Page 157 of The Queen’s Shadow

“No problem. I’ll be here when you get up.”

She frowned down at me.

“You’re going to sit here while I nap?” She didn’t seem to know how to feel about that.

“Yup.” I said, leaning back against the wall and resting my elbows on my knees.

“Why?” She asked, as if the idea of me waiting outside her room while she took a nap was crazy.

Okay, maybe it was.

I didn’t really fucking care though. If I was being honest, I wanted to wait inside her room. Not even just her room. I wanted to be in her bed with her, wrapped around her while she slept so I could bask in her scent and drown her in mine until there was no question in anyone’s mind who she belonged to. I wanted the world to know exactly who they would be coming up against if they dared lay a finger on her, just from the scent of her alone.

I didn’t think she was ready for that though, so the cold, stone floor of the hallway would have to do.

“Because, Kasha, I would rather gouge out my own eyes than let you out of my sight, but I’m trying not to crowd you. So, I’ll have to make do with listening to the sound of you breathing through the door.”

Her eyes widened and her mouth parted slightly in surprise.

“Oh.” Was all she said, and I smirked at her, before twirling my index finger in the air in a ‘turn around’ motion.

“‘Oh’ is right. Now off you go. Take your nap so I don’t have to sit on this hard ass floor any longer than necessary.” I grinned up at her mischievously and she eyed me again in consideration, before turning around and slipping into her room, closing the door softly behind her. A small part of me had hoped she would take pity on me and leave the door open so I could watch her sleep like a shameless creeper, but I would just have to be grateful she hadn’t made me leave all together.

A frustrated growl grew in my chest. This was not going to be easy. I knew I had a long road ahead of me. I was going to need to be patient, and gentle. Two things that were inherently not a part of my personality.

Raven had been right, though. If I wanted her, I was going to need to convince her to let me in. I would really only have one shot at this, and I couldn’t afford to fuck it up.

I wouldn’t be able to handle it if she rejected me. If she tried to run from me, I knew I would spend the rest of my life chasing her, whether she wanted me to or not.

She just needs time. I told myself, over and over again, as I stared at her closed door, listening to the subtle sounds of her crawling into her bed and settling in for her nap.

I could give her time. She could take all the time she needed, as long as in the end, she realized that she was mine.

And I wouldn’t be fucking sharing.

Raven

Imade my way to the war room, not even bothering to keep my aura contained as I went. Every shadow in the West Wing peeled itself off the ground to follow me as I walked. I was in so much pain; I kept checking to make sure I wasn’t leaving a literal trail of blood in my wake.

The memory of Amon’s voice from when we had met in my dream haunted me. He had sounded like he was trying to convince me that I would survive without him. It felt like he was giving up, and I was worried he might be dying.

I knew he wouldn’t tell me if he was, not unless he was forced to, and there was a tight ball of anxiety in my chest that I didn’t have the energy or the desire to try and loosen. I resigned myself to the fact that I would feel this way until I had him back.

I was running out of time, and patience. The trouble was, it didn’t matter how angry and desperate I felt. I literally had no idea where he was, or where to begin looking for him.

At least with Kasha, we had a solid idea that she might have been in Midasara, but even with that knowledge, it had still taken forever to track her down. The city had been massive, and that was just one city. Even if I just lost my shit and started combing the entire Dominion looking for Amon, I would probably still be too late.

I entered the war room and observed my surroundings. There was a massive obsidian table in the middle of the room. The West Wing was slightly more refined than the rough, moss-covered volcanic hallways that made up the East Wing, and this room was no exception. The black rock in here had been chiseled and smoothed into gothic arches, though rich green moss still clung to the walls in lush bushels.

There were arched windows overlooking The Court of Pride, positioned in such a way that the late morning sun beamed in, directly on the war table. I approached the table, taking in the map of The Dominion that had been carved into the stone, and the heavy pieces of chiseled emerald, which reminded me of chess pieces. Dossidian had arranged them to represent the major players in the war. Conrad, Dossidian and Zayne were already gathered around the table, speaking intently about the current state of things. Looking at the large map, I was struck with just how much larger The Court of Gluttony was compared to the other courts. I leaned against the wall, crossing my legs in front of me to listen. I had no experience in preparing for war, so I felt it might be better to listen and learn.

“We’re already eating into our reserves. If we don’t figure out how we’re going to compensate for the trade loss from Gluttony, it’s going to be a long winter.” Dossidian said.

He picked up an emerald carving of a raven, which I took to represent our team, and dropped it on The Court of Wrath.

“I’m sure we can work something out with my father once we’ve freed him. Wrath has a solid fruit industry, but unless we want to be eating humped sand lizards, I don’t know where we’re going to be supplementing our meat imports from.”

“What about Envy?” Zayne asked, “Historically Pride and Envy have been allies. They have a thriving fishing industry, as well as a strong navy. Imports are expensive but since you will no longer be providing Gluttony with restructium you could likely cut a deal with them.”