Page 25 of A Taste For Lies (The Apex Kingdom #1)

Chapter 25

TARAN

I shouldn’t have touched her again. Especially in front of an audience. I know it. Carter knows it. Fuck, even the Lynx probably knows it. But I can’t seem to help myself where she’s concerned. When she throws that mocking Your Highness at me, my canines ache with the need to sink them into the tender flesh where her shoulder meets her neck. My hands curl into fists as I imagine bringing her to ruin beneath me, until the only words out of her pretty throat are pleas for more.

I bite back a groan. This overwhelming desire—bordering on instinctual—is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. And certainly never in relation to a human. Even if she didn’t despise me for being Elite, for being Apex, for putting her best friend in danger. Even if our being together wasn’t forbidden by every country in Valenrae. Even then, I could never trust my stoneclaw with her. Every piece of my being shies away from risking the little thief’s safety. But that’s exactly what I’m going to have to do to save this kingdom from my father’s and Lord Winters’ machinations.

“You alright?” Carter murmurs.

“No,” I respond truthfully, watching that delectable ass saunter away from me. Again .

He clears his throat, his grin edged with sympathy. “Need to work out some of that, er, tension?”

A low chuckle escapes me. “I absolutely fucking do, but I don’t think fighting is going to help.”

Carter nods towards the tall blonde sparring viciously with Astrid. “I’m sure Sophie would be willing to oblige if you asked her.”

I tilt my head, considering, but my stoneclaw erupts at just the thought of another female. Fuck me, this is bad.

“I’ve got to get out of here,” I mutter. “Take over, will you?”

Carter’s mouth twists in concern. “Of course.”

I stride in the opposite direction from the temptress, towards my rooms. I haven’t had the chance to talk through the disaster of the linking with Maeve and Carter yet. Astrid was right—we have to get those records and see what we’re dealing with. Maybe her lack of memory and the pain that comes with it has something to do with an Apex parent. Those records cover every Apex in our kingdom that ever emerged, plus their gifts. Even if there’s no lynx on record, there might be a gift associated with memory.

I haven’t heard of one before, but if it was from her parent, they would have emerged decades ago. I’m not worried that Simon might not have kept old records—he’s obsessed with his “research.” No doubt he holds on to everything and keeps it all close to hand in case he needs to reference it.

That’s why I know, bone-deep, that despite my continued failure, the amulet sits somewhere within the castle walls, waiting for me to find it. They use it too often for it not to be. I’ve lost count of the number of poor souls I’ve had to ferry out of this world as they try—and fail—to recreate what has only worked once, as far as I know.

“Your Highness!” I suppress a groan as a page rushes towards me. “Your Highness!”

“What.” The word comes out clipped.

“His Majesty requests your presence.” The boy’s voice trembles. No doubt worried the ferocious beast will rip him limb from limb .

I smother a sigh and gesture for him to lead the way. Too soon, we arrive at the doors to my father’s council room. I tense as I see the two guardians posted outside.

My father’s Apex, Vorrick, is a massive brute with one of the strongest senses of sight I’ve ever perceived. Only Carter’s is stronger, something I will never reveal to my father. Vorrick throws the ax slung across his broad back with deadly accuracy. Right now, though, he looks bored stiff, his brown eyes flicking over me without interest. Vorrick’s inner creature is a wolf and he’d rather be on the move and fighting in battle than stuck guarding palace corridors.

It’s the Apex standing beside him that gives me pause. Rhegar. Simon Winters’ guardian is tall and slim, with the same pale coloring as his Elite charge. A powerful auditory Apex, he’s a master of whispers, which makes him more dangerous to me than Vorrick. He tilts his head and stares at me, unblinking, like his owlish inner creature, as I sweep past.

Inside the council room, it takes every bit of my limited control to keep my lip from curling in distaste at the sight of Lord Winters. My hatred for this man is superseded only by the absolute loathing I feel for the one sitting beside him.

“Taran.” My father’s face, an older replica of my own but for Maeve’s emerald eyes and streaks of white peppering his dark hair and beard, breaks into a wide smile.

I force my face into something resembling polite interest. “My king.”

“Always with the formalities.” King Nyxley shakes his head. I curl my fingers into a tight fist behind my back to keep the tension out of my expression.

“What can I do for you, Your Majesty? I’m in the middle of training.” Never mind that I was on my way back to my quarters to slake my uncontrollable lust with my right hand—the only way I’ve been able to think somewhat straight since the day I trapped the beguiling thief. One heartbeat in the presence of these two has managed to kill any remaining hard-on .

Lord Winters’ pale lips turn down. “Unfortunately, our scouts have caught another feral Apex.”

I grit my teeth, rage pounding from the stoneclaw beneath my flesh. But my voice stays even. “Another one? How many is that this month?”

“Too many.” The king sighs, as if he’s not responsible for every single fucking one of them.

“At least we have managed to catch them all before any humans came to harm,” Lord Winters interjects smoothly.

“Indeed, Lord Winters. Where did they find this one?” I can’t help but needle him, but his placid expression remains unchanged.

“On the edge of the city. It was quite a close call. You’ve done an excellent job at training them, My Prince.”

My vision begins to shift, the gray bleeding in, and I purposefully look at the rolling sea outside the window until I’ve got my emotions in check.

“A public execution, I think, Taran. In the town square,” the king commands. As if there was ever any other way this would end. Despair wells in my chest, and I ruthlessly tamp it down. If the gods have any mercy at all, this will be the last execution of my kind I ever have to do.

“Of course, Your Majesty. I’ll attend to it immediately.” I tilt my head in the barest approximation of a bow, then turn to leave.

“Oh, and Taran?”

I school my expression and swing my attention back to the true monsters in this kingdom. “Yes, Your Majesty?”

“Your stepmother requires your presence at her ball tomorrow.” He sends me one of those piercing looks he’s known throughout Valenrae for. “You will not disappoint her.”

The king’s advisor stiffens at the mention of my attendance at the ball, and a smirk quirks my lips in response. He can’t stand Victoria’s unlawful obsession with an animal . Well, that makes two of us.

I direct my next words right at Simon. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”