The Reluctant King (The Star-Crossed Series)

by Rachel Higginson

  “And….?” she started drawing those circles again, but this time they were on my wrist.

  I focused.

  Ok, I really, really tried to focus, but damn this girl would get me to agree to anything at this point.

  “I’m not sure it’s such a good idea.” I breathed out unsteadily.

  “The people need to know, Avalon.” Amelia reasoned, but did not stop with the circles. “You can’t protect them if they are not protecting themselves and right now they don’t even know if there is a threat.”

  “I don’t want to cause hysteria, or plant doubt in our fragile infrastructure.” I had a valid point, but it came out not even close to confident.

  “Why not give them a chance to strengthen our framework? Give them a chance to trust you completely by you trusting them.” Her voice was so sweet, so wise, she was every single thing I needed in a girl….in a wife. And she was going to make me fall completely in love with her, body, mind and soul before I even let her out of my bed. How could I have ever overlooked her? Even as a younger version of herself she had to have been captivating.

  “Any more points you want to make before I agree to this plan of yours?” I asked dryly, relenting to her idea.

  “Yes, actually,” she laughed. “If you don’t make a claim for your people, Avalon, Terletov will. Without full disclosure, he is more than welcome to swoop in and take over. He doesn’t have to share what he’s doing to Immortals to gain their following. He is working against you around the clock. We don’t know what he’s doing with these…. experiments, but he obviously has a following. And unless you are upfront and honest about what is going on that following could potentially grow and organize until you have no Kingdom left. Your silence could land our people right back under another tyrannical rule and get yourself, along with your friends and family killed.”

  Her serious words immediately sobered me up. I pulled her against my chest, losing my fingers in her thick hair. I had a long list of people I loved and cared about, but suddenly the one I was most scared of losing was lying in bed with me and she didn’t even know the depth of my feelings for her.

  “You make very good points,” I grumbled pathetically into her hair.

  “I know,” she agreed smugly.

  “Don’t go to your conference or summit or whatever,” I begged.

  She stiffened next to me, surprised by my change of subject. “What?”

  “Don’t go. Stay with me. It’s dangerous and I’m a complete selfish bastard for not sending you away somewhere safer. But I need you with me. I need to know where you are and that you’re safe,” I paused for a moment and when she didn’t respond, I pleaded like an idiot. “Please, Amelia, stay with me. I promise I will protect you.”

  She cleared her throat as if she didn’t know what to say and I waited a full, tense minute, crushing her stiff body to me in fear that she was going to leave me.

  Finally, she relaxed into me and breathed out a whoosh of air, “Alright, Avalon, if that’s what you want.”

  “It is,” I agreed. I looked down into her face and stared straight into her eyes as if I could see into her heart, as if I could tattoo my words onto her soul. “You’re exactly what I want.”

  She didn’t respond. It was like she couldn’t respond. I had wanted to relay the intensity of my feelings for her, but I didn’t mean to take the words completely out of her mouth.

  But then her expression softened and she filled with light, that was the only way I could explain it. Her magic blossomed around me, taking flight in the room and her face lit up with the sweetest, most loving expression I had ever seen.

  She was mine.

  Finally.

  She didn’t have to say it; she didn’t have to verbalize her feelings. She would soon. And I would soon. Her face, her expression, her body, her magic said it all for me. I didn’t need to hear the words. I felt them.

  She belonged to me in the same way that I belonged to her.

  And in that thought there was freedom and hope and joy all at once.

  “Ok, now it’s time for you to get out,” I ordered. I hopped up to my knees and pulled her up by her hands.

  “Um, what?” she asked, uncertainty flickering in her eyes like a candle about to be blown out.

  “Yep, come on,” I was serious. She had to get out of my room. Like now.

  “Where are we going?” she asked, seriously confused.

  “I’m walking you to your room,” I explained, pulling her off the bed and walking backwards with her hands in mine. I had to gently tug her along while her feet kind of stumbled in obedience.

  “Oh, I uh, I guess I thought you would want me to stay,” she mumbled, giving a longing glance back at the bed.

  I smirked. I couldn’t help it. “I do want you to stay. I really, more than anything in this world, want you to stay. But that’s why you have to leave. I promised I would protect you and if you stay even a minute longer I won’t be able to.”

  “Who are you protecting me from?” Amelia asked, still absolutely confused.

  “Me,” I growled and then pulled her to me. I kissed her in a way that would erase any doubts that I wasn’t still obsessively into her. I also erased any confusion about what I was protecting her from. I held her body against mine, my hands possessively on her back to keep from breaking my promise. My lips moved against hers hungrily, desperately. She gasped against my lips when she realized what I was protecting her from and it made me want her all the more.

  When I finally pulled myself from her she was winded and dazed. I smiled down at her and her wide eyes were both surprised and heated into liquid pools of dark brown. She was breathtaking.

  “Do you see why it is imperative that I walk you to your room now?” I asked, struggling to catch my own breath.

  She nodded as if she was only agreeing because I asked her to and it made me smile. She could still walk away from me at any time, but I was determined to make it the hardest decision she ever made.

  I opened the door for her and when she walked through it I smacked her on the butt so that the sound reverberated in the echo-y hallway. She jumped at the contact and gave me a stern look over her shoulder which only made me smile like an idiot and my hand itch to do it again.

  We made it to her door where I resigned myself to a reserved kiss on the lips, quick and subtle.

  “I will see you tomorrow, Amelia,” I looked down at her and realized this was the happiest I had ever been. And she was the reason.

  “Goodbye, Avalon,” she smiled coyly at me. I think we both realized she held all the power now, but she took it easy on me by opening her hotel room door and walking backwards into the obscure darkness.

  “Goodbye, Amelia,” I say to a closed door.

  I stood there for a few more wistful seconds. Her magic was separated from mine now, and I hated the feeling of loss that came with it. I need her in my arms again, completely wrapped up and tangled together with me and everything that entailed.

  “Finally!” Xander called from across the portico that led to the elevators.

  “It’s about damn time,” Jericho agreed.

  “You’re lucky I didn’t make a move first,” Xavier called seriously.

  Good, I was glad there had been an audience. Now Xavier’s threat would go unwarranted. Amelia was officially off the market.

  “Goodnight gentlemen,” I called over my shoulder as I all but jogged happily to my room.

  Stop whatever you have planned. I’m throwing Lilly and Talbott an engagement party. I announced to Eden the minute the door was closed behind me.

  I woke her from a deep sleep and she mumbled something in return that sounded like a bunch of strung together curse words.

  I laughed at her and tried to explain. It’s important that I put all of my support behind them. The Kingdom will respond to my endorsement more so than yours and Kiran’s.

  Whatever, Avalon. She finally got out.

  And while I have you here, I want you to
invite the Regents to Omaha. We need to hold a meeting about Terletov. It’s time to trust our people with trusting us. I finished sternly.

  This couldn’t have waited until morning? Eden groaned.

  Oh, right. Go back to bed. Love you sis. I laughed.

  Love you, too. I knew that she was smiling now. I’m happy for you Avalon. You couldn’t have picked a better girl.

  She admitted right before she rolled over and went back to sleep.

  And as much as I would have liked to believe Eden’s blessing wouldn’t have mattered, I couldn’t. Because it did matter, her opinion mattered. Which made Amelia all the more amazing, because Eden loved her too.

  Hell, it was time to be honest.

  I loved her.

  I loved Amelia Cartier.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  “Good morning,” I smiled down at Amelia the next morning while we loaded into rented vans. This time we were condensing our travel to two vans until we reached Gabriel’s home town of Urubamba.

  “Good morning,” she whispered in a small voice.

  We were alone on this side of the van, but only because I had handed out menial tasks to everyone else and followed her from the lobby. I was apparently a stalker as well as her boyfriend.

  So that was good….

  “Miss me?” I asked, my lips turning up in a smirk. I knew she missed me. It was a bit arrogant, maybe, but I had missed her in the short hours of the night we had left after kissing through half of it. I shouldn’t have been so pleased with how empty and lonely my magic felt without hers, but knowing hers felt the same way filled me with some kind of possessive pride. Besides that her magic jumped and clung to mine the moment I met her in the lobby of the hotel, reminding me of the power two Immortals had over each other.

  “No,” she grumbled and rolled her eyes.

  “Not even a little bit?” I teased, stepping closer to her so that her back bumped into the side of the van.

  “Mmmm, maybe a little bit,” she laughed as I swooped down to kiss hungrily at her neck. She laughed and slapped my arms playfully.

  “Just a little bit?” I moved up to her ear, paying special attention to the soft flesh of her ear lobe, biting and kissing it alternately.

  “Ok,” she breathed heavily, grasping at my shoulders and digging her fingernails in, which only confirmed that I was doing exactly what I should be. “Maybe a little bit more than a little bit.”

  I stopped then to lift my head and look into her eyes. They were darkened with desire, an emotion I was positive was mirrored in mine, but just as I moved to take her mouth into mine we were interrupted.

  “What is going on Mimi?” Sebastian demanded.

  Damn it, I should have sent him up to an errand on the roof.

  “Nothing,” Amelia mumbled, straightening her long sleeved t-shirt and stepping away from me.

  “Well, nothing that’s your business anyway,” I laughed and then shifted uncomfortably when Amelia did not laugh with me.

  “I thought you were headed to the human trafficking thing?” Sebastian asked slowly as if he were reminding her.

  “I decided not to go,” she explained. Her voice was soft and gentle, completely at odds with how firm her magic felt around me.

  “Really?” Sebastian narrowed his eyes and shot me a hateful glare. “So you’re going home?”

  “Not exactly,” Amelia clicked her consonants.

  “If you’re not going to your convention thing and you’re not going home, where are you going?”

  “She’s going to stay with us,” I blurted out, unable to stand the obviousness hanging between us.

  “You’re taking my little sister on our mission?” Sebastian’s eyes narrowed further and his tone of voice let me know exactly how much he disapproved.

  “Yes, I am,” I pooled my confidence and answered with a smug smile.

  “And this is a good idea to you? You think that taking my little sister on this mission is a good idea?” Sebastian growled.

  “Sebastian stop!” Amelia ordered, her patience completely evaporated. “Avalon invited me along, stop being ridiculous.”

  “Avalon invited you along because he thinks he’s going to scare you into dating him,” Sebastian’s jaw ticked along with his words and he had to lift a hand to rub at a throbbing vein on the side of his neck.

  “Enough, Sebastian,” I commanded in my King-voice, the same voice I used to interrupt angry disputes I mediated and used to get Gabriel to back off when he started going on about my destiny and what not. When I was satisfied with his silence I explained, “Amelia doesn’t need me to trick her into dating me, she went willingly. No scare tactics required. As far as this mission goes, she is not just your little sister; she is a capable, independent woman that is more than qualified to defend herself. And I’m sure she doesn’t appreciate your demeaning attitude nor your overbearing commands.”

  Sebastian gaped at me, not prepared for that speech at all. But in my defense I was starting to see a pattern with the men in Amelia’s life all treating her like a child.

  She wasn’t a child.

  I could testify to that.

  Easily.

  She on the other hand, did not gape at me. She let loose a little surprised laugh and then in front of her brother, the now gathered rest of our group and God Himself pulled me down by my collar and kissed me long and hard. My hands moved immediately to her waist and all thoughts of an audience or spectators was gone as I enjoyed being wrapped in her magic and having her body pressed so willingly to mine.

  “Thank you,” She whispered against my mouth when she came back to herself and realized we were standing in front of a shocked crowd.

  “I’m not sure what I did, but you’re welcome,” I answered, my brain a bit fuzzy as the blood in my body worked to get back up there.

  “Why are you all just standing around here?” I barked when I turned to face everyone else. I wasn’t nearly as impatient as I was pretending to be but I did not appreciate the looks of complete disbelief. Was it so hard to believe that I could get a girl to kiss me? “I’m anxious to get up there, let’s go.” Though I was happy to see Sebastian sufficiently shut up. He glared at me with a little less resigned anger and gave his sister an apologetic smile before turning to find his seat.

  Everyone filed into the vans on my command although nobody had too much to say. We were tense and on edge as the buses left the city and started the slow winding journey up into the mountains. Gabriel drove the lead van and Jericho, driving the van I was in, struggled to keep up with him even with his magic completely in the driver’s seat.

  Peruvian driving was definitely different than any other kind of driving and what Jericho knew and understood. So while Gabriel navigated the sharp turns and tight spaces, weaving in and out of slower, less aggressive drivers, Jericho’s expression kept hardening and his vocabulary kept dissolving into worse and worse curse words.

  I took Amelia’s hand and enjoyed the show.

  Several hours later we pulled onto the narrow side street in front of Gabriel’s parish. There wasn’t much of a church left to begin with, but it was Gabriel’s and I understood his protective nature.

  Gabriel was my parents’ age. He had been a part of the select group of students chosen to study with Lucan in Romania. He witnessed the decline of Lucan’s moral compass, the murder of an Immortal and a human for being in love and then what happened after my parents left the Citadel. Even though he kept his past mostly to himself, I knew that it was those events that made him decide to leave the Immortal community and make a life in the human world.

  Unfortunately, the human world was terrified of him. I mean, you couldn’t really blame them with his fiery eyes and no-nonsense way about him. Seriously, I could hardly imagine what a church service would be like under his scrutinizing eye. I felt like he would be able to get people to confess to all kinds of sins and misdeeds just by looking at them and raising an eyebrow.

  Still his church had seve
ral nuns that were assigned to him by a higher Catholic council. And it was those employees he was most concerned about now.

  I kept Amelia close to my side, gripping tightly to her hand. We were the first to follow Gabriel through the church doors where he paused to move his hands reverently in the sign of the cross. I had been here once before, but it was a while ago, before I even met Eden. Amory had brought me here to introduce me to Gabriel and explain his renewed efforts in the Resistance. Even though Gabriel had born a mark of the Resistance from an earlier time he had refused Amory at that time, saying he couldn’t leave his parish.

  The sanctuary hadn’t been in the greatest shape back then.

  Now…. it was worse. Much, much worse.

  Pews and kneeling benches were upturned and seemed to have been tossed or thrown across the room during the course of some kind of scuffle. The statue of Jesus that stood above the pulpit was knocked over and one of the outstretched arms broken off, making the painted blood that dripped from the crown of thorns seem disconcertingly authentic. The door to the back was blocked by the crumbling structure of the back wall and there was a smell…. a burning flesh kind of smell that sent prickles of heat rising all over my skin.

  “Gabriel?” I asked in a low voice, hoping he would have an explanation. “You talked to your nuns?”

  “Days ago,” Gabriel growled. His orange eyes flashed ultra-bright behind his aviators and he rubbed his hand over his shaved head.

  The rest of our entourage filed in behind us and I heard the audible gasp from Roxie. The small sanctuary was quickly filled with our large number of people and I heard one of the older Titans ask what this place was. I remembered then, that because of some weird moment in history when Gabriel saved Lucan’s life, Lucan had let Gabriel leave without incident. And in an even weirder uncharacteristic move, Lucan had apparently let him be over all this time.

  Well until he joined the Resistance with Eden.

  “Gabriel, we must go to the back,” Silas commanded sternly in his Jamaican accent. He tilted his head toward the room that was almost completely obscured by debris and gave his friend an encouraging nod.