Des closes the gap between us, tucking a curl behind my ear. “I love you, and I want to kiss you. I’ve wanted it so badly for days now, but I don’t want to make you afraid.”
“Afraid?” I tilt my head up at him.
He drinks in the sight of me as if I’m beautiful, as if our vampire-fae divide doesn’t exist, and neither do the scars on my cheek. “You’ve never kissed a man with fangs before. I’ll be so gentle with you. I’ll show you I’m no one to be afraid of.”
The tip of my tongue wets my lower lip as I study his. “I trust you,” I whisper, my eyes flaring with shock when I realize how true my words are. Perhaps that declaration is even more shocking than the fact that I love him. “I didn’t expect that would happen. Trust for me is… I trust you, Des. Somehow that feels even more powerful and significant than love.”
My words set something loose in him, some veil that lifts to reveal a hunger he’s been too polite to show me until now. Until I trusted him. Until I loved him.
His hand coils around the side of my neck, his thumb stroking my throat, which I’ve left vulnerable to him. He’s testing my trust, strumming my tender flesh to see if I’ll welcome his touch. He has no idea how desperately I want his hands on me, how much my entire body purrs for his affection.
His other arm stretches out beside my head to lean against the wall behind me, feigning a casual stance when I can feel tension and heat crackling between us while he toys with me.
When Des finally touches his silken lips to mine, too many things fizzle and pop in my belly, changing whole parts of me that held onto prejudices long-engrained. I didn’t realize they were still part of me. I release them one by one as my lips part, welcoming so much of the world that never made sense to me, never seemed like it was meant for me. Yet here I am, surrounded by his cologne, his kiss, his love.
Des loves me, and I’m swimming in delirium as he sucks on my lower lip, drawing out the tease that’s been tempting me far too long. He’s clever and he’s kind. He’s passionate about his people and his friends. If there are other things women care about when they’re considering a man, I cannot think of them. There is only this kiss. Only our love. So I cling to it, my arms lifting to wrap around his neck and bring him closer. If this kiss ends, I’m certain the world will go up in flames. I don’t know if I’m the first fae that’s ever kissed a vampire, but it feels like I just might be. That this is the first kiss that ever was, and I’m captive to it. I live in this kiss, these lips. This man’s giant beating heart is my home, so my body gravitates toward it. Even in sleep, my hand rests on his chest, magnetizing to the thrum of peace that promises to be everything I’ve been needing and missing in life. If magic is truly what you make of it, our kiss is pure anomaly, birthing beauty into the world that was starved for something precious and perfect.
Des tastes like love—pure and unabashed love that heals the broken parts of me he doesn’t even know about. Our arrangement now is secondary to our connection as the kiss mutates into a harder rhythm when we let passion take over. Our marriage suddenly feels real.
When Lexi’s fingers trill down my side, my whole body lights up with excitement and confusion. Des breaks our kiss with a cry so desperate, I know he’s felt something change in him, too. This isn’t just romance; it’s fire we’re playing with, something real that could heal us while we burn. He doesn’t let go of my neck, even as Lexi tilts my head in his direction so he can kiss me, feeding off the high I thought couldn’t possibly reach further than the clouds.
And suddenly I’m soaring, filled with more love than a person has a right to hold in one single body. Lexi’s lips are fuller than Des’, but Des has a firmness to his that draws me in. Lexi tastes like the home I was never meant to leave, the keeper of my secrets I haven’t had the nerve to tell, and a key to both my past and my future.
I have one hand curved around Des’ neck and one on Lexi’s cheek. Des still holds my throat without hurting me, and Lexi’s hand belongs on my hip. I pry myself from their lips and lean my head back against the wall. Without prodding, they close in on either side, pressing their lips to my temples.
I’m safe. I’m home. I’m loved.
King Ronin’s voice finds me, reminding me that there is a whole world that might not understand how simple this choice is for us. The king’s tone isn’t disapproving, but rather plotting when he says, “Well, this could be a problem.”
23
Pens and a Plan
Alexavier
Harris and Melinda have dinner without us, which I know they prefer. The last place I want to be is trapped in King Ronin’s study, sweat running down my back while I feign like this is all perfectly normal. I know it’s not. I know we’re not just playing with fire, but burning ourselves with it on purpose just to feel alive.
The thing is, I finally do feel alive. I see the last few years through a lens that shows me just how forced my smile often was. The times I felt like myself was with the guys, but now that Lily’s with us, I get a hit of that confidence all the time. She does things to me I never thought I’d want, but now I crave them. I need to feel her fingers sift through mine as we sit in the hot seat. I stroke her thumb and look over, smirking to see Des is doing the same motion. It’s intuitive to us, sensing what she needs, and she’s the same way with us. We’re united, and I love it.
No one has spoken for a solid five minutes, and the silence is starting to grate on my last nerve. King Ronin has his elbows on his armrests, his fingers tented in front of his pursed lips. His eyes are still wide at the peepshow we certainly didn’t mean to give him.
I was caught having sex with a woman in the fountain in town square once in the middle of the night. Dripping wet and shivering in a towel at eighteen years old, I don’t think I was as nervous as I am now. The stakes are higher. If King Ronin finds a way to keep Lily away from Des, I’ll… I can’t let that happen. They’re so good for each other.
Unable to take the silence any longer, I blurt out, “If you’re trying to figure out a way to split up Des and Lily, I’ll move them both into the palace in Faveda. As much as you probably hate the idea of having a fae in your lineage now, you’ll hate even more having one of your own surrounded by us tricky fae.”
Des sits forward in his chair, letting go of Lily’s hand only to present his fist to me. “Cheers, brother.”
I bump my fist to his. “I won’t let anyone split us up.” I shouldn’t promise things I don’t have a solid plan for, but I can count on the desperation in my heart. If I want something bad enough, I find a way to make it so. I want this for Des. I want this for me. I want this for Lily, and all of Drexdenberg.
King Ronin holds up his hand to stave off my bravado. “This plan of yours. It’s a solid start, but it’s not big enough.”
Of all the things I expect King Ronin to say, that one takes me by surprise. “I’m sorry?”
“Your goal, as I understand it, is to get the residents of Drexdenberg to see the fae as equals, to see them as people just as good and bad as vampires. Is that correct?”
Des holds onto Lily’s hand, sitting on the edge of his seat. “That’s right. We want to unite the territories. It would be better for trade. Less of the blood shipments coming to us from Faveda would go missing. Fewer of us would feel the compulsion to attack. I’m not seeing a downside for Drexdenberg.”
“I see a downside for you, Destino. I trust you understand that this will be a long battle you four are setting out to fight? Hatred that’s hard-earned doesn’t evaporate in a day. Maybe not even in a lifetime.”
The three of us nod in unison. “We’re prepared.”
Then King Ronin meets my eyes with a challenge. “Destino knows I’ve never intended on handing the throne down to him, so he’s got far less to lose than you do. You and Salem stand to lose your right to your thrones, involving yourself in a scandal like this. Are you prepared for that?”
I meet King Ronin’s eyes with a pledge. “My father has no other options
. I’m his only child, whether he likes me or not. But even if it were different, I wouldn’t want to inherit the mess you current rulers are leaving for us. I want the world to be better, and I’m ready to sacrifice whatever it takes to get us there.”
King Ronin’s eyes slide over to Des. “Children are easily made. Your father could produce another offspring, if he was so very displeased. As could I.”
I hate when he talks about Des like he’s disposable.
Lily’s not accustomed to the Drexdenberg royal family’s needling. She rests her hand atop Des’, snarling at the king like a woman who knows how to fight dirty. “Devalue Des in front of me, and see what happens. That’s a terrible thing to say to him.”
“Are you threatening me, child?” King Ronin looks amused, but I see the warning of a plan in his eyes.
“I’m telling you to be respectful, which isn’t something I should have to say to someone as ancient as you. If you think you’re above being accountable for your words, those glory days are over. Apologize for talking about your own family as if they’re trash.”
My mouth falls open at her gall, and even Des backpedals as he turns to her. “It’s alright, blue eyes. That’s just how we do things around here. I am disposable because King Ronin’s right. He can make another offspring to replace me if that’s what’s best for the throne.”
Instead of addressing Des or softening in the least, she stands, pressing her hands on the king’s giant mahogany desk so she can tower over him with her wrath. “Do you hear the crap you’ve drilled into his head? It should break your heart to hear your great-grandson talking like this about himself. Apologize.”
I can’t breathe, but I feel myself rising beside her when King Ronin stands to meet her fiery gaze. “I think you’re the perfect one for this plan.” Again, not what I expect King Ronin to say. “Standing up to me like this? I’m torn between furious and impressed.”
She leans in, her upper lip curled. “Well, pour me a big bowl of I-don’t-care-what-you-think. None of that sounds like an apology. You shouldn’t even be talking to me. Des is right here. You know, the family you treat like dirt.”
I close my eyes because I’m afraid to see what’s coming next.
“Very well.” I hear King Ronin rounding the desk, so I watch to make sure he doesn’t strike Lily. Instead he stands before Des, his hands tucked in his pockets, his charcoal suit open to reveal his vest and perfectly pressed pants. “Destino, I’m sorry I thought so little of you. I was wrong to assume you don’t care enough about Drexdenberg. Now I see that you do care; you just don’t want her as she is. You want more for her. You should’ve come to me sooner with these concerns, this plan.”
Des’ mouth falls open in time with mine. “I thought you’d have my head for wanting an alliance with the fae and shifters.”
“Oh, I think you’re mad, make no mistake about that. But perhaps a little madness is exactly what our world needs. Perhaps I’ve been shortsighted. I tried an alliance with Jacoba years ago, but nothing ever came of it. Maybe I should’ve pushed harder. Thought bigger.” He holds up his hand. “And perhaps you’re guilty of the same sin. Your plan, while foolhardy enough to make some waves, isn’t big enough.”
He moves back to the other side of his desk, arranging three pens in a triangle for us to see. He points to each one. “Vampires, fae, shifters. Three territories, yes? What if they weren’t three, but one? One kingdom.”
I narrow my eye at King Ronin. “Let me guess, you want to rule said kingdom. Father’s never going to agree to that.”
Des wears a similar dubious expression. “While I hesitate to speak for Salem’s family, I can’t imagine they’ll kneel to you ever.”
King Ronin holds up his hand to stave off our protests. “I misspoke. Not a kingdom. A queendom. Not under me, under her.”
All the color drains from Lily’s face as she takes a step back. “What? Obviously not. What are you trying to pull?”
“Hear me out. You marry Destino, which you’ve already done. Then you marry Alexavier, which it doesn’t seem like he’d be opposed to.”
My eyebrows shoot toward the ceiling, and the sweat running down my back increases. Marriage? Me?
Lily’s more vocal about her displeasure. “I’m not going to marry Des only to divorce him. That would undo all the progress we’re trying to make.”
King Ronin reaches out and holds her hand in his—a bold move that Des and I have earned the right to make. The king has not. The two freeze at the contact, and I think he realizes his mistake. Though, as she doesn’t fling his hand off of hers, perhaps there’s hope the two won’t always be at each other’s heads. “You would stay married to Destino, and also marry Alexavier.”
“That’s not a thing!” she protests. “It wouldn’t be a legal marriage.”
“It could be, if you’ve got some rogue policy-changer in your pocket. I would make it legal and binding. But that’s only part two of the plan.” He points to the third pen on his desk. “After that, you would marry a royal from the Butcher family to bring Jacoba under your wing.” He stands straight, rolling his shoulders back at the plan that… I’ll admit, sounds equal parts insane and amazing. “You could be the beacon the countries are forced to accept. You would be the rallying point that unites the territories, making us one nation.”
“Just like that?” Des’ hand is on his chin, his wide eyes taking in the pens and all they represent. “But you’ve made it clear my whole life that you don’t want me on the throne, yet that’s where this new plan would put me. Clearly you haven’t thought this through.”
“I have. I would hand down the throne to you, Son.” King Ronin’s eyes narrow in on his great-grandson, and suddenly the veil of perpetual distance lifts. There’s a raw connection there I’ve never seen before. Something that’s not quite love, but just as important and rare.
King Ronin respects Des.
Des takes a step back, his mouth falling open with no sound trailing out. “You don’t mean that. You’ve told me again and again that I’m not bold enough for the throne, that I don’t have what it takes to rule Drexdenberg.”
King Ronin swallows hard. “I was wrong. I assumed when you went off every month with Alexavier and Salem, you three were off getting drunk and wasting your lives. I didn’t realize all you were up to. I didn’t think you cared about Drexdenberg, and I’m not willing to hand her down to anyone who doesn’t have adequate passion for the people.”
There’s a glimmer of moisture in Des’ eyes, which he tries to hide by looking up at the ceiling. “I don’t know how to do it all, but I want to learn. Will you teach me? I don’t want to wreck everything you’ve built.”
King Ronin nods, his gaze shifting with pure, unadulterated pride in Des for the wisdom in his cautious step forward. “Well spoken. I think one year is enough time to teach you. But first things first: Lilya needs to marry Alexavier next.”
Lily’s positively ashen. “Lexi, go wait in the hall.”
I posture. “Not a chance. This very much concerns me.”
She rubs her forehead. “There’s vallerous root in the air. Can’t you smell it?”
I back away, inhaling to see if I can detect what she’s talking about. “I don’t smell anything.”
“It’s stronger than before. Or closer than before,” she says to King Ronin, who stiffens. I cover my nose with my hand, knowing inhaling too much vallerous root can be deadly to mortals at worst, and at the very least, it’s harmful to a person’s brain if exposure goes on for too long.
I watch with horror as Lily sniffs over and over, following her nose until her eyes zero in on one of the three pens. “This one,” she promises, taking a step back. Her arms spread out to shield both Des and I from the pen. “Lexi and I need to be out of the room, but the vallerous stink is coming from that pen. Who do you trust enough to look at it? It has to be a changed vampire, or they could die from overexposure. And it has to not be the person who’s trying to poison you. So ma
ke that list nice and narrow, and call someone in to verify the poison.”
Des’ arm curves protectively around her waist. “What are you on about?”
“Someone’s trying to poison King Ronin. Since this isn’t deadly to changed vampires, my guess is they’re trying to discredit him, eventually make him either too riddled with headaches to rule, or get him labeled by healers as insane and unfit for the throne. If he’s around the scent long enough, that’s a real possibility.” She locks eyes with the visibly worried king. “How long have your headaches been going on?”
Des touches his lips with his free hand. “I remember you started to squint a lot maybe two months ago.”
King Ronin takes off his suit jacket and grabs up all three pens, balling them inside the material. “Four months they’ve been going on.”
Dread forms a ball in my stomach, but Lily’s already taking action. “Des, honey, call a healer. Someone you trust, but not the family healer. The poison needs to be drawn out of him if it’s been going on that long. I didn’t realize.”
“The only healer I trust is the family healer! Clare will get to the bottom of this.”
“No one who lives here. She’s a suspect, as much as I know you trust her.”
King Ronin runs his hand over his mouth, his eyes wide. “Clare quit yesterday.”
Des’ head whips toward his great-grandfather. “What?”
“Said she wouldn’t live under the same roof as a fairy. Said Lilya hoodwinked her way into your bed. Said she couldn’t stand by and watch.”
Lily looks like she might be sick, but it’s Des who has the bigger reaction. “No! She’s been with our family since before I was born. She wouldn’t leave, not without saying goodbye.”
“It’s done,” King Ronin rules.
Lily rubs her forehead. “We need Fiora to help draw out the poison, then. I’ll bring her here.” Then she shakes her head. “That’ll take too long to go there and bring her to the castle. Ronin, will you let my mother take a look at you? She lives in Neutral Territory. She’s the one who fixed Des’ arm.”
Vengeful Prince Page 18