Page 19

O ur limbs tangled against the palm tree until Lukas scooped me up and held me by my backside. I gasped against his lips, but then my legs locked around his waist, and my hands flew to his hair, burying themselves into the thick strands. I wanted to touch him everywhere. I wanted him to touch me everywhere.

When his tongue stroked mine, I sighed blissfully. The sound was enough to elicit a growl from his chest and he held me tighter.

I could feel myself sinking, drowning, until Lukas pulled away for air.

“I want to marry you the moment we arrive back in Drothmore,” he said, panting. “I’d marry you right here if I could, the entire party can be our witness. Forges, Naria .” His lips brushed against mine, making my heart stutter.

“I’d like that.” I smiled. “But I also want a big wedding, with flowers, and all my friends there to watch.” I pressed my hand against his shoulder, stroking my thumb against his shirt. “Besides, Raena would kill me if I didn’t let her help plan it,” I teased.

“Then we shall have a big wedding,” Lukas agreed. Holding me up with one hand, he brought up the other to clasp mine, kissing my palm softly. “Anything you want, you shall have. I’ll make sure of it.”

Crimson heat seeped into my cheeks. His voice was low enough to make my bodice feel tight. When his lips found mine again, I reluctantly pushed him away.

“We should stop before—”

“Dance with me.” His words were like iron, and so was his gaze. “Dance with me out there so I may keep touching you without letting this go too far.”

Warmth pooled in my stomach. “Okay.” I smiled. That smile grew into a laugh as he lowered me back to the floor, took my hand, and sprinted with me back through the arched palm trees.

As we neared the party, more and more golden light spilled out onto the sandy floor. Until all that golden light was blocked by a tall, dark-haired shadow. Both Lukas and I froze, but only for a short moment before Lukas tucked me behind him.

“You again,” he growled to the shadow, keeping his hand tight around mine. “There better be a damned good reason for why you’re here.”

Arenn chuckled, moving towards us. “I came searching for my betrothed,” he said confidently. “I believe she owes me a dance.”

Blood boiling, I stepped ahead of Lukas. “I owe you nothing.”

“Oh, but you do.” He tilted his head towards me, replying in a condescending tone, “Especially considering I saved you from a dagger-wielding mermaid and a foolish boy king just a few hours ago.”

Metal scraped against wood as Lukas withdrew a dagger from his belt. “Consider your next words carefully, faery scum.”

Arenn just laughed. “Still playing with knives? Really?” My stomach sank as the trees around us twitched. Something low rumbled through the ground. “Did your merfolk friends teach you nothing? Come on, King Lukas , I want a real fight…”

“Stop this,” I panicked, avoiding a creeping vine as it shot up from the dirt. Glancing at Lukas, my chest seized when I noticed a shadow of something pass over his face. In the distance, thunder rumbled.

“Oh, there it is,” Arenn laughed.

“Stop it,” I hissed, louder this time. Both men ignored me, Arenn too busy cackling and Lukas too furious to move. Raising his palm, Arenn summoned more slithering vines from the ground. My heart jumped to my throat when one brushed my thigh.

“Stop!” I said again with tears in my eyes. Electricity crackled in the air, covering my arms in goosebumps. “I’ll dance with you!”

The tension in the air fell flat.

“I’ll dance with you, Arenn,” I repeated, hating the words that left my mouth.

“Naria…” Lukas argued, but I stopped him with a palm on his chest.

“Just let me dance with him once to make him happy. Then we’ll have the rest of the night together,” I promised, my gaze meeting his.

Lukas’s jaw tensed. But before he could change my mind, I felt Arenn’s hand clamp around mine.

“Come, princess.” He yanked me down the path. I stumbled along behind him, wishing I could fix the hurt that poured over Lukas’s face, and wishing that the crystals on my wrist would stop feeling so warm every time Arenn’s fingers brushed over mine.

Candleli ght flickered over the grass dance floor as the faery prince held me close to his chest. With a taunting smile, he spun me in his arms, parading me around the floor and ignoring any odd looks we received from other dancers. They probably wondered why the engaged Corlixin princess was dancing so closely with a mysterious raven-haired nobleman. Their looks made my cheeks burn, but Arenn didn’t seem to care. Especially considering how low his hand sat on the base of my spine. And the way his lips brushed my ear every time he twirled me in his arms.

I hated the warmth that throbbed inside me.

“It’s been so long since I’ve been able to touch you like this,” he murmured into my shoulder. We’d reached the part of the song where my back pressed against his chest, and I shuddered as his fingers brushed my sides in time to the music.

“Keep touching me like that and I’ll let everyone at this party know that Queen Cora’s got a faery hiding in her palace,” I warned, gritting my teeth.

Arenn just chuckled. “Why don’t you try that?” His fingers brushed my sides again, digging in more forcefully than before. “Why don’t you scream your little heart out, as loud as you can, and we’ll see how quickly you end up back in my kingdom?”

My shoulders tensed, and I sucked in a breath as he whirled me back around to face him. “I hate you,” I hissed.

“I know.” Something like sadness flitted across his face only to vanish as a tight smile worked across his jaw. “But you’ll learn to accept my love eventually.” He stroked my cheek. “For now, I will play your silly games, let you enjoy your time by the sea while it lasts.” His smile grew as he tipped my chin closer to his face. “But I’m afraid my patience is wearing thin, my love.” His voice darkened. “And it wears thinner every time I catch you sneaking off with other men.”

My lips pressed together. “You mean my fiancé?”

Arenn dropped his hand to grip my waist, tugging me towards his chest. “I mean anyone who isn’t me, human,” he growled against my ear. “So don’t let me catch you alone with another man ever again. Or I’ll drag you back to Faelenna kicking and screaming before your foolish boy king even has a chance to draw his sword. Am I making myself clear?”

Snarling, I managed to wriggle out of his hold until we were back to a normal dance distant apart. But I didn’t answer his question. Instead, I reluctantly let him continue to parade me around the dance floor until my gaze landed on a certain dark-eyed queen. Then my blood really began to boil.

“So you are allowed to tell me who I cannot spend time with, but it is perfectly fine for you to enjoy the company of those who have gone out of their way to hurt me?” I shot a pointed look towards the King and Queen of Hallshire, who were gathered around a nearby buffet table while Arenn grinned eagerly.

“Ah, but you see that’s different,” he mused, amber eyes glinting.

“How is that possibly different?” I scowled.

Arenn chuckled. “Because when you saw me speaking with Queen Marigold, I was doing that for you ,” he almost purred, spinning me again.

“What?”

Catching me, he drew my hand back to his shoulder. “You see, human…” A slow grin pulled at his lips. “She hated you, and neither of us had any idea why, but now, after speaking with her and… gaining her trust,” he drifted closer to my ear, “I know all her secrets.”

I blinked slowly. “Why does she hate me then?” My words were short.

“Because you’re standing in the way of quite an important marriage for her beloved daughter,” he explained, smirking.

“What?” I blinked again. “What marriage? Which daughter?”

Arenn’s smirk widened as my heart pounded in my chest.

“That daughter.” He spun us around before stopping to point at a young woman just metres away.

My breath caught. She was certainly beautiful. Her black hair had been piled high above her silver tiara, and I couldn’t help the envy painting my face as I took in her delicate crimson gown and the way it complimented her figure. But then all that envy churned into dread. Holding her hand and leading her around the dance floor were the same pair of hands that had touched me behind the palm trees just minutes ago.

“Apparently Marigold has been planning Princess Callie’s marriage to your dear Lukas for years now,” Arenn drawled behind me. “And you can see why.” I could almost hear the grin in his voice. “They do make a lovely couple, don’t they?”

I took a steadying breath. There was nothing romantic about the way he held her. Even she didn’t seem to be enjoying herself. Her expression was more nervous than anything else. But still, that didn’t stop the pain that slashed across my chest.

“He’s just dancing with her to be polite,” I said as I turned back to Arenn.

“Is he?” Arenn laughed. Then he leaned closer, his arms finding mine as we continued our dance. “Would you like me to kill her for you?”

I coughed on my gasp. “Ancients, no!”

“But it hurts you to see her.” He tilted his head. “I could kill her, then kill her lovely mother too.” His fingers found my chin, stroking my jaw tenderly. “Think of it as an early wedding gift from your soon-to-be husband.”

My eyes narrowed. “No.”

My response made something glimmer across his playful expression. “Shall we make him jealous then?” His voice lowered, stirring up far too many feelings in my stomach. “Shall we remind everyone here who you really belong to?” His gaze left mine as my brow dipped. “We’ll make sure he’s watching… like now.”

Before I could process just what he was scheming, Arenn’s lips crashed against mine. Gasps echoed around us, mine included as he tugged me towards his hard chest.

“Stop,” I squealed against him, writhing in his hold. Disgust, desire, pain, unwanted heat all blended together into an awful mix that shot through my veins. I wanted him to get off me. I wanted him to leave me alone. But the hand closest to our crystal bond gripped his shirt like I needed him to breathe.

“With all that squirming you’re not making our performance very convincing,” Arenn’s voice rumbled through me. “Do I need to compel you to kiss me back?”

Bile rose in my throat. And it was then that I was finally able to gather enough strength to shove him off me. My lips tore away from his, but not before my palm shot through the air and struck him clean across the cheek. A loud crack echoed across the dance floor.

The musicians stopped playing. Dancers around us halted as if their feet had been glued to the floor. And all that could be heard between the distant crickets were Arenn’s heavy breaths as he held his cheek, surprise clouding his eyes.

“Maybe I deserved that,” he murmured.

“Don’t touch me ever again,” I yelled, fists clenched. Behind me, I heard someone frantically shoving their way through the crowd.

“Naria are you alright—” But I couldn’t bear to let Lukas help me. Instead of running to him, I dove through the crowds and charged back towards the palace.

Damn Arenn. Damn Queen Marigold and her perfect daughter. Even if the latter perhaps didn’t deserve my hate. I could barely see as I sprinted through the endless palace corridors. Anger stained my vision red. It was only when I collided with something big and coated with armour that I blinked away the rage on my face. A stunned-looking guard stared down at me.

“Sorry,” I mumbled.

“Apology accepted,” he laughed, but it wasn’t a pleasant sort of laugh. It was the kind that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. “After all, you just saved me searching around the palace all night.”

“What?” I breathed.

“Princess Naria,” he announced firmly as more blue-bannered guards appeared from behind him. “You’re under arrest.”

“I’m what?” I let out a yelp as a man twisted my arms behind my back.

“For bringing disease into the palace and endangering the royal family,” the guard continued casually, but I could barely hear his next words over the pounding of blood in my ears. “Prince Raphael is dying, and now you’re going to hang for it.”