Page 127 of The Ever King

Instead of turning away, I leaned into him. My palms slid up the sides of his arms. He stiffened. I raked my fingers through his hair at the back of his head and tilted his brow to mine.

“Everything has changed, Serpent.” I brought my lips close to his ear, so only he could hear. “You don’t need to hate for him anymore, Erik. You don’t need to please him; you’ve always pleased me.”

His hands gripped my waist. “I took you away. Hate me, Songbird, or you will be my undoing.”

“You took me,” I whispered. “I should hate you for it, but you showed me your darkness. Turns out I’d cross the skies—or seas, in our case—searching for your kind of darkness, Bloodsinger.”

He let out a sharp breath and closed his eyes.

I needed answers, but more than that, I needed him. “Come with me.”

Before he could grumble or protest, I took his hand and tugged him toward the door. Erik glanced back at Aleksi, whose brow furrowed in confusion. In the corridor, Sewell and Celine still stood guard at the door.

“Will you keep watch over my cousin for me?” I asked.

“More damn foxes.” Sewell sighed but patted my cheek. “Safe and sound.”

That was all I needed before I pulled the king toward the stairs leading to his chambers.

CHAPTER44

The Songbird

No guards stood outside his doors. Erik no longer trusted anyone close to me, and instead, three bulky men from the Ever Crew kept a distance from the doors, blades in sight.

They grunted a greeting when we reached the door. Blood pacts kept the Ever Crew loyal. They were brisk and had no propriety, but they’d fight for their king like they’d fight for anyone on their crew.

When the lock clicked, I wheeled on him. “You’ve saved more of my people than you’ve killed.”

“I wouldn’t say that. I did plenty of killing during the war.”

“You’re infuriating,” I said, pressing my chest to his. “Why did you lie to me about what happened to you?”

“I never lied,” he said. “I told you land fae drained me for their use. They did.”

“You let me think my family—my parents—were the ones responsible.”

Erik hesitated. “An omission that wasn’t supposed to matter.Youwere never supposed to matter, but you do. You ruined everything, and I don’t care. Ruin me. Destroy me. As long as I have you.”

Wretched, beautiful man.

I kissed him. Hard. Erik groaned and wrapped me in his arms, crushing me to his chest. His muscles relaxed, like my touch was a surge of peace that could finally bring his anger, his pain, to rest.

Still in his arms, Erik walked me backward until my back struck the wall.

My palms slid down the planes of his stomach and reached his belt. He released me and flattened his palms on the wall beside my head. “Songbird.”

“Serpent.” My voice was rough like I’d swallowed sand and freed the buckle on his belt.

“Don’t do this because you feel a debt from what you heard today.”

Vulnerability on the Ever King was a new cracked edge in his hardened shell. I wanted to slip through and never leave. There was meaning in his words. Hesitation, hope, and fear. He thought I wanted him out of obligation. He thought I was giving myself to him because he’d saved my uncle.

I flattened his palm over my heart. “This has always been yours. Before any bond, you pulled me to you in that cell, and you never stopped. Don’t doubt me, for I tried to do this at the cove and you went and got stabbed.”

He chuckled, then dropped his head to my shoulder. “My warning still stands. Do this and I’ll never give you back.”

I cupped one side of his face. “Be sure beforeyoudo this, Serpent. Do this, andIclaim you.”