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Anxiety churned in my gut, knowing his words to be true, and that deep ache between my shoulders burned.
I couldn’t help but huff a mirthless laugh.
“A rose with far too many thorns.”
I felt Nakoa’s lips spread against my neck in a grin.
“Oh,maha mo’ina li’ili… Your thorns are my favorite part.”
Something like a shudder worked through my heart as if he had just chiselled away another chunk of the stone protecting it… Despite the fact that something about his words had me recalling Zurie’s own when she’d made Malekai bleed to coax out his fangs.
For hours after that, my mind had twisted itself into an incomprehensible labyrinth of thought and possibilities. None of which gave me any sense of peace.
I’d long given up trying to sit up straight so that I wouldn’t have to torture myself by leaning into Nakoa as we rode. Sitting at this awkward angle while trying to maintain a modicum of distance between us had proven exhausting. My buttocks and lower back wereon fire.To further exasperate matters, even though I’d grown accustomed to sleep deprivation, the swaying of the horse and the blanket of darkness surrounding us was lulling me to sleep despite the chatter and laughter of Nakoa and hisolana kah’hei.
Eventually, my willpower lost the battle against exhaustion, and I’d succumbed to the temptation of Nakoa’s powerful arms. Something he’d rewarded me with by pressing a terrifyingly tender kiss to the top of my head. I fell into a deep sleep, cradled in his embrace, and had yet again found myself in the twinkling darkness of my reoccurring…
That quiet voice that made every molecule in my body tremble beneath its power whispered, roared, and sang within my mind:
"O ziton irini feri polemon, al o kaloumenos 'O Vasiléfs mou' synaxi. Protá dio emisfaíria tou auto olo én genisete, ke tote panta pesite."
“The one who seeks peace will bring war, but it is the one you call, ‘My King’, who will unite. If two halves of the same whole become one, all your kingdoms will fall.”
The dream ended abruptly at the sound of Nakoa’s deep voice, magnified by his chest pressing against my ear.
My heartbeat galloped at having been snapped out of it… The words echoing in my mind…
My King.
Unease worked its way through me like creeping vines.
“We’re setting up camp, maha loha,”Nakoa murmured softly against that sensitive spot just beneath my ear. Nakoa’s arms still had me tucked firmly against his chest, his powerful thighs cradling my backside as I lay curled in his cocoon of warmth. I hadn’t slept so deeply in… Well, outside of thegrá root’s assistancethe previous night, longer than I could remember.
At my silence, Nakoa looked down at me, brow furrowing as he took in my paled expression.
“… Strange dreams?”
My throat worked on a rough swallow.
“How long was I asleep?” I rasped, quickly wiping the drool from my face that had created a wet spot in the centre of Nakoa’s shirt, hoping he wouldn’t notice.
“5 hours or so,” he replied, tilting his head down to discover the darkened spot.
“Oh darling, you left me a present! How sweet,” he teased in a surprisingly lighthearted tone that had my eyes narrowing. “I shall never wash this shirt again.”
He quirked a black, perfectly arched brow at me, voice dropping low. “Do you prefer my cruelty then?”
“Ipreferhonesty… You being nice makes me feel like you’re just trying to manipulate me.”
Nakoa chuckled. “Hmmm… Well, if you want me to be completely transparent, I’m torn between either burning the shirt because I should hate you or keeping it and never washing it so I can always have some part of you with me.”
Well…I had no idea how I was supposed to feel about that.
Before I could formulate a coherent response, Pumpkin drew to a stop, and Nakoa dismounted, leaving me alone with my warring thoughts for several moments until he tugged me down into his arms to carry me where the camp was already mostly erected.
My eyes drifted to Famei’s dark, broad,hornedform. I almost did a double-take at the sight of them. He must have had them glamoured previously. Without the two spiralling, lethal-looking horns that jutted out of the top of his head through the short, tight curls of dark hair, he stood even taller than Nakoa, though his form was more lithe. The horns, however, easily added an extra foot and a half. With his back turned to us, he sprinkled a few seeds into the ground before hovering his hands over the soil. A few moments later, the flora grew lush and bursting with ripe flowers, fruit, and vegetables in a matter of seconds.
My lips parted in awe.
