The Rivaled Crown (The Veiled Kingdom, #3)

by Holly Renee

I was a threat to everything he stood for. And still, he had chosen me. Even after the betrayal, after learning my true identity, after every reason I had given him to turn away, he had protected me. He had given me the most dangerous weapon of all. Hope.

“You look worse than I expected.” The hood fell back, revealing a face I had thought I’d never see again. Warm brown eyes met mine, gentle and filled with something I couldn’t name. A sob clawed up my throat, thick and unbearable. “What are you doing here?” I pleaded, raw with disbelief. “I’m here for you, Nyra,” he murmured the only name he had ever known me by. Micah.

It was as though I could physically sense her, through the delicate and untested bond that tethered us together. A faint echo of her agony reverberated through my being, like a distant whisper brushing against the edges of my mind. It was nothing more than a feeling, a cruel trick of desperation, but I clung to it anyway. “Verena,” I breathed, her name escaping my lips like a whispered plea.

Kai. He was speaking, but I couldn’t make out the words. Another voice. “We’ll find her.” Wren. I tried to stand, tried to speak. “Where is she?” But the world tilted. Darkness swallowed me, and all I heard was Wren’s voice carrying through the void. “We’ll find her.”

“Why are you here?” My voice was hoarse, raw from screaming, from choking, from struggling. Micah’s jaw tightened. He hesitated. Then, finally, he spoke. “I didn’t have a choice.”

“No one’s coming for you, Verena.” His words were a cold blade, cutting through the haze of my hope. It was the first time he had ever called me by my real name. His eyes were like steel, piercing and unyielding as they met mine. “Not whoever you left behind. No one.”

“Let me be clear,” I said, my voice like a whip. “I will choose her over every one of you.”

“I am not an enemy you want, Eiran, but for her, I will become whatever I have to.”

“My daughter did not betray her people. She simply made a poor decision to try to save her brother.” “And all I’m doing is trying to save my mate.” I met him head-on even as murmurs rippled through the council. The word settled hard into the room, and it seemed to draw the very breath from each of their lungs as they stared at me in disbelief. “Mates are from storybooks.” My father cocked his head slightly as if he could see through me, see the lies he believed I told. “And we have grown tired of your lies.” “She is my mate.” I said each word slowly, letting them land as hard as I intended. “She is bound to me as I am bound to her.”

“You are not just the daughter of Marmoris, Verena. You are a daughter of Veyrith, the last daughter, and I bound your power to protect you. I bound your magic so it wouldn’t awaken until you found safety in someone who wanted you to have power, but did not wish to use it.”

Kai walked ahead of us, his long strides purposeful, hands buried deep in his pockets. His magic pulsed faintly in the air, the telltale hum of it barely perceptible. To anyone else, it might have gone unnoticed. But to me, it felt like home.

My gaze slid back to Micah, to the way his jaw worked. “You were the one on the streets with her. That’s the reason you were suddenly gone from here, why she let us believe you ran.” I looked at my grandmother, and the bitter taste of betrayal coated my tongue. “I asked this of Micah,” my grandmother insisted. “He protected her on the streets until his protection wasn’t strong enough anymore. And when she was arrested by the guards, I feared what they would do with her once they realized who she was. I made the queen promises,” she demanded, her voice louder than before. “I sent Micah searching for her, only to find that she had already been taken by the rebellion, by you.”

“Where were you?” Micah shifted uncomfortably. “She spoke of you when he still held her in the dungeon, cried out your name when I’m not even sure she realized she was doing so. You damn me for what I’ve done, but where were you as she begged?” I could see black at the edges of my vision. “You were there when he tortured her?” I took a step forward, even as my chest felt like it was caving in at the image he had just painted in my mind. “You stood there, and you did nothing to stop him?”

And in a whisper, so soft it barely passed my lips, I breathed his name. “Dacre.”

“She’s not your fucking heir,” I snarled into his ear, my voice laced with pure fury. “She’s my mate.”

He was staring at Verena as if he were already calculating his next move. As if he had just seen something that changed everything. As if he had just won.

I had stolen from him. Not just his magic. Not just his strength. I had stolen his home. His rebellion. His family. And for what? For a girl who had siphoned from him in front of them all, a girl who had taken what wasn’t hers, a girl they would never trust. A girl who was dangerous.

“She is my mate.” The words cracked through the chamber like a thunderclap. Undeniable. Unyielding. “I’d risk every one of you to save her.” Dacre’s voice was steel, forged in fire, honed by war. “I’d risk everything.”

“If you put her in a cell,” Dacre snarled, his voice thick with something dark and dangerous. “If any of you lay a single finger on her, I will burn this city to the ground.”

I ran a slow, tender hand down her spine, feeling the sharp edges of her bones, the places where her body had wasted away under her father’s cruelty. I clenched my jaw so tightly it ached. I had been too late. She was here, she was alive, but I had still been too late.

I hated how fragile she felt beneath my touch, how easily I could feel every ridge of her ribs, every sharp angle where there used to be softness. But she allowed me to care for her. She let me have this.

“You’re safe. And I will burn this fucking world to the ground before I let anything happen to you again.”

“I’ve got you,” I murmured. “I’m not letting go.” She exhaled softly, the breath fanning across my throat. Slowly, her body relaxed, her breathing steadied. Her hands pressed against my chest, her fingers curling into the fabric of my shirt. I kissed her forehead once more, lingering. Then, finally, finally, sleep pulled her under, and I stayed awake, holding her, watching over her, because I would never let anything take her from me again.

“You fear her power, but I do not.” The council turned, shocked gasps ringing out around us as my grandmother stepped through the chamber doors with Micah at her back.

“This has nothing to do with a forgotten land.” My father bristled. “We are not fighting for Veyrith.” “You should be.” My grandmother’s gaze snapped back to my father’s, and he flinched. “Verena is the last daughter of Veyrith, but there were many daughters before her.” She took a step forward. “The queen.” Another step. “My daughter.” Her voice sharpened. “Me.”

She stared at my father, so close to him now that she could reach out and touch him if she chose to. “And you think hiding in these caves will save you?” She took another slow step toward him, and he recoiled, the sound of his boots stepping back away from her echoing for us all to hear. “You will starve beneath these stones,” she murmured. “You will rot in the darkness, just like the land above you.”

Dacre’s gaze snapped to mine, and just like that, the tension in his body shifted. He didn’t say a word. He just moved. Three long strides and he was in front of me, his hand finding my wrist, his fingers wrapping around it with a grip that was firm but careful. Always careful. “Are you okay?” His voice was quiet, soft, but still carried that sharp edge of anger, as if he was barely holding himself together. I swallowed hard, feeling the warmth of his touch seep into my skin. “I’m fine.” His gaze flicked over me, scanning for any signs of harm, any proof that I wasn’t fine. His hands followed, skimming over my arms, my waist, my ribs. His magic curled against mine, searching, checking.

“The rest of the kingdom will fall to their knees before you, Verena.” He leaned forward and pressed a kiss just below my belly button before he stared up at me. “But please allow me to be the first.”

“Allow me to show you how you should be worshipped.” The next kiss was on my left hip bone, and my hips surged forward, desperate for more. “Allow me to show you where I will gladly spend the rest of my days if you let me.”

“Dacre, my magic.” He looked up at me, his gaze dark and as out of control as I felt. “It wants you.” I shook my head trying to explain something I didn’t understand. “I’m scared I’ll take from you again.”

“Take anything you want, love.” One of his hands snaked around my hip until it pressed against my lower stomach. “Take from me until I have nothing left to give. I am devoted to you. Everything I have is yours to take.” He pressed hard on my stomach until my ass hit the wall, and I had no room to escape. “Do you hear me, Verena?” He was watching me so carefully, so intensely. “I am drowning in my want for you, and there is no room inside me for fear. Take from me, touch me. Feed your body with what yearns for you. I would ruin every part of me to give to you.”

“You’re so fucking wet,” he growled and pumped his fingers into me harder. “I want to feel you come against my mouth then again around my cock. I want to feel every part of you as I remind you of who you are, of who you belong to.”

“I will not be able to be gentle once I’m inside you,” he rasped. “I am weak for you, utterly wrecked, and I cannot be careful with you right now.” “Then don’t.” My fingers dug into his back, my nails raking down his spine.

And if I was a storm, then he was the one thing unshaken in its wake.

“One minute,” she called out, her voice rushed and slightly panicked. When she opened the door, she barely cracked it enough to let us see inside. “Is everything all right?” “Yeah.” I nodded, Verena’s hand tightening in mine. “But we need you. Can you hurry and get dressed?” “Yes, of course.” She shook her head as if she were trying to shake away the fog of sleep. “I just need a minute.” “We’re going to go get Kai.” “Wait.” She said it so quickly that my gaze shot up to meet hers. “I’ll get him.” She quickly recovered. “Then I’ll meet you downstairs.” Verena and I made our way down the hall as Wren closed her door, and Verena chuckled. “What?” I asked. My heart was racing; it had been ever since she had opened her eyes this morning. “You do realize that Kai is in your sister’s room right now, right?” She glanced behind us, and I stopped in my tracks to do the same. “What?” I asked again, but Verena just grinned mischievously at me before she pulled me to the end of the hall.

“I could feel their urge to rip each other’s clothes off the first time I saw them together.” “What?” I looked behind me at my sister’s closed door, and I tried to imagine what Verena was saying about my sister and my best friend. “That’s my sister.” “So?” She pulled me down a couple more steps. “You’re her brother.” We reached the bottom of the stairs and made our way toward the door leading outside. I opened the door as I looked up the stairs one more time, but Verena pulled me into her as the cool air hit my face. “Leave them alone,” she whispered against my mouth. “They are about to witness our wedding, and they don’t even know it.” “Okay, okay.” I nodded and wrapped my arms around her.

“Are you okay?” I murmured. She didn’t answer right away. Instead, she turned my wrist over in her grasp, running her fingers along the edges of the ink as if she could trace the weight of fate itself. Then, finally, she whispered, “You are mine.” A sharp ache bloomed in my chest. I tilted her chin up, forcing her to see me, to see the truth in my eyes. “And you are mine.”

“My wife,” he rasped, as if tasting the name in his mouth, memorizing the way it felt on his tongue. And it settled deep in my core.

He was a warrior. He was dangerous. But here, with me, he was trembling.

“Dacre,” I whispered, pressing more firmly until he leaned back. “I am your wife,” I reminded him. “And as such, I’m going to fuck you.” He growled, and I pushed harder until he fell to his back on the mattress.

“Touch your pussy,” he commanded, the gentleness in his voice gone. “Show your husband exactly how you like to be touched.”

“I told you to ride me,” Dacre growled against my flesh. “That means my face too, love.”

“That’s it,” he spoke against my pussy before rolling his tongue over my clit once more. “Come for your husband,” he growled. “Come on my mouth.”

“You’re going to be a good girl, aren’t you?” he asked, and I nodded my head, even though I had no idea what he was asking. “That’s right. Be a good wife and come again for me. Come on your husband’s cock with this pretty pussy.”

Kai’s brow furrowed slightly, and there was something about Kai that I couldn’t explain. Something about him that told me he saw far more than anyone else.

“Then I will fight at your side, Verena. I will fight for you as I once fought for your mother.” She pressed her palm to the cavern floor. “You are not just an heir, not just a warrior.” A whisper of her power rippled through the stone. “You are the last daughter of Veyrith. The next Queen of Marmoris. Then, ever so slowly, she lowered her head. “You are the ruler that will unite us all.”

Micah’s throat bobbed, and he took the smallest step back, like he had just realized what had happened. Like he had seen the flicker of fear in my eyes and couldn’t bear it.

“I wasn’t just some boy who found you in the streets.” His voice was quieter now, like he was forcing himself to say it out loud. “I wasn’t just your friend.” Something inside me stilled. “What?” Micah hesitated, his fingers twitching at his sides before he let out a slow breath, like he was bracing himself for a blow. “I was meant to protect you, and I failed her.” His words didn’t make sense, and I let out a sharp, disbelieving laugh. “What the hell are you talking about?” Micah’s jaw clenched. “Your mother,” he said slowly, carefully. “The queen and Elis.” His eyes flicked past me to where I had just left Dacre’s grandmother. “They entrusted me with you.”

“You speak of fate, but both of those mothers are dead. Both of them died at the hands of your father.” My voice was quiet, measured, but the magic inside me was not. “And your hands are clean?” I looked down at his hands before me, and he clamped them into fists. “My father will die for what he’s done.” The words settled into me. They slammed into my chest as I felt the truth of them in my bones. “And what price will you pay?”

I reached Verena’s chair, curling my fingers around the back of it, letting them feel the weight of that small, possessive gesture. Letting them see it. I leaned down and brushed my lips against her shoulder, and a shudder passed through her, so slight I almost couldn’t feel it. But she still didn’t turn to look at me. She didn’t need to. She was still looking at my father, and so was I. I stood behind her, and I didn’t speak.