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But I’m not on my feet in this flashing moment. No. I’m in strong arms, pressed against a broad chest, smiling up at a handsome face.
He tells me to stop looking at him like that. My voice sounds far away. “And how am I looking at you?” He says I’m looking at him like a promise I can’t keep.
I notice what is hooked around his fingers, dangling from the hand beneath my knees. “You found my shoes!” He whispers the three-worded secret. “You found my shoes for me.”
Another murmured declaration of devotion. Tears prick my eyes. “… you found my shoes for me.”
He says he loves me. Again...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
“When did I get back to my room last night?” “Nearly five in the morning,” he states. “Kai carried you up here.”
Despite myself, I smile at the porridge decorated with fruit. Fruit that Kai despises. Blueberries sit among the steaming oats, reminding me of that long night under the willow.
“He insisted on staying in here with you.” She glances over at me bashfully. “Said he would sit in that chair until he was sure you were asleep.” I swallow. “And did he?” “Yes.” Her voice is quiet. “And long after.”
“What are the odds we survive this journey?” Kai runs a hand through his windblown hair. “You tell me, Little Psychic.” I roll my eyes. “I’m sensing that we may end up in the sea before even spotting land.”
He smiles, and suddenly, the frigid water starts to seem like a good idea. “Then I’ll swim for the both of us.”
I’ve never been so useless on a mission.
“Would you like some company?” I call back. “Is it yours?” “I’m afraid so, darling.” “All right, come in,” she says, sounding amused.
As soon as it’s pried from my hand, she’s lifting it into the air. “But we don’t need to pretend in here.” After taking another sip, she hands the rum to me between coughs. “I’ll drink to that,”
“But that means we have to be on our best behavior when and if we make it back to Ilya.”
But I’d rather not waste what little time we have together talking about my brother. Especially while I sit on your bed and try to stop myself from doing something rash with my future queen.”
“But when we are back in that palace, I will let you see just how much I hate that you are not mine.”
The rocking ship lulls me into that fleeting sense of peace while her fingers comb through my hair, tickle my skin.
I picture this version of us, far in a future that will never come to pass. A happy ending in which I lie on Paedyn’s lap, listening to her read until the day I fade into a distant memory.
“My pretty Pae, would you like to dance?” Her smile seems to brighten the darkness. “I would never pass up the chance to stomp on your toes, Malakai.”
Paedyn is swaying beside a sailor, singing a ballad to the sea crashing around us.
There is little that King Edric, ruler of the first Elite kingdom, fears. But this child is a tangible nightmare in his arms. “You are wrong.”
How could this nothing come from something so strong and rare? An Ordinary born of two powerful Elites is unheard of. Yet, here she is, this weak excuse for life.
Iris is dead, and it was all for an Ordinary. For this embarrassment. For nothing.
“Get rid of it.” Feet shift. Throats clear.
The king extends the child into the open air, pushing as much space between them as possible.
MANCHILDDD
“I’ll dispose of… it.” Edric’s Mind Reader steps forward, extending his hands toward the crying princess, who only has these fleeting moments to be so.
is this calum
“It might be a bit stale by now,” Kai starts softly. “No,” I choke out. “It’s perfect. That’s exactly how I always ate them. How we always ate them.”
We eat this sticky bun on the floor of my cabin, in the middle of a raging sea, and somehow find tranquility in the violence. As if I’ve found the eye of the storm within him, and he in me.
