The Rivaled Crown (The Veiled Kingdom, #3)

by Holly Renee

This was no longer his rebellion. This was hers.

“We either rise, or we drown.”

“I want you.” My voice was breathless but sure. “I’ve always wanted you.”

“Take anything you want, love.”

“Take from me until I have nothing left to give. I am devoted to you. Everything I have is yours to take.”

I was his. And he was mine.

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

I had spent my entire life running, from my father, from my past, from the power that lived inside me, but not anymore. I wasn’t running. I was his.

These vows, this love, they were the one thing in my life I could freely give. And it belonged to her.

“Show your husband exactly how you like to be touched.”

Only him. Only me. Only the vow we had spoken and the bond that had answered. And nothing, not fate, not kings, not gods, could take that from us now.

We had spoken the vows. We had chosen each other. And for the first time in my life, I had chosen myself.

“You are the last daughter of Veyrith. The next Queen of Marmoris.

“You are the ruler that will unite us all.”

I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was coming.

I needed to exist in this moment, to breathe her in, to let her consume me.

By sunrise, the kingdom would be drenched in blood. By sunrise, my father would fall.

But I was never his. I was hers. I was Marmoris. I was Veyrith. I was the heir.

“You wanted a weapon,” I whispered, twisting the blade. “And you got one.”

“I should have known,” I murmured, my lips brushing against her skin, “that even as my queen, you would still be a little traitor.”