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I know what sits within that velvet case, can see it glinting out of the corner of my eye. And yet, I don’t spare it a glance, as if that could stop the sparkling shackle from inevitably slipping onto my finger.
I may have created something far worse than his father.
And history is not easily forgotten by the kings who write it.
My breath catches at the brush of calluses against my skin. Kai.
Damn the pretending. Damn the hiding. Damn everything but him and us and this moment where I need him.
“And if we wish for our great kingdom to remain, we will welcome Ordinaries back into it.”
thought I’d known torment until it wrapped around her finger. No, torment is tangible, and it gleams atop her tanned skin.
I stare, unblinking, at the symbol my brother slid onto her finger. It is binding. It is infinite. It is my undoing. A laugh threatens to slip past my numb lips. It’s not as though she hadn’t promised to be my ruin, hadn’t already become my demise. She is the single most destructive thing I have ever desired, and yet, it is the diamond on her finger that will destroy me.
I’ll be forced to spend my days at her service but never at her side. In her shadow but never truly seen. In love with a girl I’d have bowed to long before she became my queen.
I’ve been nothing but willing when it comes to drowning in those ocean eyes. But now, I can’t fathom drowning if she is not the anchor I’m sinking with.
roll my neck, practically feeling that indifferent mask of the Enforcer melting away from the rage simmering beneath. The abilities of every person in this room begin to press down on me, begging to be unleashed.
I did this to her, to us, to each moment I spent hoping she would be the center of every one to follow.
And I am afraid I’ll become so much worse when I’m no longer striving to deserve her.
I would spend the rest of my days making her flower crowns if she wanted to be a queen. My queen. Not Kitt’s. Not Ilya’s. Mine.
“So much as breathe on her again,” I snarl, “and I’ll ensure it’s the last time you ever do.”
And it will be me, an Ordinary, that ends your Elite life.”
She stares at him, looking as though formidability is woven into the very fiber of her being. My ears ring in the sudden silence smothering the throne room. Every eye is pinned on her, every jaw slackened by her words.
It was her I was meant to adore in this world and crawl to in the one after. But now she’s tethered to a king, and I am nothing more than her killer.
“Oh, darling,” I murmur, “I know you don’t. But if I am to be your Enforcer, then you better get used to it.”
“You seem to forget that I’m completely powerless, Prince.” Her words hold an edge, as though her breath has become a blade she drags along my neck. “So be my weakness, then.”
“You’re not supposed to touch me at all.” “But you could command me to,” I drawl. “Then I’d simply be following an order.”
Those are words I certainly never thought would be associated with Kitt. His brother, on the other hand… I know exactly what it feels like to be claimed by the Enforcer. And I’ve embraced it.
The dress clings to her in a way I long to, eyes sweep over the crowd that I now desperately wish I was in.
“I will show you my bravery, my benevolence, my brutality. I will survive these Trials and so much more. Still, you will likely hate me.”
“So bow at my feet with a sneer, if you must. I won’t see it with your face to the ground.”
Looping her arm back through Kitt’s, she turns one last time toward the crowd. “If it is power you seek from me, then so be it.”
My A left me to decorate the sky.
“Where else would I be?” “Your own room, maybe?” “My room doesn’t have you in it.”
Perhaps in another life, I am brave enough to confess that I love him.
The absence of light is the absence of knowledge. I have no idea what it is that awaits me in these caves, and that is a foolishness I fear.
“Keep her out of my sight,” I order evenly. “Because you won’t be able to stop me, Lenny. You know that.”
She takes a step closer. “I have a fiancé.” “And yet…” I dangle the heels in front of her. “I’m the one carrying your shoes. Though, I am worried about what it is you’ll be taking off next.”
I’m not even drunk, but her words are sobering. They cut right through me, the reminder a slap to the face.
“Oh, I’ll still have my eyes on you when I’m drunk, darling. And that is exactly the problem.”
Alcohol emboldens, loosening her lips to spew sober thoughts.
“I won’t be charmed by your pretty words, Prince.” The corner of my mouth curls into a wicked smile. “Seems a bit late for that, doesn’t it?” “Cocky bastard,” she whispers. “Pretty Pae.”
My queen. It’s the way he says the words that has me tensing. And that is precisely the reaction he was looking for.
I’m breathless at the sight of her, doomed by the hope of having her. It’s a beautiful ruin, a devastating devotion. This girl holds my heart in her hands, could crush it between her fingers and still have me thanking her for the touch. And I hold her shoes.
“Me? Or Kai?” I think I hear myself giggle. “Yes.” And with that, I’m grabbing them both by the arm.
Those icy eyes drag over my body, feeling heavier than a touch, more meaningful than a word. I revel in his reverence.
What am I to do if not count your freckles?
So if you leave, I will follow. If you stay, I will bow.
And I ache to be full again.
I’ve never witnessed beauty look so content in its brokenness.
may be wearing a wedding dress meant for the king, but it’s his brother I continually run back to. “Don’t,” Kai practically chokes. “Don’t walk toward me wearing that dress.”
“No chance, Kai Pie.
He is the freedom I cannot grasp. We are inevitable. We are tragedy.
“Forever my undoing.”
And if, in the next lifetime, you choose to steal from me again, I would happily give you my soul if it meant a place beside yours.
Kitt Azer was at war with himself, the pen his weapon and the parchment his foe. The battle that raged behind his eyes was one he fought alone until the very end.
