Obsessively Yours (Fae Kings of Eden, #2)

by Jamie Applegate Hunter

To everyone who hates the word cunt— Cunt is the oldest known word in the English language used to describe female genitalia. It even predates vagina. Respect your elders.

She tilted her head up and froze. Roman Covington, heir to the Tropical throne and the cutest boy in all of Saltu, stood over her with a startled expression. She couldn’t help but admire how his short sandy blond hair looked nice against his slightly sun-tanned skin. The lightest brown eyes she’d ever seen stared back at her, and to her utter mortification, she realized she’d stared too long. Great, he probably thinks I’m strange.

“What do you do with the shells?” She pulled back the flowy sleeve of her dress to reveal a row of bracelets. “I like making jewelry and other things.” He reached out and twirled one around her wrist. His fingers brushed against her skin, sending tingles up her arm. “I like them. Maybe you can make me one someday.”

Other than stronger magic, royal fae had two things non-royal fae didn’t: familiars and mates.

Royals and their mates were born on the same day. Violet wondered if she and the prince had the same birthday. Roman caught her staring and lifted a brow with a knowing smirk.

A threat means it might not happen. I’m actually going to kill him.

Violet glared at Roman, and he clamped his mouth closed, puffing out his cheeks to hold in his laughter. When everyone turned back around, she looked him dead in the eye and slid her finger across her throat. He drew everyone’s attention again with his uncontrollable laughter, only this time, Violet laughed too.

Very few people knew when Roman’s birthday was in order to keep parents of children born on the same day as him from bombarding the capital, and he’d made a point to not know the birthdays of any girls his age.

Vivian. Acid churned in his stomach and crawled up his throat. Vivian? Disappointment tunneled through him, followed by dread. Maybe the voice didn’t mean Vivian Maekin.

“I’m happy for you, honey. You two have a lot in common, and I know you’ll be happy together.” Why does everyone keep saying that? He looked away, hoping she wouldn’t see the disappointment on his face.

She wanted to be Roman’s mate. She’d harbored a crush on the prince since last year, and something inside of her knew they were meant to be together. Would he be upset if the gods bonded him to her? Violet flopped down on her bed and stared at the ceiling. Last night, she’d prayed to the gods to make them mates. Pathetic.

The adults droned on while Violet lived through the biggest disappointment of her life.

His mother and father assured him his affection for Viv would grow if they spent more time together. It hadn’t.

“Are you and Theo dating?” he blurted out. Smooth. Violet’s brows shot skyward. “Theo Bront? Why do you ask?” Roman stared at the gameboard and grappled for an answer he didn’t know himself. Why do I care? “I noticed you sitting with him and his friends at lunch.” And laughing. Violet pinned him with a curious stare. “Griff sat there too. Who else would I sit with?” Me.

He met her glare with a stony expression of his own. “You act like you’re better than everyone. It’s a terrible trait to have. If you’ll treat your own sister as if she’s beneath you because she doesn’t possess qualities you admire, then how will you treat my people if you’re queen?”

Oh shit mic drop

Still smiling, he placed the lightest kiss over the cut. “Better?”

He squatted down beside her. “I didn’t take you for a criminal.” She went to work on the lock like her uncle had shown her. He was a locksmith in town and had taught her all sorts of tricks when she was younger. He’d thought it was hilarious when she’d showed her father the new tricks she’d learned. Her father had not. “If I’m a criminal, you’re my accomplice.”

The queen’s eyes jumped from Violet to Roman, and when they met his, her curiosity morphed into something that looked a lot like sadness.

Her obvious hope sparked a pull he couldn’t explain. If she isn’t my mate, why do I feel this way?

Vivian is cheating on Roman. Maybe not cheating because according to Viv they weren’t dating yet, but they were mated. If Violet were mated to Roman, she couldn’t imagine wanting anyone else.

She decided not to tell anyone, telling herself it was to protect Vivian, but deep down, Violet knew her motives contained a tinge of selfishness.

War chuffed. “You cannot force the gods to do anything. I like Violet, but do not play with fate. It will not end well.”

“You’re terrible at apologizing,” Violet muttered under her breath, wondering what happened to her sister along the years to turn her into the nasty, dishonest person she’d become.

Revulsion filled him as she stole his first kiss. It felt wrong, not only to him, but to Vivian as well if the unease flowing down the bond was any indication.

Vivian giggled shamelessly and malicious glee zipped down the bond. “Sorry, Vi. I didn’t realize you were still out here.”

Then it hit him like a bolt of lightning. Vivian had used him to make someone jealous. The little serpent.

He smirked. “I can feel when you do that too.” The air between them grew heavy with tension. “We’re not together, and as long as you’re discreet, I don’t care who you sleep with, but do not ever use me again.”

Violet hurried from the ballroom and realized with absolute horror that she was in love with Roman Covington. The proof lay in the way her heart beat erratically, pumping the painful venom of heartbreak through her body. Her insides hollowed out, and a prickling sensation crawled across her skin.

“I have a gift for you, but you have to give up the rest of your party for it.” She’d planned on pulling him away after midnight when the party died down, but now seemed as good a time as any. Roman opened his mouth to say something but closed it with a snap and squeezed her hand. “I’d give up anything for you, princess.”

Lore suggested identical twins were one soul torn in two. If their souls were once one, why couldn’t the bond transfer from one half of the soul to the other? There had to be a way.

He was hers completely and irrevocably, and he would do whatever it took to make her his, too.

Roman had warned everyone in the palace school against touching Violet, but he hadn’t thought she’d meet a guy from town.

She didn’t know how long the decimation lasted, but after a while, the room filled with an eerie silence. Soft thuds neared her and a bloodied white paw reached under the bed, followed by a few huffs and whines. War.

She dropped to the floor beside War and blindly reached for him, needing something to anchor her. “You saved me.” Her body trembled harder as the adrenaline wore off, and she squeezed her arms around the beast’s neck as she cried.

I almost lost her. He blamed himself; blamed the rebels; blamed the gods.

He stared at the Maekin sisters, knowing Violet would never be the same. And neither would he.

“How dare me?” His voice rose with every word. “I can feel your emotions, or did you forget? You have no right to ask me to give up a friendship when you are in a romantic relationship with someone else.”

“The gods chose me,” she reminded him. “I won. I am who they blessed as your queen, not her.” I won. Roman almost laughed in her face again at the audacity of it all. “A mate bond isn’t a prize to be won,” he snarled. “You don’t care about me, you only care about besting your sister. It’s pathetic.”

Violet moving schools meant less time with her, but if the palace frightened her, he’d not try to convince her to come back.

When you fall in love and the other person doesn’t catch you, you break more than a bone when hitting the ground. You break everything. Your heart. Your soul. Your confidence in yourself. It all just shatters.

“You don’t get to decide for me if we stay friends or not,” he informed her with finality. “What about me? You can dispose of me that easily?”

“Did you ever think of what losing you and watching you fall in love with someone else will do to me?”

“You might get over me, but I won’t get over you. How can you ask that of me?”

Nothing hurt more than knowing she had his heart but couldn’t keep it. Nothing.

He didn’t need a bond to tell him Violet was his true mate. Every royal found their soulmate at thirteen years old, but Roman had found his at twelve, only to have her ripped away.

Sobbing

Every night Roman dreamed of that day, and every night, the nightmares worsened.

What if the gods are trying to warn me?

He’d not expected her peaceful, sleeping form to calm the raging storm inside him. Standing beside her bed, watching as she slept, brought him more peace than he’d felt in a year.

He didn’t know how long he sat there, watching her sleep, but eventually his lids grew heavy. If he fell asleep, he didn’t think his glamour would hold to conceal him. Then he left, vowing to never return. Except he did return. Every night.

One day he’d be able to join her without glamour, but for now, he’d resigned to watching her in secret.