Page 173 of Serpent In White

Glancing at Rhiannon, I find her flushed on all visible skin, chewing her lip like it’s the food she’s been denied all day.Oh, that’s why he’s here.

“I brought you a… uh… sandwich.” Abdiel steps hesitantly inside the cell and places it on the ground by her feet, immediately backing up slowly as if he’ll be struck down by association for even being near us.

“Thanks,” Rhiannon mumbles with her face beneath her palms.

“I should go.” I shake my head at my own stupidity while stomping to the entrance of the cell. But Abdiel blocks me.

“Drake.” He grasps my shoulders, the softness in his touch bringing on more need to my chest like embers I just can’t douse for the life of me.

What is my problem? Am I turned on by everyone now??

“Back off, little mouse,” I growl, inching closer to his face. “This isn’t your fight.”

“It doesn’t have to be any of our fights,” he insists in that tone of his. He’s so damn good, it’s almost unbearable at times. “Go talk to your brother.OurKing.”

My jaw clenches while I stare into his eyes, a green so deep it’s like an overhead view of the forest we call home. The thing is, deep down, I know he’s right. I know something needs to be done about all this yearning between the four of us.

About the secrets…

But I close my eyes and shake it off, pulling away from him. Because adding the girl just adds another person for me to protect… For me to kill for.

As if there wasn’t enough blood on my hands...

Last night with Abdiel was everything I needed.

I know it had only been a day since he fucked me for the first time, but said day was full of turmoil so strong it was like having teeth pulled.

After telling Abdiel the truth about me and Lars, the drama with Rhiannon, finding out about Drake’s betrayal and all the anguish that always beats me over the head when it comes to him, I wanted nothing more than to hold on to my headboard with white knuckles and get fucked within an inch of my life.

And as sweet as he is, my prince certainly has no shortage of filthy desires and wanton dominance hiding within his strapping young body. He was all too eager to oblige his King.

Honestly, I had trouble walking when I first woke up this morning.

Yet for all that satiating, I’m still brewing uncertainty inside.

I asked Abdiel for a devotion last night. But the truth is that I don’t only need it from him.

Things are tense as the day moves on. I’m getting odd looks from just about everyone in the Regnum, shy of the Tribe, because they know better. But Gina and Paul in particular…

I overheard them wondering why Abdiel has been spending so much time with me lately… Why he came into the lounge last night while we were talking with Rhiannon and then disappeared until early this morning.

I feel really bad. I don’t like lying as it is, but to my family, especially the guardians of my Domestic, whom I’ve fallen head over heels in love with, it’s hard. My mind is just as much of a clusterfuck as my heart. It was so bad I actually told Gina I’d be skipping dinner tonight.

I’ve spent most of the day wandering around the lake, just thinking. I’m purposely avoiding Abdiel. I don’t want to make this decision any harder on him.What if he chooses not to dedicate himself to me? What if he decides it’s too much, loving someone who is also madly in love with his evil brother?

And then Drake…What is there to do about him?

I haven’t seen him since he stalked off yesterday, and I assume he’s up on the mountain somewhere. Doing things he thinks he needs to do to protect me. And of course, I feel responsible. Not that I ever asked him to kill for me, but Drake’s that kind of person.

I made him promise never to leave me. He thinks this is the way to do it…

Maybe he’s right.

And who could forget the most confounding of my immediate problems… The prisoner.

I can’t hold her in there forever. It’s been a full day, and I’m already going out of my mind with guilt. This isn’t the same as the other trespassers and thieves we’ve held. For as much of a pain in the ass that she is, Rhiannon is Abdiel’s friend. He believed in her enough to bring her here.

I have a responsibility to her, too.