AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You shouldn’t piss off one of your only allies in the capital,” I murmured as Kai and I strolled to our rooms. I didn’t understand why Darla had gotten a suite, but if I had to guess, she might have used some of her psychic mojo or indelible charm to make her quarters even finer. A waste of effort in my opinion, as we weren’t even going to be staying for eight hours.
“Officer Khan is fine. She likes to play at being dramatic, but she’s got a good head on her shoulders and understands.”
“If you say so.”
“I do.” The conversation faded until we got to a series of three open doors, with a guard in a Fort Canid uniform standing outside of each of them. That had to be our quarters, but I wasconfused as to why they were just standing there with the access to our rooms wide open, until another soldier stepped out of the farthest one.
“All clear,” he said with a salute to Kai, who returned the gesture.
“Thank you, soldier. Dismissed.”
Kai herded me into the room termed safe, and shut the door behind us. I felt a small glimmer of magic roll though the walls. Curious, I reached out with my own power just to poke at it, make sure it was safe. All the soldiers were given tools to scan for harmful magic, yet it never hurt to be cautious.
As it turned out, it was a simple sound-proofing spell. Nothing would cover up a cry for help or especially loud partying, but it helped dull noise from outside and made sure people could talk relatively freely inside without anyone hearing… or do anything else one might want to do with their partner in an inn.
I pushed that out of my mind as rapidly as I could. Goodness knew if Kai sensed any arousal on my part through our bond, he’d have no problem encouraging it.
“You wanted to talk?” I said, aiming for nonchalant but realistically ending up somewhere around terse. Oh well. Hopefully this would encourage Kai to cool it.
“Yeah, I just wanted to check in and give you any reassurance you might need.”
Well, now I felt like a dick. “You did?”
He nodded, stepping forward to gently rub my arms. It wasn’t quite an embrace, but it was sweet and comforting, like he was respecting my boundaries but letting me know I wasn’t alone. “I’ll be honest, all day I’ve wanted to pull you into my lap and tell you it’s going to be all right. I can tell you’re anxious, ya know? I understand I can’t do that, so what I ask is you allow me,in the last bit of privacy we might have for a long while, to let me do my job and protect you as your mate and your alpha.”
It was hard not to melt. The clear concern Kai had for me,allof me, was still alien and a little frightening, but it made me feel so incrediblysafe.I didn’t have to truly worry with him on my side. He’d never allow anything to harm me, physically or otherwise.
But this was a dangerous fantasy to give into. Kai could be as loving and as perfect as could be, but my curse was still present, and no amount of tender loving was going to break it.
“I suppose it would be okay if we…” I took a breath, steadying my voice, even as I gave into temptation. “If we sat in the chair together over there.” Still, I found a bit of steel in myself, so I’d feel better for folding so easily. “But only for ten minutes.”
“Ten minutes,” he said, taking my hand and leading me over to the piece of furniture. Once we were there, he sat down, then gently pulled me into his lap.
I was reminded how strong, how warm he was, and the comfort I felt curling up against his frame.
“I just want to say again, I am sorry for not telling you the truth about my birthright sooner. It wasn’t about deceiving you. It’s just I feel more like Captain Kai Reed than Prince Nikolai DeLune, and I hate being reminded of the world I came from.”
I nodded in understanding before letting my head rest against his broad shoulder. It was just sonicebeing close to someone. How was I supposed to be in his orbit in the capital and resist being drawn to him?
Besides, it wasn’t like I could judge him. I’d kept several secrets of my own for a long time, and even meddled with his mind without his permission.
“As long as I’m being honest, I’m dreading facing the Camdarian court. Half the time I’m tempted to just turn tail and run right back to Canid, where no one expects me to beanyone but Captain Reed. A good leader with no family name, no fortune, and no responsibilities beyond taking care of my men there and serving my country.”
I heard the tension in his voice. I knew he was uncomfortable about going back home, but I hadn’t really understood just how deeply this pain went. Kai was good at joking and minimizing a lot of things that bothered him. If my curse was ever broken, I’d like to be the type of mate who’d help him carry those burdens, to let him know he could take that amiable mask off and not pretend he had a handle on everything.
“Do you have someone back home who you miss? A bright spot you can think about whenever those temptations get especially bad?”
He smiled so softly, with tender nostalgia written across all of his features, and I wanted nothing more than to kiss him. But I behaved myself and listened instead.
“Yeah, my little sister Seraphina.”
“Seraphina?” I didn’t think I’d heard the name before in regard to the royal family. “Is this your youngest sister you were talking of? The one most people don’t know about?” This seemed bizarre to me. Maybe it was a means of protecting her.
“On the money. We’ve always gotten along. She’s not quite as rebellious as I am, but she’d never really been interested in my family’s greed and superficiality. She can be a little naïve, sure, but what littlest sister isn’t?”
“I wouldn’t know,” I said, though I’d wondered what it’d be like to have siblings. “But maybe you can think about seeing her when your mind gets especially cloudy.”
“Oh, I do. But I can’t help but worry about her, too. My parents tend to treat her differently, and I can’t help but think it’s affected her after all these years. It’s ultimately my fault for leaving her behind with no way to contact me.”
