Page 59 of The Rat King
Nighval held his hands up to me in supplication. “It isn’t like that. We love each other. You’re my wife, Avery.” For each step he took toward me, I retreated another step back.
“I remember everything,” I screamed, and my back bumped up against a tree. I turned around and screamed at it, remembering the day I had fled from Xavier and Nighval had hunted me. Then chased me through the forest and pinned me up against a tree. I had fallen in love with him without having remembered who he really was. Because of that pill he forced down my throat.
“Yes, and we’re free. You did it, Avery. There is such a vastness in your heart, you saved us. Our love has spared everyone.”
I sneered at him. “You told me you would do it. You told me I would forget everything, and you would make me fall in love with you. I’m such an idiot. Goddess, I’m such a fool.” Nighval took a few steps toward me. “Get the fuck away from me.”
“Avery, I promise everything that has happened in the last two months has been completely real.”
“Don’t you lie to me. You drugged me. Where I’m from, men go to jail for that.” A sob escaped my throat, and I threatened to double over. “You broke my heart.” I couldn’t help the tears streaming down my face. My chest felt like someone had torn it wide open and the culprit was standing mere feet from me, mouth agape.
“Avery, I will do whatever it takes to make this right. I wasn’t lying when I said I love you, and I will do whatever it takes to keep you.” Nighval ran his hand through his dark hair.
“Are you seriously kidding me right now? You think I could possibly want to be with you after this? If you do, you are fooling yourself. What did you think was going to happen whenever I came back to reality and realized what you’d done? That the sex was so good, and I was such a simp for you I would just accept everything? Not fucking happening, buddy.” I turned and stormed off, back toward my husband’s palace. Myhusband. It was my second marriage in a year, and this one wasn’t off to a better start than the first. I had to get out of here. To start, I had to get back to the palace and regroup.
“It’s not what I wanted. Because of the way my mother structured the curse, you were never going to fall for me in a couple of hours one night a month where I could be a man for you. But remember the way you felt when I kissed you in the forest? I knew there was something between us, but we just didn’t have time. And you were so afraid of me, Avery. I went to her, and I told her I couldn’t do it without her help. I’d run out of time and choices. So, I groveled, and she gave me the enchanted pill.
“But her magic allowed you to see me as I was and still fall for me. I didn’t know that until tonight. I’d been too afraid to ask you what you saw. She told me it would only alter what you perceived, so it would be possible. But when you saw me, you fell forme, Avery,” he said, breaking off. Tears fell from his face as he sat there naked, on his knees in the chartreuse moss. I almost felt sympathy for him, almost saw his beauty as the moonlight played across his pale skin, except I was the victim here. He continued, “And she gave it to me, knowing you would hate me afterwards. Please don’t let her win.”
“Who?” I asked. “Oh my God. You got the pill from your mother.” I watched as his face blanched. I was almost impressed. I knew what he had to give up to take the pill from her. To ask for her help. All the while, he must have known that I would hate him, and he did it anyway.
He did it to save his people and while I respected that, it didn’t change the roiling rage I felt toward him—the devastation threatening to break me apart. I didn’t think I could ever see him the same again. He shoved a Matrix style blue pill down my throat in front of a crowd of people who’d been chanting for my death moments earlier, then carted me off on that horse, admitting everything to me knowing I would forget.
“Tell me what to do,” he begged.
“Okay, Nighval. You want to know what to do? Fine. I’ll tell you. Use all that power that you have been storing up for nineteen years and send me home.” I crossed my arms over my chest, hugging the ruined nightie, standing my ground.
His eyes flared, and he got to his feet, picking up his discarded clothes. He slipped on his leather pants and boots, then threw the rest over his shoulder, so I could still see the scar covered muscle of his chest. I guess he was done being on his knees for me. That didn’t take long.
The change in his expression cemented that thought. How his face darkened, and the sure way he stepped toward me. I was smart enough to know not to run, though that’s exactly what I wanted to do. He liked that too much. So, I backed up until I bumped into another tree. Fuck.
He was on me in a second, his hand threading through my hair, tilting my head up so our gazes could connect. “You promised me you’d never leave me. You wouldn’t shut me out. You promised me, Avery. I understand you are upset, and I will do anything in my power to make you happy. Anything to build back the trust we’ve lost.” I started to repeat my demand, but he said, “Anything but that.”
His scarred face lowered so it was inches from mine, and shivers wound their way through my body. “You are mine, and I am yours. And I will wait until you choose to forgive me, my Wounded Heart. But until then, we have a kingdom to set to rights. And I can’t imagine the woman I married would cower away from such a challenge.” His hand tightened on my jaw and my mouth opened. “Unless I was wrong about you?”
Goddess, he knew exactly how to get under my skin. How did I let this happen? And my stupid body sure liked the dominant male thing he had going on. I was half trembling because I was scared shitless of him and what he was capable of, and half trembling because he was so goddamn hot, scars and everything. If I ever got back to my plane, they were definitely going to make me hand in my feminist card.
“So, you’re back to being king now?” I asked him, refusing to cower or submit.
“That’s right. And now, you’re my wife, which makes you queen.” He towered over me, watching me as the information sank in.
“And your home is the palace for the kingdom. I’m guessing there’s no chance we can annul the marriage?” I knew the answer, but I asked anyway because it would needle him.
A deep angry laugh burst from his chest, and he stepped away, releasing my cheek like he saw what I was doing. “No chance, sweetheart.”
Okay, so I was back to being queen again, and by the position of the moon, my husband would never turn into a rat-man again. “The witches are saved, right?” I asked, just be sure.
He nodded. “Yes, I’ll send a message in the morning.”
Then he held out a hand for me, which I stared at, unable to move. “A fucking message? You mean you could have sent a message this entire time?” I was going to be sick.
“Come,” he said. When I didn’t budge, he added, “If you’re a good girl, I’ll include a message from you, too.” Hope welled in my chest until he followed it up with, “As long as you don’t beg them to take you back.” A smug grin darkened his face. Of course, he’d monitor what I sent.
“You are such an asshole.” He withdrew his hand and stood there blocking the path. As he watched me wage the war in my mind, I swore the brambles and briars lining the path around me seemed to be growing. Sure enough, his hands subtly moved at his waist in an unmistakable warlock pattern.
“You wouldn’t,” I said, as the vegetation seemed to be crowding me in further, edging me forward, toward him.
“Ouch!” I cried and stumbled forward. I glanced behind me to see where a single branch with a sharp pointed thorn stuck out right to where I was standing. The pinpoint on my ass still smarted.
