Page 13 of The Serpent Prince

After a moment, Imani’s eyes slid closed.

His voice fell to a whisper, as though talking to himself. “You shouldn’t have fucking left your carriage … and where were the guards I’d stationed around it?” he hissed.

Imani felt herself falling into a hole of blankness as Kiran’s voice grew quieter and quieter.

“Imani, stay awake.” He caressed her cheek. “Stay awake, little elf,” he whispered.

She tried, but the soothing sound of his voice made her want to sleep, even though he called her the moniker she hated.

He slammed his hand across her cheek.

Her eyes flew open, and she grunted in pain. Imani still couldn’t speak; otherwise, she would have shrieked at him, but she couldn’t deny it had worked to wake her up.

He continued whispering under his breath, his wand and hands skimming over her skin.

Imani pressed her hand against her aching chest. She was moving again. Slowly, but moving all the same.

“You really don’t listen, do you? I said stay still,” he snapped at her.

He pushed his hands against her shoulders, holding her down as she writhed. Her body burned from the magic, and sweat trickled between her breasts. She freed one hand and tried to free her other, but he slapped her again.

“Even when you’re saving my life,” Imani croaked, finding her voice, “you still act like an insufferable bastard.”

He laughed, seemingly unoffended by her insult. “Finally,” he muttered, “I’ve been waiting for you to bite back. It means it’s working. Now, please explain to me why the fuck you were casting your magic like that and causing a terrifying scene? Luckily, most people are ignorant of how our weather works; many believe it to be a ‘Fabric event,’ as you call it, or simply part of the storm.”

She clenched her fists at another wave of pain then gasped, “I did what I had to do.”

He slipped his other hand around her abdomen, and she didn’t move, didn’t dare. She was in his domain, and no one else knew she was here. His eyes were on her wounds, his brow furrowed.

As his healing magic slid along her body, the warmth carried his emotions along with it. A sense of longing, maybe. He yearned for something always out of his grasp, a heat and brightness he’d once possessed.

Kiran flipped her body to face him, his visage etched with anger. For a moment, Imani thought he might backhand her again with that raw power emanating from him. Underneath it, though, there was something in his eyes that tugged at her chest. An emotion she wasn’t familiar with—something like worry.

A spark hit her chest. She wanted to reach out her hands to his face and soothe him, to remind him that she was fine. But then, like a douse of cold water, she remembered who she was dealing with. Kiran was worried at how reckless she’d been with her life, and that she’d almost died trying to save them. He was only worried about his means to an end.

She gritted her teeth.

While she was still fighting to get out of his hold, she was mostly doing her best to ignore the fact that his hand rested between her breasts. She suddenly became so acutely aware of the warmth of his body pressed against hers. Of how much she liked it. How much she wanted to envelop herself in it.

“You didn’t make a sound when I was moving and healing you, and I know it had to hurt …” He trailed off as his grip tightened on her waist. “Admittedly, you’ve impressed me.”

“Thrilled to hear that,” Imani gritted out, choosing to omit the fact that she hadn’t been able to make a sound earlier. “I would hit you if I could lift my arms.”

“Ah, there’s that tone again,” he murmured. “You should be more grateful.”

“You need me, and besides, saving me was the right thing to do, Kiran,” she mumbled, daring a glance at him. He was looking her over with the most peculiar expression, one she couldn’t place. As though he was seeing her anew.

“Right and wrong don’t matter much anymore,” Kiran told her. “Morals are for better people. Each of us here has blackened our soul in some way, and we will blacken it further before Niflheim welcomes us.”

She glared but said nothing to deny it.

He watched her carefully. With a blink, his eyes shifted, and Imani could feel a new energy slithering around her, examining her. His creature watched her.

Kiran turned away.

“W-wait …” She tried to reach for him, but her chest pounded with so much pain she almost lost consciousness. “What can you shift into? What the hell are you?” she whispered, peering up at him, willing him to look back at her.

Kiran lifted his eyes to her again. “What are you?” he countered softly, studying her with a curious look as he brushed his thumb over her cheek.