Page 20

Pact

Sadie

A couple of years after her sister, Tara, ran away from St. Ailbe, Naomi started talking in a peculiar way.

More and more, she used strange idioms and curious turns of phrase that were completely foreign to me, yet somehow always made sense and often described things perfectly.

I privately labeled it Naomi Speak.

And I’d been using it like a second language ever since waking up in a glass coffin.

In Naomi Speak, my first day in the Secret Kingdom was a whole situation .

Tadhg agreed to my conditions:

#1: Training had to include kissing.

#2: I wasn’t waiting three months for the decision from “on high.” Their High King only had until the New Year to decide.

#3: No matter how things turned out, afterwards, they had to let me check on Naomi to make sure she was alright and take me to her if she wasn’t.

Tadhg had crooked his head at a reluctant angle at the last two.

But in the end, he assented with a regal nod that reminded me he was a king.

Even if he didn’t look like one in jeans and a plaid shirt worn over a black t-shirt.

“Should we start your training now?” he asked.

“Seal the pact with a kiss?”

I jolted at the offer.

Then surprised myself when I answered without hesitation, “Yes, please!”

The Mountain King’s eyes darkened, and once again, his hand stole under my chin, tipping my face up to him.

“Do you, Sadie Ellis, agree to be our Potential—to let us court and prepare you for the High King’s yea or nay in good faith?”

This wasn’t any kind of ceremony.

We were standing on a lawn with the Shadow King as our only witness.

Yet there was a weirdly solemn feeling in my chest as I answered, “Yes.” And I got so lost in Tadhg’s intent gaze, I almost forgot to add, “As long as you agree to all three of my conditions.”

“We do,” the Mountain King vowed, his gaze as solemn as I felt.

“You have our word on this.”

Then he curled a hand around my neck and kissed me.

A soft, exploring press to my mouth that felt like a careful sip and lingered like the last notes of a song.

Even after he pulled away.

My first kiss . I’d thought it would feel like being dropped back into the frying pan to get scrambled.

But no… it felt like the last slat on a roof being raised, something final clicking into place.

Maybe Tadhg had felt the click, too.

“Ah Jaysus, yer lips taste as good as ye smell.”

He rubbed a thumb over my cheek, his gaze tender.

“Something tells me your Mountain King’s about to get addicted to this mouth. Won’t be long till he’s absolutely ruined for anything else.”

Addiction.

Ruin. Those were very bad things.

But Tadhg made them sound like good things.

Like very bad good things he wanted to do.

With me .

“Aw, feck, Strawberry, don’t look at me like that.” Tadhg’s voice took on an accent I hadn’t heard before.

Thicker than the one he’d used to explain everything to me, and rougher, too.

“I’ve done an admirable job of resisting ye up until now. Don’t break me before ye’ve had time to rest up for what’s to come.”

I had no idea how I was looking at him, but I liked this.

I liked feeling wanted.

Like someone a male had to resist.

“Alright, naughty Strawberry, enough of that.” The Mountain King let out a low groan before clasping my shoulders and turning me around.

“Cian’s turn.”

To my surprise, the Shadow King was already holding up a sign:

Agree to be our Potential w/ 3 conditions attached?

? YES

? NO

He’d drawn a checkbox in front of both of the possible answers, and he handed me the fat marker.

No more frying pan. The sizzling had been replaced by fizzy bubbles of delight.

I suppressed the urge to giggle as I put an X in front of the YES option, wondering if the Shadow King would also seal the deal with a?—

The marker fell out of my hands when Cian crashed into me.

No longer an ethereal moon but a ravenous animal.

Drinking, not sipping.

Taking my lips in huge gulps as his tongue delved between them, tangling with mine.

“By the gods, Shadow King,” Tadhg groused.

“I said rest, not a full-body snog. Put her down, will ye?”

Put me down?

Cian pulled back his mouth, and that was when I realized I was no longer standing.

Sometime during that intense kiss, I’d either climbed or been lifted.

Either way, my legs were now wrapped around the Shadow King’s waist, and his long fingers cupped my bottom, holding me steady.

Apparently, he was much, much stronger than his lean frame suggested.

I couldn’t remember ever being picked up.

My mother had more than insinuated a few times that I’d been born too heavy and had only become a bigger and bigger problem for her since.

So there were no words…

No words to describe the sensation of being held like this.

Kissed like this.

But I tried.

“That was…” I breathed out a lot of embarrassment and St. Ailbe conditioning to admit, “That was really nice. I liked it so much. My belly is tingling.”

His sea-blue gaze had darkened, and his eyes lingered on my lips.

But he set me down as Tadhg instructed, his face an ethereal being’s promise of things to come.

“Alright, Sadie, it’s time to go home.”

Tadhg’s larger hand once again enveloped mine, and the Shadow King waved with one tilt of his wrist before the Mountain King escorted me back to the side of the palace with the interior door to my room.

Home .

I’d only been here a few hours, but somehow the word already felt right, even though questions continued to percolate in my throat.

I shot him several nervous glances.

Until Tadhg said, “Is there anything else you’re wanting to ask me, Strawberry?”

His regular accent was back.

Smooth and easy-going, with an ever-present tint of amusement.

“Did you have…” I tried to figure out a judicious way to put it.

“…more than two parents growing up?”

“No, I did not,” he answered.

“I had a father and a mother. Then just a father after my mother passed.”

“I’m sorry for your loss.”

He let out a heavy sigh.

“Me, too.”

The silence came again.

Much more awkward this time.

But the blurting disease made me ask, “Was that strange for you? Watching me kiss the Shadow King?”

This time, Tadhg turned his head to regard me, amusement glinting in his hazel eyes.

“Are you asking if I was jealous?”

“Ye-yes, I—I guess I am,” I stammered.

He tilted his head. “Relieved, actually. That I wasn’t.”

My brows drew together in surprise.

“Historically, Mountain Kings aren’t great at sharing,” he went on, voice quieter now.

“We’re a peaceful kingdom, but nearly every war in our history started because one of my predecessors couldn’t let go.”

He looked away.

“And my da… Let’s just say my mam had stopped loving him by the time Brigid was born. But she stayed. Somewhat out of duty. But mostly out of fear.”

When Tadhg looked back at me, there was something unguarded in his expression.

“I’ve been trying not to be like him ever since.”

His jaw worked, and a pained shadow passed over his face as we came to a stop in front of the exterior door to my room.

“I’m sorry for bringing it up,” I said, hating that I’d killed the mood in Naomi Speak.

“Don’t be. So far, your willingness to say exactly what’s on your mind to me is what I like most about you.”

His thoughtful expression morphed into something much more intense.

“Pardon my language, Strawberry, but my parents’ marriage was a piece of shite. They couldn’t talk to each other. My mam was afraid of my da. I don’t want that for us. For our children. If you ever have a question for me, ask it...”

I opened my mouth.

“… when you see me next . Like I said, now’s the time for rest.”

Any protest I might have had was pushed back by another soft kiss.

Another lingering song.

And my heart continued to beat to the melody when he let go of my hand and said, “Good sleep, Sadie.”