19. CHAPTER 19

CHAPTER 19

KALYLL

Iheld her tightly, not caring that the guards were here to pull us apart. In my despair, I’d been sure I would never lay eyes on her again, and now, here I was, my arms wrapped around her, her warmth and delicious scent seeping into me.

I could die now, and I wouldn’t care.

But I would die defending her, killing every bastard who dared touch a hair on her head.

I started to pull away, but then the dank room that had served as a prison started dissolving around us. A familiar feeling washed over me.

Daniella had a transfer token.

Great Erilena!She’d done it. All by herself, she had freed me.

I always knew she was extraordinary, but this went beyond my imaginings. She was a force, a creature to be reckoned with. I held her tighter. Even as we materialized in a different place, I pressed my mouth to the top of her head and inhaled her scent. Her heart pounded against me, her desperate embrace a lifeline that gave me back the desire to keep going. I had nearly given up. I thought her gone in eternal sleep, and I’d seen no reason to go on.

“We’re safe. We’re safe. We’re safe,” she repeated over and over as if to convince herself that it was true.

I opened my eyes to see where she had taken us. The place was familiar, a patch of forest with supple ground covered in soft moss. A circle of trees surrounded us, creating our own private space. The scent of wild flowers floated in the air and triggered a host of blissful memories. We were at the clearing near Mount Ruin, where we’d mated for the first time.

Reluctantly, I pulled away and held her at arm’s length. I scanned her face, drinking each and every one of her features.

Gods, she was beautiful, even in her altered Fae state, which still remained.

Suddenly, she regarded me with a determined expression. With stern focus, she began examining me. She grabbed my chin and turned my face left and right. Her tender hands slid down my neck, palpating me, prodding my pectoral muscles and my abdomen. Then she took my hands in hers and examined each digit carefully.

“They’re swollen,” she said.

The healing energy she’d poured into me when she first arrived in my prison had healed most of my injuries, leaving only remnants that I could easily disregard. I’d been through worse pain than Runik and Mythorne put me through. I had learned to compartmentalize, to detach myself and go elsewhere, even as my body was ravaged by pain.

But none of that mattered right now. Only Daniella did.

“What happened to your fingers?” she demanded.

“Nothing,” I lied and batted her hand away.

She frowned, her mouth twisting to one side in disapproval.

“I’m fine, woman. I’m only worried about you. How? How are you here? How did you wake up? I thought… I thought…” I couldn’t finish. Instead, I pulled her to me and crushed her against my chest.

She remained stiff but only for a second, then her body molded to mine.

“I thought the same,” she said. “Thought I’d never see you again.”

Slowly, I sat down on the moss-covered ground, pulling her down with me. “You must tell me everything.”

“You first.”

I shook my head. “There’s nothing worth telling.”

“They… tortured you.” Her eyes wavered with unshed tears.

“Don’t fret about it. I’m fine.”

She reached over and pressed a hand to my cheek. “Your body, yes, but what about your mind? Your spirit?”

My heart swelled with love for her. Though young, she was wise beyond her years. “I promise I’m fine. You’re not only the salve for my bruises. You are the light that shines through all the darkness.”

She bit her lower lip, a sign that she didn’t quite believe me.

“Wölfe was with me,” I added. “The beast is strong. It made things easier.” It wasn’t a lie.

She seemed doubtful still, but her misgivings seemed to ease, if only a little.

“Now, will you tell me everything?” I insisted.

And she did. She explained how she’d slowly siphoned energy from the flowers Larina kept at her bedside, gaining strength little by little. She’d awakened the very day Cardian took me, and since then, she and the Sub Rosa hadn’t stopped looking for me. She explained how Cardian had, once more, installed himself as the Seelie King, a post I would gladly let him have if he weren’t so bent on destruction. When she was done explaining, I stared at her in awe.

“You have changed a lot, melynthi,” I said.

She pondered for a moment, then said, “I have. I hope that’s not a problem.”

I blew air through my nose. “Not at all. I always knew you were fierce. A trait I admire. You have only grown fiercer. The way I always imagined my queen would be.”

One of her eyes twitched at the word queen. She had faced Runik and a host of guards without flinching, but the mention of wearing the Seelie crown was enough to cause the tic.

“Destitute queen, perhaps,” she said. “Because your court is full of traitors. I have a feeling they have outnumbered those loyal to you. And with your mother… gone, without her support, I have a feeling going back wouldn’t work the way it did last time, would it?”

“I’m afraid you are correct.”

“It’s prejudice, isn’t it? Because you’re a shadowdrifter.”

Despite the fact that Daniella was new to my realm, she had a good understanding of how things worked.

Once more, she pressed her hand to my cheek. “I’m sorry. It’s so stupid. If they can’t see that you are the right choice, they don’t deserve you.”

I narrowed my eyes. “What about Wölfe? Is he the right choice?”

She seemed at a loss for words at the question.

Her lack of response rattled me somehow, provoking anger and bringing the interloper forth.

WÖLFE

“What is it?” I demanded. “Don’t you like me anymore?”

She pulled her hand away from my cheek, her dark eyebrows drawing together and her gaze roving over my face.

“Wölfe.” My name escaped her lips as if of its own accord.

“Yes, melynthi.”

“I thought…”

“What? That I was gone?”

She shook her head, looking uncertain. “The last time we were together, you, Kalyll…”

I said nothing, hoping she would finish, but her words dried out. The last time we were together was at Naesala’s house. Then, Kalyll had managed to subdue me. No. Subdue was the wrong word. I hated to admit it, but it had seemed as if we both found a way to be present, to be one. Even if he had remained mostly Kalyll, I had felt satisfied.

A growl escaped me at the traitorous thoughts. If anyone should take backstage, it was him, not me. Dani watched me closely, not in the least intimidated by the guttural sound. Well, it seemed I had to set things right.

“The last time we were together,” I sneered, “you hadn’t nearly died, and I hadn’t nearly given up. He couldn’t have survived without me. If you ask me, that means he doesn’t deserve to live alongside me.”

“Oh.” A single exclamation left her lips, then unexpectedly, she was climbing onto my lap and wrapping her arms around my neck.

At first, I didn’t know what to do with my hands. She had surprised me. I’d thought she would push me away and be riddled with uncertainty the way she had been in the past. Instead, she was clinging to me as if… as if she had missed me.

Reluctantly, I pushed her away to look into her face and read her expression. Was she lying? Trying to manipulate me somehow? No. It didn’t seem that way. Her relief seemed genuine, and the tenderness in her gaze told me she cared about me.

“I’m right here,” she said. “I fought my way back, and I’m not going anywhere.”

“What are you doing?” I demanded. “You’ve never been this way with me. You’re trying to bring him back, aren’t you?” The realization dawned on me, cleaving me in half like an ax straight to the chest.

I stood up, and she spilled onto the ground. As I stretched to my full height, she looked up with wide eyes, her mouth hanging open, though her surprise lasted only a moment. In the next instant, she was on her feet, planting her hands on my chest and shoving me.

“You infuriating bastard,” she snapped, then she whirled and turned her back on me. “What made me think you had gained any sense? You’re the same jerk you’ve always been.”

Now, that was more like it. This was the vitriol I was used to.

She whirled back to face me. “You don’t deserve—”

I took a step toward her. Her hand was up, index finger posed to denounce me. I seized her wrist, wrapping my hand around it. She fought, trying to extricate herself, but I laced my other hand around her hip and tugged her to me.

My cock was instantly hard, and the rest of my body just as full of want. She set my blood on fire and made me yearn for the sweltering feel between her legs.

I leaned down to kiss her lips. She turned her head to one side to avoid me, but I wasn’t deterred. I liked her like this: fiery and wild. So I kissed her jaw, then trailed the path with my tongue down the column of her neck. She pushed, her hands flat against my bare chest, but her attempt was feeble. She was right where she wanted to be.

My fangs slid into place, and I nibbled her shoulder, making her shiver and practically melt in my arms. She abandoned all pretense of resistance and slid her hands over my torso, her fingernails raking over my taut muscles, payback for the scrape of my fangs.

In one swift motion, I swept her off her feet and cradled her to my chest. Finding the softest patch of moss, I laid her down, and knowing I had her full permission, I proceeded to thoroughly fuck her.