The King
The tension in my chest shattered at her gentle promises.
For hours, rage had simmered, threatening to turn everything to ash. To drown the whole realm in my flames until they reached her and pulled her back. Her voice soothed the storm that raged within me. Before she returned, it saw no reason. It wanted me as its pawn. And her by its side.
‘This war has been going on for a long time, and I presume it will go on for a lot longer. She doesn’t get to have you.’
The faint noise of footsteps let me know that people were leaving, giving us space to resolve this.
How was I supposed to resolve this?
I didn’t even realise that today marked a full month from the day we met until Ava disappeared. She needed to know what it meant; she deserved to. But the more I looked into her beautiful eyes, the less I felt inclined to risk everything we’d build.
I wanted her.
I needed her.
My body, my soul, my fire. Ava branded it all as hers, the second our fires connected. Her essence was addictive; I would never get enough.
Her timid voice broke me out of my contemplation. ‘I know that’s what you think now. But I don’t want you to resent me in the future.’
‘Resent you? I could never resent you… Ava, we need to talk—’
The air charged with cold I was accustomed to in his presence asheappeared close enough to snatch her way. It wasn’t how I wanted her to find out; I ran out of time.
‘I would have to agree. It’s not River who will be doing the resenting.’
Pushing Ava behind me, my power engulfed the room, whipping around us—rigid, feral, and ready for battle. ‘No, you’re not taking her!’
The man cloaked in night smiled, getting closer. ‘Oh, but we had a deal. The princess for your brother’s cure.’
‘She is mine. The deal is off.' My fists tightened as I tried to control the raging flame itching to burn him. I couldn’t fight him here, not with her in the room.
‘You sold me to him?’
Ava's disbelieving whisper doused whatever fight remained in me. The heartbreak in her eyes chilled the blood in my veins. My flames recoiled from the confrontation and rushed to her instead, desperate to comfort her and to make sure she was safe. To keep her away from him.
I reached for her.
She flinched and took a small step back.
My heart lurched. ‘It's not like that—’
Wind howled through the chamber, blinding us as the world seemed to tear apart. The man who commanded darkness and shadows wrapped himself in the storm, taking with him the one person I'd grown to cherish so deeply it terrified me.
Then they were gone.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Avari
The sudden upheaval from the fragile stability and trust I had given River ripped open a void inside me, and I wasn’t sure I could ever recover.
I spent weeks getting to know a figment of my imagination, my version of him, instead of the man himself. The king I trusted, looked up to, and even began to cherish in ways that now felt foolish never existed.
All of it was a lie.
Like my mother had once tried, he’d passed me to the highest bidder. I was nothing more than a possession, a resource in the hands of a man who only cared about gaining the upper hand.
