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I laugh silently, a toothy grin making my cheek flush hot. Kai still stares at my face, as serious as ever, but the slight smirk twitching at the corner of his lips tells me everything. He’s waiting for me to make the move. With an exaggerated step forward, I pause. We’re only a full pace apart now.
“Are you sure you want to kiss me right now?” I lift my arms up to examine the blood caking them. “I haven’t looked in a mirror, but judging by my hands, I’m pretty sure I’m–” A rough hand grips my chin, thrusting my face up and his lips press against mine.
My brain short circuits, the thoughts of this kingdom, the crown I’ve apparently claimed for myself, the deal, everything and all of it fades away, until all that’s left is me and the man I love. His lips devour mine, making my head spin and heat pulse through my veins. I’m weightless, utterly at his mercy, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
When his hand loosens its grip, when his lips leave mine, even as they hover less than an inch away, I open my eyes, reveling in the way he feels… Hard planes against my smooth edges. The rough pads of his fingers dusting against my soft skin. His forehead leans against mine, and my heart starts to beat again–not that it truly ever stopped.
“Don’t you ever not tell me you’re aliveeveragain. I don’t care if it will be my undoing to know,” he says, his long dark lashes fluttering as he peers down at me.
“I did tell you,” I whisper, remembering how I insisted to him that it was me. “You didn’t believe it.”
“Next time, stab me if you have to. Whatever it takes.” His lips curl into a grin as he pulls me against his chest.
“I probably could’ve after what you did, which begs the question…”
He kisses me again, cutting off my train of thought. “There was no one else. Only you.” Kai draws a cross over his heart. “There will only ever be you.”
25
Alice
We join the others in the castle foyer, where the doors have been sealed shut to prevent anyone from coming in or out. Asmo sits on the steps, laid back with blood spatter covering his chest. Eva sits on Finn’s lap on one of the concrete benches. She might be wearing his shirt, but every inch of exposed skin is smeared with crimson streaks, and her white hair is stained with it.
“So he lives,” Finn says, nodding to Kai.
“Your Grace.” Asmo stands and bowing formally to me, then does a weird head nod to Kai. “Make that plural.The castle has been cleared. Those who wish to accept you as their queen are waiting in the meeting hall underground. What would you like me,” he glances at Finn and Eva,“usto do?”
“Tell them to go home. It’s been a long day for everyone.” Asmo double takes, looking between Finn and Kai, as if they’ll talk sense into me.
“I think what Alice is saying is have them, along with any of the other remaining nobility, meet here tomorrow. We’ll establish a court, and that will give her time to decide what comes next.” Kai smiles down at me.
“What he said.” I offer a smile. “Now, if you’ll excuse me. I might not be able to take the kingdom’s wristbands off, but I can make sure whatever the king used to control them gets dropped into the deepest cavern in Hell.”
“Of course, I’ll take you.” Asmo offers me a hand and I hesitate, looking at Kai before I accept it. We blip into existence in the King’s observatory. “You don’t have to be weird around me.”
“I wasn’t being weird,” I say, looking around the room, seeing where the king’s body still lies.
“That was weird. I’m not in a competition, Alice. I have no wants for anything from you besides my freedom. Let’s just make that very clear. You might be the queen now, and I’ll support it, but there never has been and never will be anything between us. You don’t need to hide your affections for my brother to spare me. It’s fine.”
My mouth opens and shuts as I take in what he’s said. “I wasn’t… I didn’t believe there was anything between us.”
“Good.” Asmo crosses the room, rummaging through the king’s desk to find a green crystal ball. A metal contraption surrounds it, like iron strips that are layered in rings. “This is what he uses. You can’t destroy it. It’ll reappear. The king worried someone would try to harm it, so he enchanted it. He’s also the only one who can break it since he used blood magic.” After messing with it for a moment, he assures me the kingdom’s bands are off.
“His descendents can, then.” I take the ball, raising my brows at him.“Youcan.”
“Not without sacrificing themselves, and I don’t think anyone would line up for that.”
“Okay then,” I say, rolling the sphere in my hands. It’s not light by any means, similar to the size of a bowling ball and easily the weight of a small child. “We’ll hide it.”
“I know of a place,” he says, leaning on the back of the chair to the king’s desk. “I’m not sure it’s worth it, but it would be the best spot. There’s a cave near the foothills. The king spread rumors about it being housed by this creature who knew everything and would kill anyone who entered, but I’ve been there with him. Never went inside, but I watched him go in and out at will.”
“Let’s do it. I can seal this away inside the cave wall, but blood magic isn’t perfect, so having a remote spot people are terrified to visit would be good.”
“I’ll take you, but I won’t go in.”
“You just said the king always came out,” I say, pinching my brows together. “Yet you won’t go inside?”
“No. I suggest you don’t either. Who knows what is lurking inside there, but we can hide that around the cave’s opening.”
