Page 53 of The Rat King
Still, I couldn't bear to take it off. I liked that scent, and I liked the man it emanated from. There it was. I had laid here for hours and while I felt more than a little emotionally disturbed by what I'd seen, I still wanted him. And, he wanted me, too.
I crawled out of bed and walked over to the mirror to take a good look at myself. My soft waves were a rumpled mess, and my day-old makeup was a little smudged. Tilting my head to the side, I took in the pink flesh of my neck from where Nighval’s stubble scratched me as he had ravished me last night. I even still felt his presence between my legs. Just the thought of the act and how savagely he had taken me made heat pool there.
Something about my tousled look was ridiculously sexy and as I assessed myself, I willed myself to acknowledge a hard truth. There were things about the man that I was falling for that scared the shit out of me. Things that he did that I completely disagreed with and that when I was queen I would work to change.
Namely the God-like justice he seemed to believe he had the right to take. None of that was going to stop me from falling for him though. I just wasn't sure what that said about me. Because the more that I allowed my memories from last night to eclipse the ones from this morning, the more my need for him became a living thing.
I saw his note this morning when I got out of bed that he had to make a visit to the nearby town today. I rushed to the window to see if Eclipse had been taken from his stable that I could just see from that vantage point. The stallion was coming across the yard when I noticed Nighval descending the steps to confront the men below.
Was he still here or had he continued on about his day? Suddenly the urge to speak with him, to see him and touch him and let him know that he hadn't broken what was between us was a driving urge in my gut. I knew what he was thinking.Please don't ever leave me. I knew where those words came from and turning him away would only reinforce them.
I needed to think, and I deserved that space, but our fledgling relationship was in such a fragile place, with so much expectation from the outside world put on it that I questioned my decision to not open the door to him.
As if he sensed thoughts of him were burning through my mind, a rap at the door sounded along with his deep timber. “Avery, Jane says you haven't left your room all day. May I please come in?”
The beating of my heart ratcheted up as I crossed the room to the door, even as anticipation coiled low in my belly. “Avery?” he called, his deep voice rattling in concern as he tugged on the handle.
I grasped the little metal key, giving it a few swift turns and stepped back as the handle spun down and the door burst open. His presence was foreboding as he pushed into the room, and he was breathing in long heavy breaths like he was fighting himself for control. I slipped around him and shut the door before coming to stand before him and putting a palm to his chest.
“Are you going to let me explain now?” he asked, sliding his hand over mine to grip my fingers.
“What did they do?” I asked as he squeezed.
His voice was gruff when he said, “Treason.”
“Nighval,” I scolded because I knew that wasn’t the entire story.
“They said some things that were impermissible.”
“About?” I pressed.
“You. And me,” was all he said, but his brow wrinkled in a pained way.
“I see.” I stood there for a long moment trying to process this new information. I had a feeling Nighval wasn’t going to share more, regardless of how much I pressed because he wanted to shield me for whatever hurtful words had been spoken. But I had enough of an imagination to figure out what they would have said. To many on this plane I was the traitor, branded a king-killer. Another witch who failed to break the curse and end their suffering. Some people probably hated me and still wanted to see me dead.
His Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed. “I didn’t know you were standing there, but this is the way in this plane. You must come to accept it.”
I frowned. That wouldn’t do, but I understood changing things would take time, and I give it my all to work toward that new future. “The truth is that nothing you say will convince me to accept what you did—"
“Avery,” he said. The way my name came out from deep within his chest caused me a new physical ache.
“If you would let me finish, what I was going to say was, but I understand who you are and you have shown me that you are capable of change. You have shown me that you value my opinion, and will take it into consideration as we go about rebuilding and ruling this kingdom.”
“I will,” he said. Then as if he was only now putting together the implication of my words, he drew in a harsh breath. “Does this mean you still plan to be my wife?”
The words were too bottled up in my chest for me to force them out, so I nodded.
The relieved expression on his face was so sharp it had me standing up onto my tippy toes and threading my fingers through his hair so I could pull his head down to brush my lips against his.
He gave me an achingly sweet kiss before stiffening. “Avery, we shouldn’t—”
I hummed against his mouth as I claimed it again. “We should.”
He pulled back, gazing down at me with scrutiny in his eyes. “I imagine you’re sore…”
Another kiss. “Mmm… In a good way. Don’t you want to claim your make-up sex?”
His lids became heavy as the expression on his face became almost pained.
