Ruling Sikthand (Clecanian, #7)

by Victoria Aveline

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

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.

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

He’d even begun playing a sick game with himself. He’d altered the tattoos on his forearms every couple of days. Then, when he knew she was gone, he’d sneak into her room and flip through her drawing book. The pleasure he got every time a new sketch appeared with his updated tattoos was indescribable, and well worth the pain of getting them altered.

She met Sikthand’s gaze one more time before the door slid closed, and blinked through the blood dribbling into her vision. Were the corners of his eyes black?

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

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.

“I love you, Sophia.” Though he didn’t know why, the words came out like a plea. He watched her chest rise, then go still. A slow smile lifted her face, her eyes glassing over with tears. “I…” Her voice cracked, so she swallowed and tried again. “I love you too.”