Page 52

Chapter Fifty-One: Nox

“Shit,” my father startles, stepping back from the Mirror with a jolt.

My gaze is still on Rhea’s, watching as she grows pale and her body becomes rigid. My magic pushes at my bones, feral in the way it seems to beg to be unleashed.

“King Sadryn, I’m glad to see you’ve finally answered my call.” His voice is like rusty nails scraping down my back, and when I look at him, the cunning smile he has painted on his vile face falters. “ You ,” he snarls as his hands clench at his sides.

Drawing his attention back, my father responds, “Well you have my attention now, King Dolian. What can I do for you?”

Dolian looks between my father and myself, seeing more than I ever wanted him to because he’s starting to put the pieces together—the ones that tell the story of who I am and what I’ve done. “You sent your son to infiltrate my kingdom?”

“I’m afraid I have no idea what you’re talking about,” my father replies smoothly, taking a step forward to try and block out some of what Dolian can see.

It’s too late, however, because the vile bastard isn’t even looking at my father anymore. He’s staring at the trembling woman in my arms. Shadows lift from the floor and come rushing towards me as I use some of my magic so that I don’t take this entire palace down from the way rage boils in my blood.

“Hello, my darling Rhea,” he purrs while shoving a hand into his pocket. “Are you having fun on your little adventure away from home?”

A growl erupts from my throat, but Rhea lifts her head and stands taller. “The Mortal Kingdom is not my home.”

King Dolian laughs, the sound completely at odds with the macabre contortion of his features. “Don’t you remember what I told you? You can run and hide, but I will always find you. You belong to me. You always have, and you always will.”

“ Enough ,” my father commands, his voice dripping in disdain. “Lady Rhea is not a thing to possess. She is a person who has chosen to stay in my kingdom. She is protected here, King Dolian, and there is nothing you can do to force her to go back.” My chest swells with pride as I glance at my father, my grip on the shadows now swirling around the room relaxing a fraction.

“She was stolen from me!” he bellows, his teeth bared as his hazel eyes grow wide with fiery anger. “Rhea, I want you to listen very carefully. You are mine, and I will stop at nothing to bring you back to where you belong. If that means showing you the depths of what I’m willing to do, then so be it. But it will be your hands dirtied with the blood of the sacrifices you’re willing to make so that you can play pretend with that lying prince .”

“I am going to kill you,” I vow again, eager to end the monster whose blood I will gladly coat my hands in. I command the shadows to rise until they are swirling at my shoulders, cloaking me in their darkness as I glare at him. They protectively curl around Rhea as well, her small gasp at the feel of them making Dolian sneer.

“When she is back at my side and I have her in every way you cannot, it will be you who dies a slow and painful death.” His cold eyes then turn to my father. “Enjoy the safety of your people while you have it, King Sadryn. One can never be too sure when such a thing might be ripped away.” He steps away from the Mirror, his gaudy red and gold throne coming into view before the image distorts as the magic fades and the glass returns to its solid mirrored state.

“He is atrocious ,” my mother hisses.

The hair on the back of my neck rises, and I whip my head around to find Daje standing at the door, his wide eyes transfixed on the Mirror. Fuck .

With a deep breath, I unspool the shadows from around our bodies and turn Rhea so that she is facing me. Her eyes are glossed over, the color still leached from her face as I cradle it in my hands. “Sunshine, look at me,” I say gently, tilting her head back to meet my gaze. She does, her shaking fingers wrapping around my wrists. “I want you to head upstairs to our room. I’m going to handle this, and then I will be right there. You are safe here. Always. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

She nods, a tear leaking down her cheek. My magic turns volatile, the urge to feel Dolian’s neck snapping beneath my fingers spurred on by the sight of that solitary tear. He’ll pay for ever causing her a single ounce of pain. Clenching my jaw, I walk Rhea to the door of the council room. Daje’s eyes meet mine as he swallows roughly, Rhea brushing past him in a daze. When she rounds the corner, I gather the shadows and wrap them around Daje until they become solid ropes as strong as stone.

“What are you doing here ?”

“I thought I heard Bahira’s voice,” Daje grunts out against the tightening confines. He doesn’t try to fight his way free though; instead, his dark blue eyes stare directly into mine. “I was coming to see if it was her when I heard—”

“What exactly did you hear?” I ask, heat flaring in my palm from the magic that glows there.

“Nox, release him,” my father urges from my side. My mother stands next to him, her fingers resting at her throat as she moves her stunned gaze from me to Daje.

“Not until he tells me what he’s heard and what he plans to do with that information.”

Daje’s father isn’t just on the fucking council—he is my father’s lead advisor . He cannot know who Rhea truly is or where she comes from, especially if that information comes with also finding out that King Dolian all but threatened the Mage Kingdom if Rhea doesn’t return. Councilman Kallin’s duty is to our kingdom—one that he takes seriously and one that, under any other circumstance, I would be happy of his steadfast dedication to.

“I heard everything,” Daje replies cautiously. I tighten the shadow ropes around him until the muscles in his neck flex. “But I’m not going to say anything. To anyone. Not even my father.”

“Nox. Let him go. ”

“I swear it, Nox,” Daje rasps, and though it goes against every instinct lighting up my body, I release my magic and send the shadows back to where I gathered them from. Daje falls to his knees as he struggles to catch his breath.

Squatting down next to him, my voice lowers until I’m sure it’s deep enough to rattle his bones. “I’m choosing to trust you because you are my friend and because I know Bahira does. But if I find out that you have betrayed me in any way—that you have betrayed Rhea —I will kill you without a second thought.”

I wait for Daje to nod his agreement before standing and striding out of the room, feeling my parents stunned gazes heavy on my back. I take the steps up to our room two at a time, anxious to reassure Rhea in any way she needs that she will always be safe with me. I don’t even make it all the way up before my magic sharpens within me. Like a needle finding true north, I can feel exactly where Rhea is. It’s how I found her at the right tavern this evening.

Barron’s worried gaze greets me at the landing, but he simply nods his head in understanding at the pained look that must be on my face, stepping out of my way and then moving back into position as I pass. I quicken my steps, my hand pushing through my hair as I finally reach the door. I allow one slow and steady inhale before I open it—finding Rhea pacing back and forth in the dim light of a single spelled flame, her hands twisting nervously into the fabric of her dress.

“Daje won’t say anything,” I tell her, hoping to ease some of the anxious tension that has filled the room in my absence, as I close the door behind me.

I expect her to immediately ask how we can be sure—a question I don’t exactly have an answer to—but as she makes her way towards me, it isn’t curiosity that swirls in her eyes. Hunger , desperate hunger , floods her gaze and flushes her cheeks, the emotion making me question if I’m seeing her correctly. Her fingers begin to fumble with my belt buckle, and I’m stuck between growing arousal and utter confusion as I watch for a moment before laying my hands on top of hers and halting her shaky movements.

“Rhea?”

“I need you. I need to feel you. To know that we are here. Together. That nothing will ever separate us,” she rasps, her gaze full of the truth of that desire as her eyes bounce between mine. “Please, Nox.”

It feels as if I’m being strangled when I look at her. I love her so fucking much that it physically hurts to see her so frightened. So unsure. With a hand on her hip and the other weaving into her hair, I walk her backwards into our bedroom. My gaze catches on a folded-up note lying on top of the side table next to the bed. You make me feel safe , she had written in her own letter to me this morning. Now that safety, one that I thought was impenetrable given that we are an entire kingdom away and behind an enchanted border, has been compromised.

I tilt her head back until her eyes meet mine. “Whatever you need is already yours,” I whisper as I glide my lips against hers. My cock grows harder at the sound of her breath hitching, at the way her hands go to my tunic this time and unbutton it with a softer urgency. I love the way her desire for me is always one gentle touch away, one light caress from igniting fully. My own hand slides down her neck and over her shoulders, reaching behind her to the buttons lining down her back. I kick off my boots, her sandals falling next to them. Together, we shed what remains of our clothing, the action fueling the steady slow burn of desire growing inside of me. My gaze drifts down her body as I reverently savor every inch of skin, every freckle and curve.

Wanting to fall to my knees should be a foreign feeling—something only reserved for my crown and my kingdom. But she rules above them all, a goddess that shines brighter than any star, and I crave to surrender only to her.

Particularly with my tongue.

I let her guide our next movements, swallowing my own eagerness to taste her in favor of whatever she wants—whatever she needs . Her warm hands run down my chest slowly, her green eyes acute as they drink me in before she turns us around and walks me backwards until I’m forced to take a seat on the bed.

“I need you close to me,” she rasps, straddling my thighs with her knees as her hands wrap around the back of my neck.

I’m not going to last long like this, not with her taking control. Not with the way her scent hits me when she’s so close and how her hair frames her face in sweeping strands. She is my fantasy and my ruination, perfection created specifically for me to worship. One of her hands leaves my neck to wrap around my hardened cock, guiding it to her entrance with a confident touch. Shit, I definitely am not going to last.

Gritting my teeth, my hands find the soft divot of her waist, slowing her down so she doesn’t hurt herself. “Careful,” I murmur against her neck, the cover of darkness hiding the way I have to squeeze my eyes shut as I begin to fill her.

Sex was never something for me to linger on before her, nothing but a momentary pleasure. Yet the first time with Rhea had been different. Maybe it was stupid to expect anything else when it came to her, because she had been nothing but an axe to every preconceived notion I had since the moment I met her, but I was still surprised by the emotion I felt. How every second spent inside of her was like uncovering parts of myself that had been hidden strictly for us to find together. Like this, we aren’t two beings lost to distance and kingdoms divided; no, we are an inevitability.

Her breath stutters as she adjusts to my size, the feel of her nails digging into my shoulders making my own falter. “Are you okay?” I ask, kissing her jaw and working my way around to her mouth.

“Yes, are you?”

I smile against her lips, that ever-present ache for her thrumming in my blood. “Always.”

She opens to me, and my tongue slides against hers, our moans echoing in the room as I flatten a hand on her back and pull her closer. Shocks of pleasure coil down my spine at the feel of her soft skin against my chest, of how wet and ready for me she is. I’m completely overwhelmed by her, my body strung tight as she moves desperately for friction in my lap.

“Tell me I’m yours,” she commands, her voice a husky cadence that threatens to unravel me right then, my cock twitching in agreement. “Tell me that you need me, Nox.”

“You know that you are and that I do.”

“I need to hear you say it. I need—” She chokes on her words as her arms wrap around me more tightly.

My heart pounds to the refrain of anger, my magic wild as it dances to the chorus within me. She needs me to say it because, despite knowing to her core how I feel about her, there is a scar that has built up over time from someone else trying to say that she was his . I kiss her forehead, her cheeks, and the tip of her nose before bracing myself with one hand on the bed as I wrap my other arm around her waist, right above her hips. I need to make sure she feels the surety of my words everywhere. That whenever she thinks of them, she’s brought back to only this moment between us and nothing else.

“I could say that you’re mine and that I need you, but that isn’t exactly true.” She leans back slightly to look at me, an adorable frown tugging down on her lips. “It isn’t true because need isn’t a big enough word to explain how I really feel.” I push my hips upward as I hold her in place, the thrust of my cock moving inside her making her gasp. “None of it explains how you consume me in a way nothing else ever has. It doesn’t explain how I would give up everything that previously held value in my life just to see you smile. How I’d lose it all to gain a moment of holding you close.”

I thrust again, Rhea’s back arching as she groans and tilts her head up towards the ceiling. The soft light of the spelled flame moves over her naked skin, highlighting the curve of her breasts and her peaked nipples. My mouth waters at the sight of her. Gods, she’s so fucking beautiful and so fucking mine .

“It doesn’t explain how you burn me from within when we kiss, a branding I’ll willingly take over and over again. But, since other words fail me, I’ll say that I need you. That I crave you.” Again and again, I pump deeper into her while pulling her hips down in time with my movements, her cries of pleasure skating over my skin like a silken taunt. I want to fill her not only with my body but with my devotion—so that no part of her is left to fester in fear and doubt. “I wished for you before I ever knew that you existed. And now that you’re here in my arms, I know that I’d destroy each and every realm, including my own, to keep you close. To keep you safe. Do you want to know why, Rhea?”

She drops her gaze back to mine as her hands twist in my hair, gently tugging the strands and tipping my head back. Her voice is soft, her perfect lips parting when she asks, “Why?”

I kiss the hollow of her throat, whispering the words against her skin and imbuing them with a different kind of magic. “Because you are my universe. You are my infinite sun and my endless sea. You are more than I’ve ever deserved, but you are mine , and nothing will ever take you from me . ”

Her chest heaves and her hands move down to cradle the sides of my face as she begins to rock her hips back and forth. “You have every piece of me,” she rasps, her breaths coming faster. “All of me is yours.”

She crashes her lips to mine, sealing our words together as our bodies move in synchronicity. I feel her magic surge—I can taste it, sweet like morning dew and honey. Her teeth nip at my bottom lip before her tongue smooths over it, and it’s too fucking much. We become frantic, a medley of ragged breaths, sliding hands, and whispered pleas. Her inner muscles squeeze tightly around me, and my entire body tenses as desire crashes through me in fiery waves, each one stronger than the last. I am consumed by her—her scent, her body, her voice, her love . It all surrounds me until I’m moaning her name, my blood pounding in my ears as I spill into her.

Rhea collapses against me, our hearts lined up as they beat together—the flesh and bone separating them inconsequential. Possessiveness seeps into my every pore, holding me captive until I wrap my arms tightly around her to quell it. I wonder if she feels the same when her hands slide to my back and she squeezes us impossibly closer together. Trailing my fingers through her hair, I savor the way her body melts on top of me as I lay us back onto the bed with me still inside of her, unable to end that connection just yet. Our breaths slowly even out until I’m sure Rhea has fallen asleep, but then she lifts her head to kiss my chest before she rests her chin on it.

“My favorite part,” she whispers with a sleepy smile.

Chuckling, I carefully, gently , slide out of her and move us so that she’s lying at my side, her head still resting on my chest as our legs tangle together. Sleep pushes down on my eyelids, sweet darkness rolling in on the corners of my mind as my lips find the top of her head. Though the words aren’t enough to truly encompass how my soul calls to her, I say them still. “I love you.”

She snuggles in farther, her exhale a soft puff of air against my skin. I’m nearly asleep, perhaps even imagining it, when I hear her whisper back, “The moon may have the stars, but at least I have you.”