a life of her own and on her own, but because I felt like half the female she was, knowing I was every inch the opportunist I had almost believed her to be.
I hated it, wanted to hate everyone so that I could quit hating myself whenever he touched me, looked at me, so much as came near me, though su
rely, I couldn’t hate it forever.
I had to have faith that maybe one day, I would be okay with taking advantage of this mateship, of this beast king and his desire for me. The salvation of so many was worth the ruination of one soul.
“What are you thinking?” Dade murmured, his hand framing my face to keep my eyes upon his. They were searching, patient and impatient at the same time. I had a feeling that feat was not common for this male.
“Why would you do that?” I whispered. “Say all of that? Especially when you’d just insisted you had never done anything of the sort.”
Dade hummed, his thumb rubbing over my cheek, eyes trailing as it landed upon my lips. “You should know by now that I love to watch things squirm,” he purred, and my lips parted instinctually, the hardness I’d tried to ignore but now could not twitching beneath me. “I love to watch you squirm the most, especially when it’s over me.”
My tongue flicked his thumb, the coiled band of heat inside me tightening.
Hearing his rumbling groan, it snapped. I gripped his face, those smooth and rough cheeks, and I kissed him.
Gone was the guilt-heavy exploration that had kept me from taking what I wanted before. There was only want, pure and scorching, and tongues and teeth. I tilted his head. He tilted mine. My body leaned and pushed—needing that hardness in his pants to rub against me just a little more, a little higher… I moaned when Dade pulled back.
With his fingers floating down my cheek to my chin, he tilted it up, whispering, “Open your eyes.”
I didn’t want to, knowing what he’d see inside them—all the permission he did not need to give me everything I burned for.
“Open them,” he said again, firmer, a dark order I could not ignore.
I surrendered, lashes hovering low, my lids heavy but not as heavy as the weighted need inside me that awaited attention.
Dade’s lips parted, a small bead of blood bubbling near the center of his bottom lip. “You’re the most exquisite creature I’ve ever seen.” His words were hushed as though they weren’t words he’d planned to say, and his brow furrowed.
My fingers crawled, thumbs brushing his thick, soft brows until his lips wriggled. A hand at my waist tightened over my hip, then lifted the thin material of my gown to inch up my thigh. “Want to know why I could never throw you in the dungeon like your prince? No matter what vitriol you spew at me.”
“No,” I breathed, but he knew that was a lie.
He smirked, and I fought the intense urge to lick those dimples. His fingers neared the apex of my thighs, and I leaned back a little, making room for them to brush over my undergarments.
“Because,” he said to my chin, teeth nipping. His other hand pulled my head to his, his nose skimming mine. “Because your eyes, your heartbeat, and your body tell me the truth.” My eyes fluttered closed, his lips whispering over my cheek, fingers reaching where I needed him and rubbing. “You want me. You might loathe it, but you cannot reject me because it burns you alive to even consider it.”
My breath quickened, thighs clenching.
“Feel good?” He asked what he already knew, then expelled a rough breath over my mouth before kissing it ever so gently and murmuring, “You’re so damp for me, sunshine, so warm and needy.” Then a sharpness pressed into me, and I stilled as he hushed me, a claw dragging down the material to slice it open. “I have to feel you.”
The carriage bounced over a boulder, but the king didn’t lose his hold. His mouth rejoined mine, hot, seeking, and I feared I could die with his lips on mine and not even notice. Not even care.
He was smoke and heat, and I was panting, mewling, as he stroked me to dizzying heights, his free hand roaming my back, fingers sinking into my hair and his palm gripping my face. I rocked over him, against him, unable to breathe yet uncaring if it meant I’d lose his lips on mine.
“Melt for me, swan,” he rumbled against my tongue, then sucked my upper lip. “Let go.”
His finger pressed, flicked, and sparks ignited, my eyes opening wide, hair everywhere as I rasped, “Stars, I’m…”
The king growled, and I was tossed over the seat, my legs spread, skirts tearing and bunched at my waist, and then his mouth returned as his length ground against me.
Heated eyes gazed down at me, his hand twisting in my hair, and I clasped his cheek, whispering to his mouth, “Harder, wrap my leg around you.”
The command caused him to still. Then with a flare of his nostrils, he did as I said and cursed violently, his giant body folded over me, desperately seeking his own pleasure as I flew toward mine.
Some failed breaths later, his eyes flashed as a silent roar parted his mouth. My spine arched, tilting my head toward the sky watching through the oval window.
He twitched over me, my skirts soiled and ruined. I didn’t care. I wanted more.
I didn’t feel the wood of the carriage against the back of my skull. All I could feel was the king’s teeth scraping down the curve of my neck, his tongue lapping, lips sucking.
For all his inexperience and my own, never had I thought I’d become this. This wanton, insatiable creature who would throw more than caution to the wind.
I’d sacrifice almost anything for more of this male. To keep his hands roaming my sides, his mouth at my pulse, lowering to the peaks of my breasts, his approval a throaty hum as my fingers explored the thick strands of his hair, sinking to his scalp.
Yes, I’d sacrifice my soul for the king of wolves. That was why in moments of clarity, I would rebel against the desire to give all of myself to him.
I would use this inferno intent on destroying me to my advantage—however few those may be.
We hit another bump. The king snarled, rising when the carriage quit shaking, then returning to me. But I rubbed my head, laughing even as I winced, and after a moment, he did the same.
Dade helped me sit up, catching my face and bringing my forehead to his lips while his fingers roamed my hair.
“I’m fine,” I laughed out.
He huffed and kissed my forehead again, then sighed and tucked me over his lap while he tried to make me presentable. “We’ll need a bigger carriage.”
Something cracked inside my chest, but I ignored it. Easy to do when I remembered what those fussing hands had done—the lives he’d destroyed.
Back inside the Keep, he left another lingering kiss on my forehead, and I laughed when he scowled at the shake of my head. “Good night, savage.” Like me, my beast was not sated, not in the least.
But he was thoroughly distracted.
He grumbled out a, “Good night, swan.” His petulant expression evoked a small laugh from me as I closed the door on his face and waited.
Opal
The prince was silent when I arrived, and if not for the fact that under the firelight, I could see his chest rise and fall, I’d fear him dead.
I peered around the walls, light flaring from my fingers and skirting over damp rock. A door sat on the far side of the narrow dungeon, various torture devices lining the wall behind Bron, and on the one closest to me upon a rusted hook was a set of keys.
Hearing their jangle, Bron stirred, his eyes still too swollen to see who was here. He grunted, then released a wheezed exhale loaded with defeat. I paused mere feet from him, studying the damage to his torso, wondering how much longer he’d live if those wounds weren’t tended to, and then I saw the scars.
They’d been healing him. They’d been healing him to keep him alive. To keep giving him more agonizing pain.
A flicker of affection warmed my chest at the knowledge Dade had done this, in part at least, for me. To avenge me.
I couldn’t let that stop me from doing what I had to do. If the prince was here, if he died, then who knew what would become of the human royals’ plans. We couldn’t risk them and my mother joining forces in that way, regardless of whatever armies they might gather from across the seas.
The thought of those forces marching upon this land, decimating it in the way the
blood king had done to so many patches of our own, caused my gut to curl and my heart to drop. Vordane, its peace, and its shocking normality was not its ruler, yet its occupants all had blood on their hands.
The blood of innocent people.
It had to end. All of it.
I unlocked the shackles from the prince, and he fell to the ground with a groan that made me freeze and glance around. My heartbeat thundered in my ears, almost loud enough to drown out Bron’s mumbling.
When I was as sure as I could be that no one was coming, I lowered to the ground and slid various keys into the chains holding the gag in his mouth until one finally clicked, and the hideous headpiece fell to the bloodstained stone.
“Come on,” I whispered, tugging at his arm while he rotated his jaw with a wince. “It’s now or never.”
“Opal?” he croaked, one eye opening just enough to confirm it was me. “Stars, you’re alive.”
I tried not to be offended nor waste more time and hauled him to his feet. “Move.”
He finally listened, standing on trembling legs. After a few wobbles that almost sent us both crashing into the ground, he found enough balance to stumble toward the doorway that led into the darkness. “Hold the wall,” I instructed, then told him to wait when we reached the end of the cold hall that would take us back into the Keep.
It was a gamble, but I had to believe it would pay off—that we’d both make it out of this alive. We waited, Bron’s breathing a steady whistle, his weight heavy as it leaned into my side. I blocked it out and focused on catching any sounds on the other side of the door.
Nothing save for the occasional creak and groan of the ancient fortress.
“Okay.” I willed open the door. “Quiet as you can, okay? And quick.”
Bron nodded, and I half dragged him out into the glowing hall. In the dead of night, the sconces were dimly lit, but that they were lit at all wasn’t something we could afford.
I snuffed each one out as we neared them until we crossed the grand foyer before the stairs. We stumbled through a brisk walk to the other side, past the library and those eerie statues that had seen generation after generation of Volkahns and stars only knew what manner of things drift through these halls.