He added another finger, his hand thrusting at a slow, steady pace now.
“What would you have done if you woke up to that?” My back arched, my peaked nipples scraping against the fabric of my nightgown as his thumb brushed over my clit. “Would you have let me finish or would you have stopped me?”
“I would have let you finish. I would have let you make me come.” He rewarded me with another brush to my clit. “I couldn’t even admit it to myself, but I wanted you, even then.”
He groaned, his thrusts picking up speed. “I knew it, I always knew you wanted me, even when you hated me.”
“I never hated you.” I took his head in both of my hands, bringing his forehead to mine. “I never hated you, Luka. Disliked you, yes. But hated you, never.” I brought my lips to his.
With one more press of his thumb to my clit I came, my moans swallowed by his kisses.
“I love you,” I told him, my eyes growing heavy.
Luka smiled, a hint of a smirk popping through. “I love you, too.”
42
LUKA
Two days later, we arrived in Verbial, the capital city of the Twilight Court, the city Declan grew up in.
The court was home to the largest population of shifting fae, but it looked no different than any other court.
You could pass anyone on the street and have no idea they could shift into anything from a hawk to a three-headed Cerberus.
I had loved visiting Verbial as a child, I was fascinated seeing all the different shifting fae. Watching them shift was a magical experience in itself.
But now—it no longer held that magic. That wonder.
Instead, it churned my stomach.
Walking along the cobblestone streets made me want to empty my stomach as I thought of Declan’s blood running between the stones as he lay unconscious at his father’s feet after one of his punishments. I had known his father had been vicious, but I didn’t know the extent until that day. That was the day I pushed Declan to get out. The day we started making the plan of how he’d leave the day he turned sixteen a few weeks later.
The elder Captain Hale’s name might hold status in Verbial, but it didn’t to me. Not anymore.
Declan had tried to come with us into the city, argued he was no coward, that he could come with us, that he could handle seeing his father again.
But we didn’t give him the choice. Lennox and I gave him a job that would prevent him from coming into the city with us.
He was the Star Court’s Captain of the guard, it was his duty to remain with the Aquatic Kings outside the city with the army. He was to use the day to whip them into shape and talk strategy. Whatever he needed to do—but he would not be coming with us.
It was a cheap shot, but I wouldn’t put him through coming back here. Not now. Not with so much on the line.
Although I’m sure part of him still felt guilty for not accompanying us, I could see some of the tension leave his shoulders as we commanded him to stay.
But he wouldn’t relax until we left this place, left this city and all it held.
Nol offered to stay back with him, Luciana, Kara, and Zienna too, none of them having the desire to step foot in the palace.
Nico, Lennox, and I, we’d do this together.
When we arrived at the palace in the center of the city, we were ushered into a formal sitting room, the king and queen expecting our arrival after the letter we sent beforehand.
The sitting room was large, surrounded by windows on two sides, allowing natural light to stream into the room. A low table was set by the far side windows, an array of food covering the tabletop, as if anticipating our arrival.
“High Queen Lennox Adair and High King Luka Rossi, let me introduce you to King Leone and Queen Viona,” the guard announced.
I swallowed back resentment as I took in the King. He looked practically the same since I had seen him last, so many years ago. His chestnut hair was cropped close to his head; his hazel eyes stood out against his fair skin. According to Declan, Leone turned a blind eye to his father’s cruelty. But Declan hadn’t said anything about the Queen, she blended in at the king’s side. He towered over her delicate frame. Her dark eyes were slightly upturned and were the same color as her hair, which fell in a straight sheet, like a dark waterfall, past her slim waist.
