CHAPTER 56

CHAPTER 56

AUREN

It feels like all ofmy nerves have condensed right into the pit of my stomach.

Tonight, Slade has to give Manu his official answer. Night has already dripped from the sky and sunk into the land, slowly blotting out the last remaining hours.

I’m on the roof, my hair loose down my back, some of the strands tickling my cheeks. The sky is speckled with clouds that carry the scent of warm rain, but for now, it seems content to only bring a cool breeze.

My fingers are curled over the top of the wall as I look toward the army camp. I can’t see very much of it from here, since the mountain and the trees block most of it, and the castle itself hides the rest. But I can hear it.

I can hear the sound of thousands of soldiers down there, the same noises that I heard when I traveled right alongside them. I can see a few sparse fires through the trees lit up like little orange suns burning in pinpricks along the ground.

The army base is so full that roughshod buildings have been erected to house more of them, while the rest of the overflow has either been given lodging in the city inns or right here in the castle itself. To say it’s full is an understatement.

The Wrath have been sleeping down at the base every night, too. I think it helps the soldiers to see them down there, to know that their captains and commander aren’t just coming up to their plush rooms in the castle. I could tell Slade was torn, but he’s been staying here with me instead.

A noise above has me picking my gaze up and shooting toward the sky. I jump in surprise when a huge shadowy figure circles above, yelping when Argo lands right next to me.

I send him a glower. “You jerk. You scared me.”

He licks his chops, his long tongue grazing over his dagger-like teeth. Some of them seem to look darker than the others, maybe blood from an animal he hunted. When he licks his maw again, this time chewing something after, I wrinkle my nose. “Gross. Can you rinse before you come up here and slop your chops at me?”

He cocks his head, iridescent eyes flashing. The sheer size of him alone still makes me a little nervous in his presence, although I have to admit, he has grown on me.

But I still flinch when he suddenly walks up to me and nudges my arm.

I go ramrod straight, my heart skipping a step. “Did you want something?” I ask nervously.

I hear footsteps approach and turn around to see one of the guards walking up. “Pardon, my lady, but we’ve spoiled His Majesty’s beast. He comes up here for this.” The man digs into his pocket and holds out a piece of food.

Taking it, I look down at my hand, seeing the food isn’t jerky like I expected, but a large cookie of some sort. “Are you telling me that timberwings have a sweet tooth?”

The guard shrugs with a sheepish smile. “Don’t know about all timberwings, but this one certainly does.”

Laughing, I turn around, only to find Argo looming over me, staring at the cookie in my hand intently. “So, this is what you want?”

He makes a chuffing sound deep in his throat and blinks at me innocently.

I scoff. “Mm-hmm, nice try with the puppy dog eyes,” I tell him before I make my tone sterner. “If you bite my hand off, I’m going to be really mad.”

Holding my hand out, I present the cookie on my flattened palm, and no sooner have I reached out a single inch than Argo is coming up to snap up the treat. I flinch, eyes shut tight, but rather than feeling his razor-sharp teeth mauling me, he’s surprisingly gentle. All I feel is the smoothest nuzzle of horse-like lips before both his mouth and treat are gone.

When I open my eyes again, he’s happily swallowing it down, looking quite pleased with himself. This time when he licks his teeth, he’s gathering crumbs.

“Nothing like washing down a bloody hunt with a cookie, right?” I ask him.

He makes a noise like a hoarse chwirk, and I reach out to pet him.

Beside me, I hear the guard suck in a breath. “Lady Auren, I wouldn’t—”

Before his warning finishes, my fingers come down to the bark-colored feathers at Argo’s neck. I brace myself for the beast to snap at me, but to my surprise, he curls his head the other way, as if he’s directing me where to scratch. Tentatively, I scratch at his neck, finding that the plume is much softer than I anticipated.

The guard lets out a sigh of relief. “Wow. He never lets anyone pet him other than His Majesty.”

A surge of gratification fills me as I run my hand over him again. “Good boy,” I croon. “Thank you for not mauling me to death.”

I pet him for a few more seconds, and as soon as I drop my hand, he clicks at me. That’s the only warning I get before he’s lurching down and then leaping up, a burst of air tossed back our way as his wings take him higher.

I shove away the hair that got blown in my face, smiling to myself as I watch his shadowy figure disappear. Turning to the guard, I say, “Thank you for the cookie.”

He bows his head. “Any time, my lady.”

As I make my way back downstairs, all the content feelings from the roof slowly dwindle away, step by step. When I’m back on the floor of Slade’s rooms, my anxiety has compressed right back into my stomach again, solidified and heavy.

I take a breath before I go inside and shut the door. When I get into the bedroom, I see that the window is opened, letting in the cool night air, ruffling the green curtains in slow swells.

“There you are,” Slade says. He gets up from the chair beside the unlit fireplace, a stack of papers in his hands. He tosses them down onto the seat as he straightens up. My eyes roam over his figure, black pants tucked into his boots, a leather jerkin belted at the waist. He’s shaved too, the black beard that had been getting thicker now back to just a scruff of a shadow along his jaw, and his hair is combed back.

“You look beautiful,” he says as I walk over.

I pinch the skirt of my dress, lifting the ruby red fabric. “You picked this one out.”

Dark eyes follow the dip of the top, the scooped neckline gathering in a cinch just below my breasts. “The color suits you.”

“It’s nice not to wear gold all the time. It’s nice not to see it everywhere too,” I admit, glancing around the room, taking in the dark floorboards, the rich green bedding. Even something as simple as being able to see the true color of grains of wood or thread in a sheet is still somewhat anomalous. After so long of being constantly surrounded by it, of every single thing in Highbell being gilded by my hand, it’s a breath of fresh air to be out of that singular outlook.

A life lived in shades of gold casts its own sort of shadow.

His fingertips graze across the golden bracelet on my wrist. “But gold will always be my favorite color.”

I smile at him, but that happiness drifts away with my troubled thoughts, while my stomach tries to churn and churn my leaden nerves. My hand delves into the hidden pocket of my dress, and I scoop out my ribbon, twirling it around my thumb for a moment before I set it on the bedside table.

I turn back around to face him. “Can we talk?”

“Of course.”

I move toward the bed, sitting down on it, bracing my hands on either side of me so I don’t fidget other than slightly swinging my feet. “I don’t know if saying no tonight to Manu is the best thing.”

A flash of disappointment passes over his features. “It is,” he says decisively. “They’re trying to intimidate us—to corner us.”

“But the army is tired. And the food shortage...”

“You sound like Ryatt.”

I pause. “So he agrees?”

A lackadaisical laugh tempers up from his chest. “When it comes to my decisions, Ryatt usually always believes I should be doing the opposite.”

My teeth trap my bottom lip. “I’m just worried.”

Slade’s face softens, and then he walks over to me, stopping just in front of my knees. His hand comes up to slide beneath my jaw, to tip my head up as he leans down. “I don’t want you to be worried. Fourth Kingdom is strong. I’m strong.”

“I know you are, but your people—”

He suddenly bends his knee and places it right between my legs on the mattress, trapping the fabric of my skirt as his weight pins my legs down.

“What are you doing?” I ask, my voice coming out in a breathy surge.

He leans in, and I lean back, making him smirk. “I don’t want you to worry. We are going to be just fine.”

“But—”

With his hold still on my jaw, he swoops down and skims his lips over mine, making my words die on my tongue and trickle out with my shaken breath.

It’s not even a full kiss, not really, but just that barest of touch makes my body react, makes me melt against him.

He pulls away, verdant gaze burgeoning with flickers of heat in their deep green depths. “You have a good heart, Auren,” he tells me, thumb brushing over the edge of my jaw. “I just want you to trust me in this. Trust that I can keep you and my kingdom safe.”

“I do trust you,” I reply honestly. “But you said so yourself, if they do this, if they push you, you’re going to retaliate.”

Instead of trying to deny it, he places his other knee onto the bed too, this one on the outside of my right thigh. I thought my skirt was pulled taut before, but now, it’s even more restricted, binding my legs in place. His hands brace on the mattress on either side of my hips, and even though I lean back slightly, he leans with me.

“I will retaliate,” he says, speaking just inches away from my face. “I do not shy away from using my magic. I do not feel remorse for revenge. I will do whatever I need to do, because no one is allowed to threaten my kingdom or try to hurt you.”

I swallow hard, and I shouldn’t be turned on right now. Not when we’re talking about something so serious, not when he’s telling me that he feels no guilt for spreading his rot at the cost of lives and land.

But I am.

There’s always this pulsing pull between us, one that reverberates through the air that only we can feel.

“I don’t want you to have to kill for me.”

The side of his mouth ticks up, and he grazes his cheek against mine, the scratchy texture of his shaven face making my own cheek prickle with heat. “It’s far too late for that,” he purrs darkly. “The fae instincts in me will not rest until the threats on you are eliminated, and the king in me will not sit by while others threaten my people. I will not be able to tolerate it. No one is allowed to threaten what’s mine, because I will not lie down and take it.”

He leans forward more, pushing me with the move, and now it’s me lying down. It’s my body on pinpricks, hearing the word take it in a completely different context. The heat in his eyes tells me that’s exactly what he intended.

His arm muscles bulge as he holds himself over me, his eyes dipping down my chest, making liquid heat pool at my core.

“But...that’s bad,” I say lamely, even as my hips try to lift up. Try, and fail, because he still has my skirt pinned. It sends a thrill down my spine, being completely at his mercy, being held beneath his body.

Lie down and take it.

“Me and you,” he says, leaning forward, making that pull more potent, the pulsating draw more magnetic. “There is no shame in what we are.”

What a dangerous thought.

He nibbles at my bottom lip, licking at the seam. When I don’t open, he pinches down harder, drawing the tiniest, sharpest point of pain that somehow makes my body fill with anticipation. I let my tongue slip out, finding the bead of blood there, but he presses his lips to mine again, stealing the taste.

“We are powerful,” he tells me, one hand coming down to drag from collarbone to the cusp of my cleavage, a trail to ignite, to spread this kindling desire.

I shouldn’t be wanting the burn. I should be pushing him away, talking about this decision without the distraction of his seduction. But I can’t. I can’t, because every time he touches me, he incites an uncontrollable craving.

So I arch up, a silent plea for him to dip his hand beneath the fabric, to grab my breasts, to touch me all over. I arch, and he bends, and that’s all there is.

“Say it.” His lips come down to my hardened nipple, sucking it in right through the dress. I whine at the contact, head tipping back. He moves from one to the other, licking, tugging, teasing.

“Touch me,” I demand instead.

His teeth clamp over me, biting down hard just like my lip. My nipple sparks with a delicious jolt of pain, making me cry out. “Say it.”

My hips once more try to lift up. Fail. Try again. I’m pushing against the constricting fabric, making my body feel stuck and tight all over. Making me feel utterly constrained—and all the more intensely aroused because of it.

I want to grind against him, for him to press against my beating core, for him to keep me here, caught beneath him, while he doles out my pleasure.

“We’re powerful,” I repeat, giving in to his request, my breath embarrassingly fast as I do.

“That’s right,” he tells me, eyes locked onto mine, holding me in place with his gaze just as much as he’s holding the rest of me. “With gold and rot, we will protect what is ours. We will be our worst when we need to and be our best together. And at the end of the day, we will fucking destroy our enemies.” His hips punch down, finally—finally—giving me that friction I need, and I moan, shuddering all over.

“Because why, Auren?” he asks, a seductive croon bade from his lips.

His hard length grinds down into me, hitting my clit, making me flare.

“Because...” I pant, eyes locking on him as I reach toward the ties of his pants, pulling them loose.

Instead of being afraid of the whole damn world, I could make the whole damn world afraid of me.

I sink my hand in and grab his cock at the same time that I say, “Because. We will be the villains for each other.”

He grins. Slow, emphatic, licentious. “That’s exactly right.”