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Despite the hurt, I considered his question, and my mind slid back to the Nakoa I had met before he knew who I was to Zurie.
Before he realized I was his enemy.
And that Nakoa… The one who could inspire my soul by strumming his fingers on an instrument, wearing dark charisma decorated in scars, and actively spent his days liberating people from indentured servitude and gifting them riches he had stolen from the same masters that had exploited them…
The Nakoa that hadn’t taken advantage of me despite my vulnerable state when I’d takengrá root.The male who had laughed readily opened his home to me without trying to lure me into his bed… The one who could play my body like an instrument he’d spent a lifetime mastering…
Lamenting that Nakoa…
It hurt too badly to dwell on it and left me feeling that much more alone.
Unable to hold my tears back, I dunked my head underwater and quickly began scrubbing my scalp and body. All the while, Nakoa watched me with a penetrative gaze.
When I finally rose, grabbing the muslin towel and robe folded on a stool beside the tub, I could actuallyhearthe pounding of Nakoa’s heartbeat. His hand lashed out, gripping my calf before I could fully step out of the tub.
Meeting his gaze, I steeled myself with another deep breath.
“When I think of the male I met before you realized I was someone you should hate... Then... Yes. I would."
His lips parted in shock. I yanked my leg free, stepping out of the tub.
"But the male that has used and manipulated me every step of the way. The one that is so easily prepared to sacrifice me to Zurie to meet his ends... The one who fails to see beyond my flaws... No. I want nothing to do with him."
Forcing myself not to give up and give him my back, just for us to have more of the same, I attempted the most optimistic tone I could manage. Instead, it came out sounding like a sad resignation.
“We don’t have to be enemies. Why don’t we just… Call a truce? I plan to honor my vow to the best of my abilities in helping you overthrow Zurie and bringing peace to Atratus. If we can find peace between one another, it’ll make our endeavors that much easier.”
Chapter
Forty-Four
NAKOA
As if my own subconscious wanted to punish me for being such a fuckinghypocrite,my sleep had been riddled with nightmares that consisted of reliving twisted flashbacks of every soldier in Zurie’s army that I’d tortured and killed. Soldiers who had begged me to spare them their lives because they had families to return to…
I found myself lying in bed beside Mareina, who, although laid only half a foot away, curled on the side of the bed, felt about a million miles away.
Everything within me ached to reach out and pull her against me for no other purpose than to feel her close to me.
Was it simply the bond?
Past set aside, my mind conjured up everything about Mareina that I had grown to appreciate… Her strength, her resilience, her bravery, her selflessness… My mind returned to the human she had rescued only days ago, though it felt far longer.
Fuck, I was such a godsdamned idiot.
It was obvious there was so much to love about her… And I had become so blinded by my lifelong desire to kill Zurie and reclaim The Kahlohani Islands that… Perhaps I'd lost sight of what would make all the suffering and sacrifice worth it.
Anguish and guilt clawed and gnawed at my chest…
Kingdom aside, how could I have been so blind as to not recognize how fucking perfect she was for me?
What other female could challenge me and force me to face my demons as she did? What other female could better inspire me to become a male worthy of ruling a Kingdom? Could coax out a tenderness and softness within me that I hadn’t even known existed?
Just as I mustered up the courage to wake her and risk her wrath, my heart kicked up at the sound of a voice calling to me from my mother’s cave. The same voice that had haunted my dreams but had now made its way into my waking life.
As though pulled by some unseen thread, I silently rose from the bed and made my way down the silent hall where the warded doorway to the cave was, somehow, open. A soft light poured from it. Yet the closer I drew, the more distant and quiet the voice became.
By the time I opened the door, silence had returned. I scanned the cave. My gaze drifted to the far side of the room to find The Well, usually pitch black, glowing a brilliant white. I made my way over, glancing briefly over my shoulder to see that the door had shut. As I reached the edge, I stared down into The Well to see my own face, and a scene began to play out before me. One in which I'd already made my monstrous transformation.
