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Though his eyes finally released mine, freeing a pent-up breath to rush from my lungs, I felt more trapped by him than I ever had.
“Too bad I didn’t wear a dress,” I murmured. His hands slid higher, and my breath hitched.
Our eyes caught for a split second. He said nothing, but I swore I felt his fingers tighten around my inner thigh.
Lumnos—a flaming sun inset with a thin crescent moon—topped with the symbol of a crown.
His lip quirked again—higher this time. “That, Miss Bellator, is why we call it magic.” Despite the mile-long list of reasons I had to hate him, his answer was so unexpected, so uncharacteristically charming, my grin spread from ear to ear.
“Don’t end up like your mother. She betrayed me and lost my trust. You should learn from her mistakes.”
“You’re playing a very dangerous game, Miss Bellator. I hope you know what you’re doing.”
His touch was strikingly gentle as he examined the wound.
Don’t end up like your mother. His words echoed in my head the entire way home.
“For Teller?” Her coffee-brown eyes squinted as she wagged her finger in my face.
“If your mother was here—” “My mother isn’t here.” “And thank the gods for that. It would break my heart to see how disappointed she would be.”
“Oh, don’t give me that bollocks. The two of you can’t keep your eyes off each other. He can’t stop touching you, and you can’t stop provoking him.”
He pulled me in for a quick, firm kiss, and for the first time, his lips felt wrong against mine.
It was a quiet, dangerous thing, like the crackle in the air that warned of a lightning bolt preparing to strike.
“I think he trusts you, though.”
“No, really. I think he trusts you because you were mean to him. No one’s ever mean to him.” Her eyes twinkled. “I think he kind of liked it.”
“Would you like to come have dinner with us at the palace sometime?” I blinked at her. “Maybe you could even, um, bring Teller. You know, just the four of us.” Her smile was dazzlingly hopeful and painfully innocent.
I squeezed her hands with a smile. “I would be happy to teach you, Lily. Come by any time.” Luther might actually, finally kill me for it, but that never stopped me before.
“Oh, he asked her a lot more than that,” Teller said. Father’s eyes went wide. I dragged a hand over my face and slumped down into my chair. I couldn’t even be mad at Teller. I’d earned this one.
I thought she was beautiful, of course—the most beautiful woman I’d ever laid eyes on. But she had this presence...” His eyes went glassy, lost in the memory.
And something in me clicked. I took one look at the two of you, and I realized there was no sacrifice I wouldn’t make to keep you both in my life.”
Henri’s expression turned pleading. “We’ve been planning this for weeks. We can’t risk your presence tipping them off. Please don’t make me do this.”
And, of course, there was the small matter of all of this being entirely my fault.
More than that—I felt him, his strange aura sweeping across my skin. Luther.
“Luther, you arrogant prick, come over here and talk to me!” In the crowd,
He studied my face, saying nothing. “I made a mistake. One that I regret more than you know. Let me at least try to make it right. Please.”
His eyes darkened as they unapologetically roamed my body. “Did they hurt you?” he growled.
As we approached, the reek of burnt hair and charred flesh wafted to my nose, drawing a wave of nausea heightened by the sound of tormented groans.
A choked sob caught in my throat. I did this. This is my fault.
But there was only stillness. Terrible, eternal stillness. I did this. This is my fault.
“Your body is too fragile.” I glared. “First of all, if you ever call me fragile again, I’ll slice your precious royal balls off and shove them down your throat.” The group went dead silent. The corner of Luther’s lips twitched—just slightly.
“You’re really going to tell their families you had a chance to save them and you didn’t take it? That’s the kind of leader you’re going to be?”
“Is anyone out there?” I yelled.
Reminds me of titanic with jack & rose when jack was handcuffed
Not burned, not suffocated from smoke. Murdered.
What did you think would happen, my conscience scolded me. That the Guardians would knock on the door and ask nicely?
“I’m coming for you,” he shouted again.
But at least for today, I’d saved their lives. In a way, they’d saved mine, too.
as if he’d thrown off a great cloak of darkness,
My trembling hand stretched for his.
“Stay with me, Diem. Please... stay here with me. No, wait, don’t—” Darkness.
“Lumnos herself couldn’t pull me from her side.”
“Cousin... who is this woman to you?” A pause, and a long, heavy sigh. “Eleanor, I... I think she...” Darkness.
WHAT WERE YOU GOING TO SAY!?
His chair had been pulled close to the bed. One arm draped across the blankets, his fingers grazing mine.
He laughed—laughed!—and I had to steady myself to keep my jaw off the floor.
It felt like I was seeing Luther—not His Royal Highness Prince Luther Corbois of Lumnos, but just Luther—for the very first time, and I had no idea how to feel about it.
A shadow darkened his features, and he looked away.
A glimmer of memory surfaced. Pants. She—she normally wears pants.
He gave me a strange look. “You really believe that, don’t you?” “Believe what?” “That you’re not...” His voice trailed off with an awful sadness, something that seemed too close to pity on his face.
He knows!
Almost subconsciously, I started walking in her direction, drawn by the same odd tug as before. Her nostrils flared as she stretched her neck and sniffed at me. My hand rose toward her snout, her fanged jaws cracking open with a low rumble, and—
I feel like it’s her animal & its calling for her
It was the same way he’d looked at me as the armory’s roof was caving in—like he might have just lost something important.
