“I could do it. Right now. I could fly straight to his bed and shove a blade through his fucking chest. The court wouldn’t stop me. Not if they knew?—”
“Korithax.” Aran’s voice is stronger now. “If you kill the king, it’s treason. You’ll lose your claim. You’ll lose everything. Including her.”
My throat tightens at the thought of being ripped away from her. I’ve come too close to losing her too many times in such a short fucking amount of time.
“She needs you. She doesn’t need vengeance. Not yet. She just needs you.”
I let the words settle. Because they’re true. And I hate to admit it, but Aran’s right. Killing him won’t change anything. His time will come.
I press the heels of my hands into my eyes, hard enough to see stars.
“I don’t know who I am anymore, Aran,” I whisper. “The world I’ve built in my head—my father, my legacy, the Divine Six, everything—it’s all bullshit. And she’s looking at me like I might shatter her without even meaning to. Because at the root of it all, this is my fault. I should’ve stayed away from her.”
“You won’t shatter her. And you couldn’t stay away from her,” Aran says. “Because, despite the mate bond pulling you together… You love her.”
I look up sharply.
“Don’t look at me like that. It’s not a secret that you worship the ground she walks on. You’d kill a fucking god for her. Or six.”
I sink into one of the chairs, leaning forward to place my forearms on my knees. My head drops into my hands as I let out a deep exhale. Even Aran was changing. I don’t think I’d ever heard him swear before. What the fuck was going on?
“She doesn’t even want to be who she is,” I murmur. “She doesn’t want to be a queen anymore. She just wants to be… Daisy.”
Aran walks over and places a hand on my shoulder, the small gesture somehow calming. His reassurance washes over me, and I look up to face him.
“Then remind her she can be Daisy, and she can be so much more. She’s already yours, and whatever crown she wears, whatever throne she’s destined for… she’s still the girl who stared a seven-foot demon in the face and told him to piss off.”
I huff out a laugh. “She’s everything,” I whisper. “She’s my mate, my little flower.”
Aran squeezes my shoulder. “Then be her mate in every way that counts. But don’t burn the world down before she asks you to.”
I look up at him, and this time, I really see him. Not my advisor, not my assistant. Just my friend, my brother.
“Thank you,” I say, voice hoarse.
He nods once, then pulls the sword from the wall and lays it on the table beside me. “Try not to throw this again. It’s very old.”
My lip tugs up at the corner as I offer him a small nod in response. He leaves the room, the door clicking quietly behind him.
I sit alone for a while, the sword beside me, my thoughts a battlefield. I don’t know what tomorrow brings, but I know whoI’m fighting for. And I know who I won’t spare when the time comes. Not even my own blood.
Chapter 52
Daisy
Isit cross-legged on the rug, my fingers curled around a cup of honeyed tea I’m not actually bothering to drink.
The room is still glowing with the warmth of their laughter from their stories of what’s been happening back home. But underneath it all, there’s a tension I can’t hide anymore.
Ezra leans forward, arms braced on his knees. “Okay, bitch. Spill everything. Like, everything. Start with the getting married part. Why the hell did you marry Satan?”
Talia elbows him, but he doesn’t look away from me. She’s quiet, and her eyes are full of worry, like she’s trying to read me before I can even start speaking. She’s always done that, read me like an open book. I’d trained myself over the years to hide the darkest parts of me from her, but she still mostly managed to figure me out.
I take a breath. “Technically, I didn’t marry Satan. He’s down in Gehenna,” I force a laugh. “But, I married Korithax because I had to. It was part of a political agreement. He needed a wife tobecome king, and I…” my voice falters. “I needed somewhere to belong. Somewhere that didn’t remind me of being broken.”
Ezra’s expression softens instantly. “You’re not broken, Daze.”
Talia says nothing, but her hand finds mine in a strong embrace, her thumb tracing softly over my knuckles.
