Arienna practically swoons in front of him. I pull out a knife and throw it at his fucking chest.
Gasping, my queen cries out for him, and her concern for the bastard makes me want to stab him again.
Or rather, stab himstillconsidering the fucker caught the blade I threw at him.
He perfected that move years ago. When we were on the front lines, fighting beside Aurelia, he went on and on about how he couldtotallycatch a throwing knife while we were all trying to sleep. So I agreed to do it just to shut him up.
But he did not catch it.
Well, at least not with his hands.
As I stood there horrified, he just blinked at me. Then he looked down at the blade sticking out of his chest and said, “Huh. Well, that was unexpected.”
As Jace fell to his knees, Princess Aurelia smacked him upside the head. As he passed out, my sister kicked him in the balls, yelling at him for being an idiot. Then she shouted for Deirdre to resurrect him so she could stab him herself this time. She didn’t though; her heart was too soft.
But Evangeline did, annoyed she’d been woken up. Or rather, that’s what she said, but we all knew she just wanted to stab him. While we were all on the front lines getting traumatised over being child soldiers, she was having the time of her life.
If only Aurelia could’ve been brought back as easily...
A cruel pain fills me.
Jace’s teal eyes darkening, he twirls the black blade in his fingers. “Are we starting the foreplay already?” he asks with a smile that’s nothing but a lie. Trailing the blade straight down his abdomen, he cuts a thin line in his purple tunic, revealing his chiseled stomach.
Arienna gasps. Resisting the urge to lose another knife to him, I grab her hand and lead her out of the Throne Room. But I shoot a quick glance at Jace. If my sister is haunting him tonight, he won’t get anywhere near my queen. I might trust him with my life, but I do not trust him with hers.
Arienna turns to me as we enter the hall. “Does Jace use knives in bed?”
“Jace doesn’t fuck in beds.”
She stumbles to a stop. I pull her along. “But he uses knives?” she asks breathlessly.
Narrowing my gaze on her, I wonder just how naughty my little queen is. Although she grew up in a sex cult, it’s all vanilla sex and orgies in Brownston. Reminding myself that she doesn’teven have a safe word, I shake my head. “He does. You don’t. Blood play is not something you just jump into.”
“Do you do it?”
“Yes.”
“Can you do it with me?”
I glance at her as I steer her towards the rooms where the merchants from Vyla are staying. They’ll be packing up their wares, ready to bring them to the market. The number of guards on this floor has been increased, but they’re not all Razians. Vylian soldiers stand at attention too, but even if they weren’t, I’m all too aware that not all of my women are completely loyal to me.
The tension between the sides is thick enough to choke on, and my hairs rise as I walk between them. I don’t want to have a private conversation so publicly, but I tell myself the Court already knows how much Arienna means to me.
Word would have got to them by now about what I did to Lief. They’ll put the pieces together – realising I risked my life to deal with the wasps simply because my wife cried and not for the political alliance with the brownies like I told them. They’ll know I manipulated them into dropping the charges against Arienna – that I’m willing to share my crown with her. Kneel at her feet as my queen.
A mere conversation, heard by more of their spies and the Vylians, will not increase the danger to my wife.
So I give her my full attention – as soon as Jace is back by our sides. “Maybe we can do bloodplay one day.” My gaze snags on one of the Razian guards stationed against the wall. Her eyes are locked furiously on a man further down the hall – a Vylian with a missing hand.
“You’re relieved from here,” I tell her. “Find Echo for your new orders.”
She hesitates for a second, her eyes not moving from her target. Anger radiates off her. Her fingers touch the handle of her blade. Then she looks at me, nods tightly, and leaves with a small bow.
The tension in the hall doesn’t ease. I might as well have just sided with the enemy, sending one of my own away. But if a fight breaks out between our soldiers at the market, blood will be drawn on both sides. The Vylian king and queen will be targeted, and if either one of them falls, we will go back to war.
Then I will not be able to wave the white flag again. I’ll be forced to raze their kingdom to the ground – killing their children, taking their lands. Peace through slaughter.
I’m so close to turning Aurelia’s dreams into a reality, so close to making her deathmeansomething– yet, it’s never felt more uncertain.
