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The tension in Samuel’s shoulders relaxed as he looked down at me, and I felt Hawke leash his anger behind me.
“Would you mind taking me on a walk? I’d really love to see it.”
Samuel shifted on a dime from pissed-off Hunter to charming debutant as he extended his arm. “I would love to,” he said, guiding me out of the room. Hawke followed, but Samuel stopped our progression, turning to face him. “We don’t need your services right now, Hawke,” he said, all authoritative and final. “Perhaps you should join Ajax and Dagon. I’m sure they need you more than we do.” He started us walking again, and I glanced over my shoulder, my eyes full of apology.
Hawke looked ready to kill something, but he stayed right where he was. He knew. He understood. We’d talked about what would happen once we were here, but of course, I didn’t realize just how damn hard it would be. I wanted Hawke like I wanted my next breath. He’d let me in. All the way in. He let me see every beautifully dark piece of him, let me experience and share in every desire that churned through his blood, and we fit. We were a match made in hell and now I understood what fate was doing when she’d put his mark on me.
But none of it mattered. Not when I had to marry Samuel to save our family, our kingdom. It didn’t matter that my heart was breaking as Samuel whisked me farther and farther away from Hawke. He would live, and that was more important to me than anything else in the world. Hawke had to live, regardless of whether or not my marriage equated in the end of my life—not my death, but my life. Because after being with Hawke, even for just a few weeks, I knew what living truly was. I don’t know what I’d been doing before him, and I sure as hell knew I wouldn’t be living after him.
I’d be a robot princess, smiling when I was told, speaking when I was told, and slowly wasting away, surviving off the memories Hawke had granted me these past weeks.
“It’s beautiful,” I managed to say when Samuel had walked us across the lush green grounds and to the winding river that cut through his property. The moonlight twinkled off its still surface, the scent of pine and water filling the air.
“You are,” he said, and I tried to act sheepish. “I’m honored that you are finally here.”
I swallowed around the rock in my throat. “As am I,” I lied. “I do hope our arrangement will help ease the strain the courts have been experiencing lately.”
“It is a shame,” he said as we continued to walk around the river. “But I’m not surprised.”
I arched a brow at him, keeping his pace.
“I know you love your brother’s mate—”
“My sister,” I corrected him. “She’s not just my brother’s mate. She is my sister-in-law. And I love her like she’s my own blood.”
He grinned down at me, the stars practically twinkling in his eyes. He was incredibly handsome in a polished and primed sort of way. But I much preferred rough edges, tattoos, and scars. “Fine,” he said. “Your sister. But even with your connection, you have to admit from a political standpoint, moving her onto the throne was rash.”
“Why would I ever have to admit that? She is my brother’s mate. You know how sacred mated bonds are. Fate herself connected them—”
“She was a human. How can you expect our kingdom to bend to a queen who can’t even fathom what it’s like to be what we are?”
“Was,” I repeated. “Was a human. She’s been a vampire for a year now—”
“No better than a youngling,” he said, his voice level and calm as if we were discussing our breakfast.
“She is a wonderful queen,” I said, keeping my tone as soft and sweet as his. Samuel may have been a Hunter, but he was clearly built for the games of court. It was as if he’d been in my finishing school all those years instead of stasis. My political histories professor would’ve adored him. “You would understand that,” I continued. “If you’d taken a second to get to know her and my brother before…”
Silence stretched between us as my voice trailed off.
Samuel turned us back toward the estate, seemingly admiring the white roses that decorated his gardens. He plucked one by the stem, turning to face me.
“I do not want to argue with you,” he said, handing me the rose.
I took the offering, bringing its silk petals to my nose and inhaling the too-sweet floral scent, if only to calm myself. “Then you’re in for a long marriage,” I joked.
He laughed, nodding.
“As you can tell,” I said, holding the rose. “I’m not one to remain silent when it comes to things I’m passionate about.”
