Page 13

Chapter Twelve

Her eyes flash open, and I take a deep breath.

She scared me for a second.

“Are you okay?”

She nods, a dreamy, sated smile on her face. “Yeah.”

Lifting her against my chest, I hold her tight and trail my fingers down her back. “I didn’t push you too hard, did I?”

“No, I loved it.”

Thank fuck.

Kissing her forehead, I let my lips linger against her skin. After about ten minutes, I slip away and return with a warm cloth, cleaning her up. The sun is just rising now, so I go fill the bath for her. She’s awake when I return, watching me. She laughs as I lift and carry her into the waiting tub. When I start to wash her hair, her eyes widen in surprise, then close shut as she relaxes. My fingers gently massage her scalp, and she makes those little noises I love so much.

“I could get used to this,” she says with a sweet sigh.

“Me too,” I admit, kissing the side of her neck.

Fuck, I can’t get enough of her . There’s no way I will live without her after this.

I’ve just gotten her out of the bath and wrapped a towel around her when we hear a loud bang.

“Rion,” she whispers.

Fuck.

Before I know it, we’ve zipped right into Chaos.

Literally.

We’re in the dining room while King Zython, Axe, Kai, Bane, and a pregnant Saylor are all having breakfast together.

Milana is in a towel, and I’m in a pair of boxer shorts.

Bane laughs, his inked hand raking through his hair. “I knew today was a good choice to drop in for breakfast.”

Saylor waves at Milana. “Are you here of your own free will this time?”

I throw an unimpressed look in her direction, but she simply winks at me. Today, she’s wearing a rainbow-colored dress, the opposite of her mate in his usual all-black get-up.

“Welcome back, son,” King Zython says, trying to hide his grin behind his morning coffee.

“You have a lot of explaining to do.” Axe smirks while Kai simply laughs, his shoulders shaking.

Assholes.

“Milana, you know Saylor. That’s her mate, King Bane. You know King Zython, and Prince Kai and Axe,” I introduce quickly. “I’m going to take her to my room to get dressed.”

“I’m sure she remembers me, considering I was going to be her betrothed!” Axe calls out.

“Over my dead body!” I call back as we walk up the staircase.

“Not my best first impression as your mate.” Milana sighs, making sure her towel is covering her tits.

I grin and open my door. “Don’t worry about them.”

“This isn’t the room that?—”

It’s not the room I held her in—my old room. I didn’t want her to think about that.

“I wanted a new room… fresh start and all that.” I shrug, letting her look around. The bed is massive, with dark green sheets, and a big window shows off the views of our beautiful mountains.

“Wow,” she whispers, sitting on the bed. I go to my armoire and pull out some track pants and a shirt. They will be big on her, but will have to do for now. After she gets dressed, she sits on my lap and wraps her arms around my neck.

“You feel okay being here?” I ask, burying my face between her neck and shoulder.

“Yeah.” She sighs.

“You’ll tell me if you don’t?” I ask, and she nods. “Promise?”

“I promise. But right now, I’m starving.”

I stand with her still in my arms, and her legs tighten around me. “Let’s go get you fed and catch everyone up on what’s happened.”

“They won’t mind having the ex-rebellion princess under their roof?” she asks as we go back down the stairs.

“They didn’t mind before.” I smirk.

“I was locked away before, and my father was being killed,” she blurts out, and I stop in my tracks halfway down the wooden staircase.

“Milana—”

“I’m letting you in, August, but that doesn’t mean it’s so easy to just forget what has happened.”

“I’m not asking you to forget,” I say, kissing her temple and continuing on my way.

“You know you can put me down now.”

“I know.”

She laughs as I carry her to the table, placing her on the seat next to me. I can feel everyone’s amused gazes as I grab Milana a plate and start serving up everything.

From the corner of my eye, Axe is holding out his hand to Kai with a smug expression. Kai, sighing heavily, places a gold bag of coins into his palm.

“What did you bet on now?” I ask, frowning.

“How long it would take you to bring her here,” Kai admits, rolling the coins in his hand. “I said less than three nights. I won.”

“I won’t underestimate your charm again,” Axe grumbles, making Kai laugh out loud.

Milana’s ocean-blue eyes dance with amusement.

I wish the two of them would shut up in front of Milana, and the look I send them says as much.

Placing the plate in front of her, I move to fill mine while Milana clears her throat, eyeing the huge amount of food.

She needs to eat.

“August, who knew you’d be so damn cute?” Saylor beams, bouncing in her chair. Her pregnant belly has gotten bigger since the last time I saw her. “Welcome home, Milana. I hope you two will come and visit us in the Demon Kingdom sometime. You’re always welcome.”

“Thank you.” Milana smiles as she butters the thick slice of bread I gave her. “I’ve actually never been there, so I would love to. I hope I didn’t get you in trouble, Saylor…”

“Because I let you escape after I only just got here myself?” Saylor replies, her honey-brown eyes twinkling.

“Yeah.” Milana winces, taking a delicate bite of bacon.

Saylor shrugs, batting her lashes at her mate. “Don’t you worry about any of that. We women have to stick together. And it looks like it has all worked out for you both.”

Her eyes drop to Milana’s bare wrists, but her expression doesn’t change.

“You going to tell us what happened or keep us in suspense?” King Zython asks, studying the two of us.

“I was in their dungeon, and Astrid, Rave, and Soren came to save me…” I trail off and realize that Milana doesn’t know about all of that or that I had the option to leave but decided to stay to force her to be in my proximity.

“I know they wanted to save you, and you told them to leave you there, August.” She rolls her eyes. “Rave knew I was there, too, because his shadows surrounded me.”

“You chose to stay in the dungeons?” Kai asks, putting his fork down and leaning back in his chair. “That is some dedication for some pu?—”

Axe slaps the back of his head. “There are females present.”

“Thanks, so romantic,” Saylor adds, looking at me in a new light.

Bane kisses the side of her neck like he wants her attention back on him and not me. And I fucking get it now. I don’t want Milana even looking at another man.

“And then what?” Zython presses, frowning.

“Rion was going to shock me to death while I had those magic-barring shackles on. Milana saved me. We went to the Mermaid Kingdom, but Rion found us there. So we came here,” I explain.

“Oh, and we ran into Salem there,” Milana adds, picking up her drink to hide her smile. “We had lunch together. Well, he had cheesecake.”

Saylor laughs. “Of course he did. He’s such a character.”

That’s one way to describe him.

I’m guessing that Bane didn’t tell Saylor about the message he passed on about me because, knowing him, he didn’t want to upset his pregnant mate in any way, so I left that part out.

“So, we going to kill Rion?” Axe casually puts it out there.

I nod. “Yeah, we’re going to kill him.”

In fact, anyone who comes after my mate will die.