33. Chapter 33

Chapter thirty-three

T aking a deep breath, Nik leaned against his shower wall. He always loved taking showers, it was some of the only times he ever felt at peace. The only other time in recent memory where he felt as calm as he did now was when Haven had come into his room looking for her necklace. Even then, that had been an entirely different type of calm. More like the calm before the storm, and she certainly was a storm.

Today in particular had been incredibly stressful for Nik, he'd known exactly what was coming but that didn't mean it hadn't been stressful trying to get through it. Haven was a long lost queen. He'd known about her for years, waiting patiently for her to come to his realm and take the throne from him. As the years passed, he'd grown more and more impatient. Nik could not wait to get away from the throne his father stole for him and more importantly, away from his father.

Speaking of, his father was absolutely furious he hadn't found a way to prevent this from happening. Nik was sure his father had an inkling about who she was, but before tonight, had not known for sure. Nik thanked whatever gods existed in this universe for that.

If his father had known, he would have killed Haven the moment she stepped into this realm and Nik knew there was more than one member of the council who likely would have helped him. Thankfully, because no one dangerous put two and two together before her tests, they missed their chance to take her out of the game before it began.

Part of that was thanks to Nik stealing Havens necklace. It might have seemed shady and pissed Haven off to no end but that only helped further the hate Nik desperately needed from her. If the council had gotten a look at the necklace, they would have recognized her for who she was instantly.

Now that the whole kingdom knew exactly who she was, she couldn't so easily disappear. Hopefully no one would dare hurt her for fear of it falling back onto them. Nik was going to have to rely on that fear to help him sleep for the next little while. The only person crazy enough to even attempt something was his father.

Power was his fathers most favorite thing in all the realms and he did not expect him to hand it over easily. Or at all.

Thankfully, Nik had an idea of a plan his father had hatched. It was a backup plan his father began formulating years ago, only found thanks to the snooping around his fathers office Nik did every so often.

If Nik was correct in his assumptions, he needed to do everything in his power to stop it from happening. For both his sake and Havens. In order to save them both, he needed her to hate him.

The water slowly started to go cold, he'd been standing under it for almost two hours now. The cold water helped bring Nik back to the present and out of his almost always negative thoughts. The cold water may have started goosebumps racing across his arms but it hadn't done anything to make the hardness between his legs go down. Knowing it was the only thing that might make it go away after many many cold showers, Nik reached down and gripped himself. Groaning as he began moving his hand up and down along his cock, Nik allowed himself to get lost in his most private thoughts and fantasies. Bright red hair, piercing green eyes and a smart mouth that could likely sass the armor off a knight.

Her, it was always her.

He might need her to hate him for the sake of both their lives and their kingdom but that didn't mean he didn't want her, didn't desire her. And boy did he want her almost more than anything. The only thing stronger than his desire to take Haven for himself was the need to be rid of his father.

Nik wanted to hate her, everything would be so much easier if he could just hate her.

He couldn't though, no matter how hard he tried. Even before she'd come into this realm, Nik dreamt of Haven. One night, he'd dream of her laugh, the next, her smile. The dreams started just before her father died and only increased in frequency as time passed. By the time she reached the fae realm, Nik was dreaming of her every single night .

The only other person who knew some of what was happening was Delroy. His friend held theories on why these things kept happening but Nik could not bring himself to admit what he knew, he couldn't even say it aloud.

More images invaded his brain as Nik lost himself in the depths of his mind. Haven on her back beneath him, on top of him, on her knees with her lips wrapped around his cock. He wanted her in every position. Every. Single. One.

Nik moved his hand faster and faster as he neared his end. His whole body seemed to ache, desperately needing release.

It was recalling the sounds she had made today during the festival, while eating what must have been the realms best sandwich, that tipped him over the edge. He'd love to find out if she really was louder in bed, like she claimed. Nik had a feeling she was not bluffing about that.

Nik absently wondered if she too was plagued with thoughts like his since meeting, if she also needed to ease the constant ache between her thighs. He wondered if it was thoughts of him she used if- when, she did.

Niks breathing slowed as he came down from his high, he needed to try his best to put a stop to thoughts of her like that or he might do something he'd likely regret. That they'd likely regret when all was said and done and Nik was as far away from this castle as possible.

Only relatively satisfied, Nik sank down to the tile floor and allowed the harshness of the now freezing water to bring him back to the present where he hated Haven and she hated him. He needed to get these thoughts under control before he doomed them both.