Chapter 11

Eleven

~ Princess Blake ~

“Iwas starting to think you weren’t going to come,” Kai says as he lifts from the dining room chair, looking exactly the same in my dream as I remember him. He’s dressed in a crisp white shirt with a black silk tie, and his dark hair has been slicked away from his face. He takes in my appearance as I approach, his gaze roving over the claw marks cut deep into my leathers as the guards close the doors behind me.

Concern enters Kai’s gaze. “Then again, maybe I should be grateful you made it at all?”

The blood on my face cracks as my lips quirk upward, and I gesture to the silver cloches on the table. “You could have eaten. Honestly, I didn’t expect you to still be here.” This is the third night Kai has visited the palace, and I’m not sure why he keeps coming. We both know we’re not mates. His scent is so weak that when I’m close to him, I can hardly smell anything at all, and there’s no burning desire when we’re near one another. Nothing that makes me desperate to pull him to me and lose myself in his touch. At this point, I can only guess he’s as lonely as I am, and he’s still hoping that we’re both wrong about us not being fated. Either way,I decide that tonight it doesn’t matter.

It’s been nights since I won the king’s tournament, and yet, I just had to face another trial for my father. Retrieve an item he left in the shadow realm. That was the goal. I shudder, remembering the way the shadow beings hunted me as I moved swiftly through the gray landscape. Their claws reached for me, their shadowy teeth tearing through my flesh though I never felt the pain. Only the fear. It wasn’t until I’d retrieved the king’s dagger from a group of wraiths, and I was back in Seral with the blade secure in my grasp, that I had noticed the blood coating my body. The cuts on my cheeks, arms, and legs healed quickly, but the blood remains, a visual display of my weakness.

I remember my father’s approving smile as I had handed him the dagger not long after. He’d glanced at the blade, then tossed it onto his desk like it was of no consequence. I didn’t wait to hear whatever philosophical message he wanted to impart. Truthfully, I’m not sure if he had one. Instead, I had made my way straight to the dining hall, the memory of the shadow beings still haunting me, and my body ice cold, as if I’d been in the snowy mountains in Rostof.

No, tonight Kai is just what I need.

“What could be better than dining with the princess?” he says with a seductive smile, and I walk straight to him, not bothering with the food. He’s not my mate, but for all I know, I might not have any mates out there. For now, he’s the next best thing.

“Better than dining? I can think of a few things,” I say as I stop beside him and yank on his tie, bringing his lips to mine. He’s stunned for a moment, but then he leans in, his hands winding around my waist as he deepens the kiss. His tongue dips into my mouth, sweeping over mine, and I grip onto his broad shoulders. Warmth goes through me as I kiss him, my body responding, but there’s no spark. Either way, it’s enough for now.

He breaks the kiss just long enough to speak. “When you’d agreed to another dinner, I’d hoped, but I hadn’t thought this is what you had in mind,” he murmurs.

“Shut up,” I breathe, desperate to forget. For two seconds, I need control. And I need to feel. I need to chase away the ice that’s hardened my veins and dulled my fire.

He steps away from his chair and pivots me toward the table, kissing me harder. I can tell it’s the same for him. The spark he’s looking for just isn’t there, but he doesn’t pull away, almost as if he needs this as much as I do.

Reaching up, I rip off his shirt revealing an expanse of hardened muscle, and he removes my clothes, leaving them in pieces on the floor. My nipples pucker as they’re exposed to the cool air, and his eyes darken as he drinks me in.

“So beautiful,” he rasps low and deep, and the words make my stomach clench. He kisses me again and moves between my thighs, pressing against me.

I want to curse Lady Fate. Being with Kai would be easy. But my life is never easy.

His dark gaze drops to my face, and I think I see a flicker of blue in his eyes, but I blink and it’s gone. “You sure you want this, your highness?”

I bristle at the formality of his words. “If I didn’t, you wouldn’t be between my legs right now,” I answer sweetly.

He chuckles and moves back just enough to remove his pants. Then his arms hook under my knees, and he teases me with the tip of his cock. He waits until I’m writhing and panting, and then with a hard thrust he’s inside me. I gasp as he pushes deep, not holding back, and taking me just like I want him to. The wood groans and I moan, my back arching off the polished table.

“Harder,” I command, and he slams into me with more force, making the plates rattle and bounce near my head.

“I take it you’ve had a rough night?” he manages between grunts.

My body heats even more, and I suck in a sharp breath as he hits a delicious spot deep inside me. He might not be my mate, but he knows what he’s doing, and pleasure winds through my body. “The worst,” I manage.

There’s another flicker of concern in his gaze, but it’s gone quickly, like he knows the last thing I need right now is his pity. He fucks me harder and the world fades away, my mind focusing on the moment and the pleasure. I know it won’t last, but it’s enough that my bones thaw, and the chill of the shadow realm starts to disappear. My body continues to heat, and I feel lighter than I have in a long time.

I look up at him. Sweat drips down Kai’s temple, trailing down past his eyes, and his gaze searches my face. I don’t know what he’s looking for, but his expression slackens in surprise before he smiles, his lush lips twisting into a smirk. “I’ve got you, princess,” he drawls.

My heart flutters. Demons don’t talk to me like this. Not ever. They’re usually either falling over themselves to follow my commands or shouting slurs at me when I’m facing them in combat.

But Kai’s speaking as if we’re…more than friends. I close my eyes as my throat tightens. It’s a mistake doing this right after my latest trial, but I can’t bring myself to regret it. Kai quickens his thrusts, and I cry out, my nails digging into the wooden table. I need this. Right now, I need him. A surge of power goes through me as I near my release, the magic building and making my body tingle. What? I’ve been with males before, but it’s never been like this. Every nerve comes alive, sizzling with power, but just as I’m about to tip over the edge, a strange chill cuts through me, my blood turning to ice like I’m back in the shadow realm. The feeling is gone within seconds, but the rush of power starts to fade, and I snap my eyes open. Floral marks illuminate my skin, a pattern of golden tattoos shining in the dim light, but they disappear quickly until my skin is smooth and bare again.

“Did you feel that?” I gasp, but Kai doesn’t answer. With jerky movements, he releases my legs and steps away from me.

I lift my gaze to his face. “Kai, I—” I don’t finish, and my eyes shoot wide. Kai’s mouth gapes open like he’s struggling for air, and no sound is coming out. He takes another step away from me, his nails digging into his skin as he claws at his neck as if he’s trying to free himself from something.

“Kai?” my voice wobbles as I jump up from the table. “What is it?”

The demon drops to the floor, jerking and writhing, and before I can reach him, he stills, his mouth open in a silent scream. And then he vanishes.

What the fuck?Kai? My heart lurches, and I crouch to where I’d last seen him, swiping my hands through the empty air. I know he’s dead, but usually when a soul is sent to the shadow realm, the body remains. Unlike me, he’s not sneaking in the back door of the realm. No, he’s walked through the front gates.

I swallow hard, staring at the smooth skin of my arm, right where the marks had been moments ago. Somehow, I caused this, and guilt rises in me when I remember his words: I’ve got you, princess. I’d wanted him to help me banish the memories of the shadow realm, and now I’ve taken everything from him. Unlike me, he’ll never find his way back.

The dream changes, and I find myself outside the forbidden door in the underground vault. Power pulses from within, and an ancient voice whispers in my ear, as soft as a caress though I can’t make out the words. I take a step closer to the door and to whatever lies within, and invisible fingers rake over my skin, the energy making my body vibrate. I still can’t make out the whispers, but the words become more frequent, like the power is frantic for me to move closer. Dread pools in my stomach, but for some reason it feels right to keep moving toward the door. I take another step. One more and the scanner will know that I’m there. My right foot lifts into the air, but before I step forward, I smell it.

The scent of bitter chocolate fills my senses, warm and creamy, and sweet. It coats my tongue, and the invisible fingers of power loosen their grip on my shoulders.

I gasp, my eyes shooting open as Shade squawks, startling from where she’d been perched on the end of a decayed bookcase. It’s the first time I’ve slept that deeply in months, maybe even years, and my mind is still a mess as I peer up at where Nate and Prince Callan are standing.

Blood coats Nate’s chin and fingers, and Prince Callan’s breast plate is covered in scratch marks. By my legs, I peer down at the objects that woke me. The severed heads of four alpha shifters are clumped together, blood pooling around them as the males stare silently ahead. What the fuck?

Shade ruffles her feathers and makes a disgusted noise in my mind. “Can you ask your mates to warn us next time before they go tossing heads around?”

I blink, lifting my gaze to where Nate is smirking, and Prince Callan has a self-satisfied smile on his face.

“What is this?” I ask, though I instantly recognize the four alphas we encountered not too long ago. Dammit. Why didn’t they stay away?

“Our friends from earlier tracked us here. They were convinced we were hiding more medicine,” Prince Callan explains.

I nod, knowing full well what he really means. That the shifters came looking for something we didn’t have, and they were willing to spill blood to get it.

“I took down the wolves,” Nate grins like he’s proud of himself. “Would have taken the bear, too, if the prince hadn’t gotten in my way.”

Even though they’ve reverted to their non-shifted forms, the bear shifter’s head is the biggest of the four, and I can’t stop staring at the lifeless expression on his face. Seeing the alphas like this shouldn’t bother me, but memories of the shadow realm and of Kai make me queasy. “Okay,” I say slowly, trying to focus on the present. “But none of this explains why their heads are here.”

Both of my mates are silent for a moment, and Prince Callan looks genuinely confused. “Oh, would you rather their fingers?” he says like he’s figured me out. “Because that can be arranged.”

I make a face. “What? No.”

“Wow, Blake. Your mates are even more fucked up than you are,” Shade comments on the verge of laughter.

I stare at the archangel expecting him to crack a smile, but he only looks at me expectantly like he’s waiting for me to tell him what color roses I like. Only, we’re discussing body parts, and carrying around someone’s decaying limb just sounds like a pointless activity. I resist the urge to rub the bridge of my nose. “You know what, good job,” I say as I stand, and I partly mean it because if the alphas were here to kill us, they got what they deserved. “But next time you can just tell me what happened. I don’t need the visual aid.”

Nate shrugs. “Where’s the fun in that?”

I decide I’m not even going to try to tackle that question.

“As you wish, princess,” Prince Callan drawls.

“And can you please put some clothes on,” I say to Nate as I struggle not to stare at his raging erection. I’m not sure if it’s because he enjoyed killing, or because of me, but I can’t focus with that thing staring at me.

Nate grins, and I think he’s going to say something stupid, but he only turns and finds the leather satchel. Rummaging around in the contents, he pulls out a black t-shirt and pants. It’s the only pair of clothing left. When he pulls the shirt on, it doesn’t even reach below his belly button, and the pants tear at the seams, somehow only just managing to stay together.

“Better?” he says, smirking at me.

I stifle my smile. “It’ll do.”