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“For you, or for himself?” I asked, wondering if I really should open that discussion. Mrak and I had once been bound for what we had agreed to be life. But I’d fulfilled my end of the deal and so had Mrak. We had love now, but would that love stand the test of court politics?
Mrak tried hard to disguise the look of uncertainty in his eyes, but I watched as that uncertainty darkened them. “Karn is good at what he does. It’s why he swayed so many to trust my brother’s coup attempt and ultimate rule despite signs of Sylas’s insanity hidden just beneath the surface.”
“But?” Mrak didn’t fully trust Karn. That much was obvious. But I wanted to know everything I could so that I could help Mrak where possible.
Mrak clenched one large clawed fist. “He’s pushing for too much, too fast. And when it doesn’t work, he’ll get the attention and respect for fixing the situation afterward.”
I shrugged. “We could always give him what he wants to see.”
Mrak shook his head. “I’m not ready to risk you.”
“What if I am?” I pressed. “I’ve wanted to become a shadow demon since you first said it was possible.” Being pregnant and having a child was an entirely different scenario, and I wasn’t sure I was ready forthat. But giving Mrak’s people not only a queen, but one who is also actually one of them might present Mrak in an even better light.
When moments passed without an answer from Mrak, I reached for his clenched fist and uncurled his talons one by one. “I know this wasn’t the homecoming you were expecting.”
A growl thundered in his throat, so fierce and loud it nearly jolted me. But I swallowed the reaction.
“This isexactlywhat I expected,” Mrak said. “I knew my brother had taken my throne and had been moving this entire time to conquer the kingdom. The next step beyond that is, logically, to expand more.Karnwas unexpected. His easy loyalty switch has not gone unnoticed, although he’s doing a decent job as presenting it as a full change of heart. As if he’s borne witness to great evil and now wants to fix what he aided in creating.”
Hearing Mrak agree with my suspicions was a relief. But it didn’t solve the problem.
“Let him stay,” I suggested. “Rely on his knowledge and power. Use it if you need to. But keep him at arm’s length until you’ve positioned yourself to not need him anymore.”
Mrak regarded me carefully. His expression relaxed. “You are wise.”
I shook my head. “No, but I watched Lazarus rule precariously for a decade.” And precarious it was when he kept spouting fear and plans against demons who hadn’t yet come to Earth. Luckily for him, Lazarus had had enough power and sway in the city to avoid losing those positions despite those around him thinking him delusional. “He was afraid of you and your kind.”
“Lazarus was right to fear my brother,” Mrak admitted. “I never wanted to leave Kithonia, or take control of more than my kingdom. My brother desires to burn to the ground that which keeps our worlds separate. To invade Earth and churn it anew, into a place shadow demons can make their own.”
“Why?” I asked. “I get expansion. I even understand wanting to create a connection just because he can. But there has to be a reason, right?”
“Nightsteel, I’d imagine,” Mrak said. “If he invades Earth, if he bolsters his cache of nightsteel weapons, he could take the rest of our world easily. Nightsteel was outlawed before my time as king for its volatility against our kind. But rare as the material might be on Earth, your world has many pockets left of it.”
I opened my mouth to ask a question, but hesitated and swallowed hard.
Mrak watched the motion and nodded slowly. “Sylas knows you are here. He had people on Earth. It’s possible he also knew what role you played for Lazarus. That your natural skill with nightsteel is masterful.”
Capturing me to make nightsteel weapons would hurt you as much as me.It wouldn’t just be to fulfill his agenda. Sylas could hit two very large, cross-world birds with one human-shaped stone.
I wrapped my other hand around his large one and smiled up at him as tears threatened to fall. I wanted to be Mrak’s ally, to love him, not be someone who could hurt him simply by existing here.
“You don’t need to worry about that. I will not make anything for him, no matter what happens.” I brought his hand to my lips and kissed his knuckles. “I am yours.”
Mrak grunted as my lips touched his skin. He brushed the tray of food aside and pulled me on to his lap so I straddled him. “That you are, my little Shadow Fire.” He tilted my chin up with one dark talon and captured my mouth with his.
Simple as the movement was, it set my body on fire. I opened my mouth and let his forked tongue explore as his hands wrapped around me. Being this close to him,touchinghim, sent a shiver of excitement through me, one that ignited at the base of my back where Mrak’s hands were now splayed. They dipped lower, cupping my ass as he lifted me up, bringing me closer to his mouth.
We’d been intimate in many forms. First as ethereal brushes of tendrils I couldn’t see but had felt all over my body that now burned for him. Then, as our connection had grown, Mrak had manifested more solid parts of his own body. Fingers, a hand. His lips. A shadow, and then his whole body in one glorious night in which I’d finally—finally—felt whole with Mrak. Or, at least as whole as we could’ve been at the time.
But what would it feel like to make love to him now, as this monstrous and large shadow demon?
I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him deeper, fiercer. I didn’t want this moment to end or for his mind to think of anything but us together in this room. Seeing him worried twisted something deep inside me I couldn’t stand, and there was plenty going on in the palace outside that worried both of us.
Mrak growled against my mouth at the motion, which I took as an invitation to move my hips against him. Mrak hissed, and I felt him hardened beneath me. His massive length was impossible to ignore now. He felt huge between my thighs. A flash of fear ran through me. Was hetoo bignow for me to take?
His kisses stopped, and he pulled back. “Aisling.” A hint of warning echoed in his tone.
I grinned up at him. “What? You don’t want this?”
