AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You know me?” I asked, stepping closer, fear floating somewhere around my heart. “Who am I?”
Princess Cyndella’s screaming snapped me out of the small daze that had overtaken me, and I raised my head at the dark fae’s now lifeless body slumping forward, one of the Royal Guards retrieving his sword from the depth of her heart. It was too late for answers; the dark fae was gone.
Dark fae? What is that?
The term bounced around in my mind, but I didn’t have a second to entertain it. I didn’t know what it meant or how it had materialized, only that it meant something, something that I understood inherently.
The princess continued to scream, and the king gave a silent signal to his guards before turning to me, gesturing for me to climb onto his back. Through my peripheral vision, I saw one of them sweep the princess up and whisk her out of the ballroom, her cries fading as I faced the king.
King Zen nudged me with his snout, and I started to refuse, the fight still waging around us, but when I looked around, I realized that the Royal Guards had managed to eliminate the threat, the intrusive faeries in a bloody pile or scurrying into retreat. They wouldn’t get far, the exits blocked, their magic useless now that Endora had enshrouded the ballroom in some kind of blocker.
The king released a low growl, and I understood that I didn’t have an argument. Slowly, I climbed onto his back, and we were off, flying through the castle as his guards remained to clean up the mess and close down the party that had never really started.
His feral, masculine scent overtook me, a soft breeze rushing through my hair as the king raced me across the main floor of the castle, through the mob of guests. I noticed nothing but the sensation of his fur beneath my fingertips, my sweaty palms curling firmly against him to hold on for dear life as my body fell forward to cower protectively. Myriad emotions overwhelmed me as tears blurred my vision, my head swimming with relief, fear, and wonderment.
He's saving me again,I realized, my heart thudding in my throat.Why does he keep doing that?
* * *
Eventually,I fell into a haze, the rhythm of the king’s paws lulling me into a hypnotic submission. We stopped somewhere unfamiliar, but the fog around me remained, and I was too traumatized to notice that the king had left me alone for a few minutes until he returned. He was no longer in his animal form and wearing much different clothes than the last time I’d seen him. His tux was likely ruined on the floor of the ballroom, where he’d shifted in the scuffle.
I also took note of my surroundings for the first time. The sight of the massive double king bed under a floating canopy was like something out of a storybook. The bedroom was ten times as big as the one in my quad.
Was this his room?
It gave me a shiver to envision myself in the king’s bedroom, but the more I looked around, the more I saw that this room belonged to a female.
“This used to be my mother’s suite,” he informed me, like he was reading my mind.
Somehow, that made it more unnerving, although that might have been because my nerves were already fried. He could have said anything at that point, and it would have made me want to shut down.
I folded my hands nervously on my lap, distinctly aware of the fact that I was sitting on the bed, and the king paced in front of me. Silently, I willed him to slow down, to look at me and relax because his movements were only putting me more on edge.
“You’ll be sleeping here from now on,” he told me.
“What?” I sputtered.
He finally stopped and stared at me. “I heard what that fae said to you before the guard so stupidly killed her.”
“Stupidly?” I echoed. “She was going to kill me—and your sister!”
The king grimaced. “I wouldn’t have let that happen,” he replied flatly, although I wasn’t sure if he meant he wouldn’t let that happen to me or the princess.
“We could have used the answers. She knew who you were. We could have kept her in the dungeon.”
“Dungeon?!” I repeated. “You have a dungeon?”
His eyebrows shot up as if my question surprised him.
“Of course. This is a fully functional castle.” He paused to ponder his own thoughts before continuing. “But you’re right—you’re clearly in danger. Which is why you’ll stay here, where you’ll be better protected.”
I swallowed thickly. The gesture was appreciated. I didn’t want to die, but what did it mean? Why would he do that for me, a nobody to him or anyone else for that matter?
Did these mean that he cared about me?
There I went again, reading too much into the king’s generosity. He had saved my life twice now, and all I could think about was how his body would feel if it were pressed up against mine.
It was a blessing he really couldn’t read my thoughts because I would have gladly died of embarrassment if he could. I blamed my wayward thoughts on the shock I’d just endured, but I knew it was more than that. Being with King Zen unleashed something in me that I had no right feeling. And even so, I didn’t want to stop it.
