Ruling Sikthand (Clecanian, #7)

by Victoria Aveline

Hair, white and thick, was pulled back from his face and braided in a haphazard way that didn’t align with his tidy armor or brutalist hand tattoos. His skin was ghostly pale, almost as light as his hair, and his hood was the darkest black she’d ever seen. The contrast made his glowing silver eyes and bright fangs so striking that he was difficult to look at.

If I hear you’ve dashed out into the desert in the night, understand that I will be the one to hunt you.”

“Before you go making threats, remember that I’m a pretty delicate bargaining chip.”

“Watch your fangs, little human. Or they may be ripped out.”

“A rider gains nothing by taunting their mount.”

She turned away from the mirror at Alno’s words, and Sikthand swayed forward. He hadn’t had time to examine that reaction when the chaperone’s question hit his brain. The golden fuck had asked to smell her.

Sikthand hadn’t watched her. Suspended in time, he’d beheld her. A goddess carved from the moon itself. Even if she left tomorrow and he never saw her face again, that vision of her would live with him until the day he joined the sky.

“Your Majesty, I…” A wicked smile lifted the corner of Sikthand’s mouth, exposing one of his sharp fangs. She sucked a slow breath, lips parting. “Find me majestic, do you?”

“You keep calling me majestic. It’s not often my looks are so exalted. Tell me, human, which parts of me are most glorious?”

An umbercree flew by so close its long tail brushed her ear, and she laughed. He loved that sound, yet he hated hearing it—a taste of something he had to pretend he didn’t want.

He didn’t want her to come speak to him because he so desperately wanted her to come speak to him.

“No. I don’t bend.” Sikthand’s eyes drifted to the mirror. Truth rose like acid in his throat. “But I could break for her.”

He didn’t understand this. Didn’t know what she was doing, but her soft lips kneading his was the loveliest paralytic. Her mouth was warm and giving, her fingers gentle where they dug into the hair at his nape. His heart was stuck mid-beat, breath no longer necessary. He could nearly taste her, and then her lips parted, and her tongue swept across the seam of his mouth. Sikthand, the king harder than askait, trembled.

“This is a temporary fascination, human,” he hissed. “You are but a Season. Calamitous, powerful, consuming. But like the rains, you too will pass.” He dropped her chin and straightened to his full height, towering over her, not revealing the crippling ache constricting his stomach. “I need only weather you.”

I’ve memorized it all so I know exactly where to find you when the pressure in my chest threatens to crush me.

“Tell me, human,” he growled into her ear. “How soon after we’re married will you try to kill me?”

“Will you let me have you once before I go? Will you take my cock before you take my throne?”

“Swallow me deep, wife. I want to feel the grip of your throat.”

He’d fallen in love with his future wife. He was the biggest fool of them all.

It was because she’d seen Sikthand’s eyes up close when he’d removed his helmet…and they’d been solidly black. He’d recognized her—at least with initial recognition. Sophia peered up and watched as Sikthand checked on the two men. A silver gaze met hers. I can’t tell him.

Sikthand is my mate.

Sikthand was her mate. Though she didn’t know how, she’d felt it from the moment she’d first laid eyes on him. He was hers, and she refused to do anything to hurt him.

A glorious, vengeful monster. Her monster. Her shadow. Always emerging from the darkness when she needed him. He’d appeared again. She’d called him, and he’d appeared.

She was inevitable. If he’d ever had any power, it was hers now. He was hers now.

“You’re always there, aren’t you?” Sikthand’s palm lifted to her cheek. A line formed between his brows as he scanned her face solemnly. “I shouldn’t be,” he whispered back. She laid her palm over the top of his and urged, “But you are.” He stared at her, pain that mirrored the ache she felt in her heart, tightening his eyes. “But I am,” he agreed.

“My fangs will be inside you before this is through,” he grated. “Do you understand?”

“Bite me,” she begged breathlessly. “Bite me everywhere.” Sikthand could feel his purr rising at her words, and his hips began to rock. She grinned wildly. His chest heaved. “Bite me so everyone can see the marks.”

“She brings me silence.” Sikthand swallowed down the tightness in his throat. “The clouds are not so heavy when she’s near.”