“Jace is terrified of them.” A bit of an exaggeration but not completely unfounded.
Opening her eyes, Arienna turns to look at me. “I’m sure I can convince him that she’s just –”
“Arienna, it can’t stay here. We’ll release it somewhere nice, just like we did with your wasps, okay?”
Sighing, she leans back against me. “Fine…”
Holding her tight, I ask softly, “Did you have to cut off all the heads yourself?”
Her body tenses, then a shudder rips through her. “Most of them were already… off, and Deirdre helped.”
“She’s here?”
She nods. “She worries about you, you know.”
Doubtful. Most likely, she’s playing some angle, but I don’t tell her that yet. We’ll discuss the manipulations of the nobles later, but right now, her sanity is all that matters.
“And she tried to help me revive one, but –” This shudder turns into a messy giggle. “She had a DNR order, so I had to…” Her laughter chills my spine even under the hot spray.
Fuck. Killing a recently resurrected soul isn’t easy.
“Did you know the head is, like,reallyattached to the body? Like,really, reallyattached to it.”
With my fingers on her chin, I turn her face so she can look into my eyes and see the truth. “I’m so fucking sorry I put you in that position,” I murmur.
Tears mix with the spray, her face bunching up with a pain I feel in my bones. “I thought I was going to lose you.”
“Not even death can keep you from me. I’ll go to war with the gods themselves to get back to you.”
“So would I,” she says softly before leaning up for a kiss. I take her lips gently before pulling back. For as much as my cock wants to be inside her, she’s too vulnerable right now. She needs to be held and spoiled, not fucked desperately and raw like my soul is urging me to do.
Wishing I could wash the guilt off her shoulders but knowing I’m unable to, I simply hold her until she’s ready to move.
I step out of the shower with her in my arms. I’m still wearing my soaking wet clothes. Grabbing two towels as I pass the railing, Iwrap one over her. She fell asleep a few minutes ago, her head resting against my chest, her heart and body utterly exhausted.
Laying the other towel down on our bed, I set her on top of it. I pat her dry, then kiss her forehead before going back into the bathroom. I leave my wet clothes in a bundle on the floor. With a towel around my waist, I head back to my queen.
As I crawl into bed and pull her into my arms, she turns towards me. Her eyes open half-way, soft and pure and still on the edge of sleep. “I love you.”
I kiss her lips. “I love you too, my queen.”
Fifty-Four
A king keeps his deals to his wife. Not because he’s forced to, but because he wants to.
Fuck my ass.
- Richard
When I wake a few hours later, she’s already up and staring at me. Her eyes aren’t sad anymore, but they aren’t like they used to be – innocent and pure.
There’s a knowledge in them, a lesson I hate she had to learn.
But there’s also sunshine and happiness.
My queen has not been broken.
If I had just trusted her from the start…
