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CHAPTER SEVEN

TALIA

I woke to the gentle press of lips against my skin, trailing along the back of my neck and across my shoulder.

Warmth radiated from the body curled around mine, and chased away the morning chill.

For a moment, I kept my eyes closed, and savored the sensation of Kaz’s mouth on my skin, his arm draped possessively over my waist, our legs tangled beneath the sheets.

This is new , I thought, fighting the smile that threatened to curve my lips.

I wasn’t used to my bedmates lingering till morning, much less showering me with affection.

Usually, they were gone before the first hint of dawn, dismissed with a wave of my hand and firm reiteration that discretion was paramount.

But Kaz wasn’t just another bedmate, was he? He was my mate. My husband. My future king.

“I know you’re awake,” he murmured, his breath hot against the nape of my neck. “Your breathing changed.”

My smile matched the one I felt growing against my shoulder. “And you’re still here. How unexpected.”

His chuckle vibrated through me in a pleasant rumble that settled somewhere beneath my ribs. “The day is still young. The trouble you bring might still make me flee.”

“Mmm. You say the sweetest things.” I stretched against him, my tail lazily curling around his calf. “Such a romantic.”

“Would you prefer poetry?” he teased, his hand splaying across my stomach, thumb tracing idle patterns just below my navel. “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”

I snorted. “Really? That’s the best you can do?”

“Shakespeare famously had a way with words.” His teeth grazed my earlobe. “Though none capture the way you taste.”

There was something oddly intimate about being wrapped in each other’s arms, naked, but facing away.

I couldn’t see his expressions, couldn’t read the minute shifts in his features that might reveal his thoughts.

Instead, I felt every reaction in the tension of his muscles, the catch of his breath, the heat of his skin against mine.

He trailed his fingers up my arm before finding my hand where it rested on the pillow. Our fingers twisted together, palm to palm, fitting together perfectly. As if this were right, somehow.

Fated.

His thumb traced the delicate bones of my wrist where his mark stood out against my red skin. He lingered there, circling the spot where our bond was made visible, before moving higher to the lines of my palm.

“I’m sorry,” he said as he explored each finger, each knuckle, as if memorizing them. “For leaving you after our mating. It was... cowardly.”

I squeezed his fingers, considering my response. The prideful, wounded part of me wanted to lash out, to make him suffer for abandoning me to face the court alone. But what would that accomplish, beyond pushing away the fragile understanding growing between us?

“I didn’t ask for any of this,” I said in the quiet. “I didn’t ask to be protected or sheltered or left to handle court on my own while you disappeared to play hero.”

“I wasn’t playing hero,” he countered, his fingers stilling against mine. “I was giving you space.”

“I never wanted space,” I huffed. “I just wanted to be seen.”

The silence stretched between us, filled only by our breathing and the distant sounds of the town coming alive outside our window. I hadn’t meant to be so honest or reveal that particular vulnerability. I blamed the damned hand holding for making me soft.

“The first attempt on my life was also the last time I was in a room with all my siblings alive and breathing,” I said, beginning to toy with his fingers.

“I was seven, and my eldest brother had just reached maturity. Javed was twelve, and already showing signs of what he’d become.

The poison in our lemonade killed our eldest brother and elevated Javed to heir.

No one could prove it was him, of course. ”

“Seven,” Kaz repeated, his fingers tightening around mine.

I nodded. “We were separated shortly after to the first of many temporary homes. My father claimed it was for our safety, but really, it was just easier to brush the incident under the rug.”

“You didn’t grow up in the palace?” Surprise colored his tone.

“Not consistently. Javed’s threats and kills drove many of the moves, though I didn’t understand that until I was older.

” I dragged the tip of my tail along his calf, glad we weren’t in danger of eye contact.

Just as he didn’t want pity, I couldn’t bear to see it on his face for myself.

“But I learned to use it to my advantage. Each new home meant new staff, new neighbors, new potential allies. I turned those sympathetic hearts into my network of eyes and ears. By the time I was sixteen, I knew more about the workings of the court than most of the ministers.”

Kaz was silent for a long moment, his thumb tracing circles on the back of my hand. “Then... you would have no objections to living elsewhere? Away from the palace?”

I stiffened. “If you’re again suggesting we dissolve the crown?—”

“I’m not.” He cut me off gently. “But you’ve called the court a pit of vipers on more than one occasion. I’m simply asking if you would consider sleeping somewhere else.”

I rolled over to face him, needing to see his expression for this. His gold eyes were serious, and watching me carefully.

“The court expects the king and queen to reside in the palace,” I said slowly.

“But what duties actually require our physical presence?” He traced my collarbone with one finger. “The meetings, the formal functions, yes. But do we need to sleep there? Eat there? Live our private moments under the watchful eyes of courtiers and servants who report to gods know who?”

I frowned, turning the idea over in my mind. The thought of escaping the palace’s suffocating atmosphere was tempting. “What do you propose, then?”

“That those times belong to us, and us alone,” he said, his voice dropping to a rumble that sent heat pooling between my legs. “And I will guard those minutes jealously.”

Something warm unfurled in my chest at his words.

The distance between my father and mother had been legendary—separate wings, separate lives, coming together only for formal functions and the occasional begrudging production of heirs.

The thought that Kaz wanted to be with me, not distracted or disinterested, was. .. pleasing.

But doubt crept in, as it always did. “You’re just trying to avoid giving up your clan.”

“Is that truly so selfish of me?” Gold eyes searched mine. “They’re my family, Talia.”

Could I blame him? The display back in Silvermist Falls was enough to paint a pretty picture to contrast with the hellish landscape of my relatives. Kaz had a sister he’d defend to the death, brothers-in-arms that would do the same for them both, dozens and dozens of loyal ifrit across the globe.

I wouldn’t willingly throw myself in with the vipers, either.

“We can find a solution.” I caught his hand dipping maddeningly closer to my breast and twined our fingers this way and that, just needing to touch and be touched. “Roll them into the royal guard, perhaps. They certainly have the fighting skills.”

He shook his head. “The Kadhan clan isn’t meant for guard duty. We’re used to taking what jobs we want, when we want. Making us stare at the same walls without end would be a waste of our talents and an insult to the actual guard.”

“You can’t have both,” I said, my fingers trailing across his chest. “You can’t be clan leader and king at once.”

Kaz caught my wandering hand, pressing it flat against his heart. “Why not?”

“Because the crown demands your full attention and loyalty.” I tried to sound firm, but the heat of his skin beneath my palm and the steady rhythm of his heartbeat made it difficult to focus. “One clan can’t be seen as placed above all others.”

His gold eyes narrowed, searching mine. “Isn’t that exactly what your father did to you? Passed over the most qualified ruler because of outdated traditions?” His voice softened. “And now you’re asking me to abandon my clan, my responsibilities... everything I’ve built.”

I hesitated, feeling the weight of his words. This mattered to him—deeply. And if we were to build anything real between us, I needed to acknowledge that.

“Perhaps...” I traced a slow circle around his heart, considering my words. “Perhaps you could save it for a second son.”

His eyebrows shot up, and a slow grin spread across his face. “Already planning our family, princess? Do I get any say in this?”

Heat crept up my neck. “Pregnancy is not an immediate plan, but it will be part of our future.” I met his gaze steadily. “Heirs will solidify our claim to the throne. And frankly, we need more ifrit in the world.”

“Is that so?”

“Do you know how rare pure ifrit children are now? Mixed couples often don’t know if their children will be orc or ifrit or something in between.

Bloodlines get diluted. Numbers dwindle.

” I looked away, surprising myself with the sudden lump in my throat.

“I don’t want to see my people fade away into nothing. ”

Our people , I corrected myself silently. Because they were his too, weren’t they? Even if his branch had broken away generations ago. Even if he didn’t want anything to do with the dramatics.

He caught my hand and brought my palm to his lips. When he finally spoke, his voice was soft but firm. “That’s not a good enough reason for forced arranged matings.”

I rolled to my back with a huff, breaking eye contact and staring at the ceiling. “That’s not what I meant.”

Kaz caught my chin gently between his thumb and forefinger, turning my face toward his. His golden eyes burned as he leaned over me. “You told me that if an arranged mating is good enough for you, then everyone else should be happy to follow your example.”

“That’s not fair,” I protested, even as a small voice inside me acknowledged the truth in his words.

“What’s not fair is trapping people in bonds they didn’t choose,” he countered. “There needs to be an out available for all parties involved, and not just because of tarnished bloodline objections or to prevent future bloodshed.”

I knew he was thinking of Rava. The way his sister had fled rather than be bound to Javed. How close she’d come to a life of misery, or worse.

“How would you balance the old agreements with new thinking?” I asked. “Some of these contracts were made generations ago, specifically to prevent more bloodshed.”

“I don’t know.” Kaz ran a hand through his hair, frustration evident in every line of his body. “But I wanted to whisk Rava away the moment I learned what Javed was, and I couldn’t. As a people, we need to do better.”

I couldn’t disagree with him, though the political implications would be messy. Tradition and duty had their place, but so did choice. My own feelings on the matter were... complicated.

I’d spent my life preparing for a political match, knowing it was expected of me. But I’d also harbored secret fantasies of finding someone who wanted me for myself, not for my bloodline or position.

Like Kaz?

I pushed the thought away and fell back on familiar territory.

“And if you stray from your idealism,” I teased, arching an overly chilly eyebrow, “I suppose I could always start a coup against you to install my favorite son. I’d gather all the ladies of the court to my cause.”

“Or favorite daughter?” Kaz leaned in, his breath hot against my ear. “I don’t think you should wait for our hypothetical children. I’d love to take you over my knee and thwart your plans with one slap of your perfect ass at a time.”

I wiggled said ass, enjoying the way his eyes darkened. Better that than admit the stomach flipping feelings at his apparent openness to a female heir. “You think my ass is perfect?”

He reached down and grabbed a handful, his fingers digging into my flesh with just the right pressure. “It was made to be bitten.”

Heat spread slowly through my limbs as he turned his head, eyes dark with hunger. I arched toward him, body already anticipating the delicious pleasure of his hands, his tongue, his cock.

But before we could indulge ourselves, a sharp knock sounded at the door.

We froze, staring at each other. I placed a finger over my lips, hoping whoever it was would go away if we ignored them.

The second round of knocking was more insistent, accompanied by Griffin’s urgent voice. “Princess! I need to speak with you immediately.”

Something in his tone made my blood run cold. Griffin never sounded panicked. His calm composure was what made him such an effective bodyguard. For him to sound so out-of-sorts now...

“Emil has made his move,” Griffin called through the door.

I was out of bed in an instant, wrapping the sheet around me as I rushed to unlock the door.

Griffin stood in the hallway with singed clothes and a nasty cut marring his left cheek.

His eyes flicked briefly to Kaz, who had pulled on his pants and stood just behind me, but there was no judgment in his gaze.

Only urgency.

“What happened?” I demanded.

“I received your emergency code from the palace. I went immediately, but...” Griffin hesitated, and my stomach dropped. “The king is dead, Princess. Emil has seized the throne.”