A Kingdom of Flame and Fury (The Four Kingdoms, #1)

by Whitney Dean

I was proposing to her tonight. And I wouldn’t even get to marry her. I groaned, rolling over to my stomach. She wouldn’t want to marry me after this. She may not want anything to do with me. I needed to prepare for that — to live without her if she chose that. For her, I’d suffer the worst of fates if it meant she stayed safe. If Seolia stayed safe.

Her face turned slightly toward me, and I saw the red of her lips. I wanted them on me. Her green irises were bright under that mask of red and gold that I had designed for her — a black feather representing her name, red for how I burned for her. She was delectable. Perfect. Mine. “Take me to her,” I whispered.

It would feel so good to take her from him.

He was the only one in the room with me, stealing my air, my focus, my trail of thoughts included only him.

But his mask. As he neared me, I saw that his silver-plated mask was detailed with one single black outline along his left eye: an outline of a raven.

“You knew about this,” I whispered with a harsh tone. He hesitated before he answered, his voice low, “I didn’t know he’d be here, just that it was his idea. I can have him removed.”

“You didn’t want me,” I whispered, loosening my hold on his hand as I said the words aloud. “Why have you come back when you didn’t want me?” He paused, blinking at my words and pulling me to him again when I tried to step away. “I always fucking wanted you, Raven. You have no idea...”

“We weren’t supposed to happen. But we did,”

The world around us fell silent again as he pulled my hand between our chests, letting me feel our heartbeats thundering together in the same rhythm. He’d realized it, too — the odd way they matched and never faltered.

It was Cade shouting my name repeatedly, breaking over the music. And before he could reach us to pull me away, Zeke broke from me suddenly and dropped to one knee. My eyes widened as he looked at me with something sinister behind his. “The fuck are you doing,” I bit out. “Queen Raven,”

“Marry me.” He wasn’t asking, and he wouldn’t let me answer. He took my left hand and slid the ring up my finger.

I pulled my hand down and was about to decline all this when his lips crashed onto mine again, silencing me. When he pulled back, it was to whisper against my lips, “Let me take you home, Raven.”

“I swear I didn’t know who you were, Raven. But your black hair and green eyes reminded me of the baby I saw my mother holding. And the king, he made me promise to protect you. He told me that you’d be queen. And then he made me a member of his court.”

“I wasn’t sent here to fall in love with you.” And at that, he finally turned to meet my stare. “But I did, Raven. It was like… suddenly everything in my life made sense. Like I had a purpose greater than the one I had been serving. You made it all seem worth it.”

“I need you to know that I will never love another the way I love you. I will never love another, ever. I need you to know….” he trailed off, his voice hoarse now, “That you are the very blood that runs through my veins. You are every breath, every whisper. Every dream, every nightmare. The ghost of you will forever haunt me. The ghost of what could be.” My chest heaved at his words, caving in on me. I raised my hands to my eyes, wetness pooling against my palms. “I would’ve burned the very soil of this world for you.” My voice was barely a whisper, and I wasn’t sure he could hear me. But then he spoke, and his voice had a sense of finality, “I will find you in the next one.”

He peppered light kisses on my spine, repeating those lies against my skin. The ones that used to give me butterflies. And I knew then that I would never let him touch me again. I hated myself. And I hated him.

“We made love last night, and then I find you nearly killing yourself to see him.” His voice was heavy with disgust, his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose. “I’d hardly call that making love,” I retorted,

I held my left hand before his face, wiggling my fingers. My ring sparkled in the sunlight, and his eyes bulged at my cruel gesture. “Should’ve proposed when you had the chance.” He glared at me. “So, that’s just in, then? You’re done with me?” His voice was dark, his tone dripping with fury.

“I don’t even know who you are,” I replied evenly. A low, guttural rumble came from the back of his throat, his fingers leaving marks on my skin from how hard he shoved them into me. “I’m the man who isn’t letting you get away.” he roared against my skin. “I’m the same man who’s loved you, protected you….” “Lied to me, kept secrets from me, used me,” I interrupted.

Breakfast, though already tense and strained, was about to get so much fucking worse because as I leaned forward to reach for an apple, the fabric of my sleeve fell down my shoulder, revealing the yellow pigment bubbling under my skin. I cursed under my breath as Zeke’s eyes snapped to my skin, and I closed my eyes as pure rage crossed his face. I peeked one eye open to see his hand curled into a fist, dropping the apple he’d eaten to the table. His eyes slowly moved from my skin to Cade as his forearms leaned against the table. “Did you do that?” His voice was low, his jaw tightening and releasing as he tried to keep his fury in check until he had confirmation.

“If I knew it wouldn’t destroy her, I would fucking kill you where you stand.”

“But I swear, Cade…” his voice could cut glass, “If you ever fucking hurt her again, not even Hades himself will let me into hell for what I will unleash on you.”

“How is that any better?! I am not yours. You had no right…” He quickly closed the space between us, and I took a half-step back. “You needed me to be your villain, so I became it. And…” I shoved his chest. “And?” I drew out the word in frustration. “And if you knew who it was, it would’ve foiled our entire plan.”

“Go away,” I muttered. “I can’t stand to look at you anymore.” “I like it when you’re angry,” he told me, his voice low. I held one of my hands toward him and wagged my finger back and forth. “Don’t. Don’t flirt with me right now. I hate all of you at the moment.”

“This is about more than sex, Raven. I feel like I need to touch you to breathe.”

But was I? If I was honest with myself, was I ever genuinely his? I tried to be — I tried to belong to him, love him the way he wanted me to love him, but I never truly made it there, did I?

He kissed me again when my mouth fell open before pulling back just enough to whisper against my lips, “Twin flames.”

“I’m an empath. I feed off your emotions, and with enough control, I can communicate with you in your mind and your dreams. I can pull old memories from the back of your mind so you can see them. Not just you but everyone if I focus enough. It’s why…” he trailed off, his jaw ticking. “It’s why Mira wanted me on her court.”

Because we were woven into the fabric of the universe, destined to find one another here and in every lifetime, that thought comforted me. After twenty-five years of constantly feeling alone, I had a part of my soul wandering the universe with me, missing me as much as I missed him. I’d never truly be alone. Not anymore. Not ever again.

“I will always want you. That never changed. It never will. But I must stop relying on others to make me feel better and whole.” “Technically, technically…” My eyes rolled, knowing where he was going. “You can’t be whole without me, anyway.”

“Raven, you only need to know that love isn’t adequate to describe how I feel about you and that I will follow you from world to world. Isn’t that enough?” He said it so casually, like he wasn’t promising to seek me out in every universe from now until the end of time.

“You always love me best in the dark,” I said. “Because you are my light.”

Something new was on his ribcage, a marking I hadn’t seen. It was too dark the night before to notice that an inked drawing of flames flickered under a crescent moon on the bottom of his ribs, right under his heart. And with wings outstretched, caressing the moon, was an outline of a raven.

My mother. My brightening thoughts were suddenly back to their gloom. I had a reason for bringing her to Reales. My mother and brother didn’t deserve torture because I fell in love with my mission. I had no doubt Mira would kill them. They’d be useless to her, and it would be the best way to enact revenge on me if I were to leave with Raven.

“Don’t burn out, my star.” I sank lower into the bed, pulling her back against my chest. “You told me that I put the stars in your sky,” I whispered, kissing her head. “But you are my only star. My guiding star.”

She laughed softly, running her tongue over my bite. “Promise me something,” she whispered with something unreadable in her eyes. Fear, I realized. “Anything.” “Promise me you’ll always love me in this lifetime.”

“Raven.” My voice was low but desperate. “Nothing will ever stop me from loving you in this lifetime or the next.” She nodded against me. “I promise you.”

Grabbing my face, he dipped my chin and searched my eyes. “Come back to me, Raven. Stay with me, baby.” Something black encased my heart. “Death,” I whispered. Terror shrouded his eyes. “I feel like I command death.”

“The man you fell in love with in Seolia is not who I am here. You’re going to hear things about me.” His voice was hurried. He was trying to tell me all this before we docked, which only frightened me more. “And they’re all true. All the evil, all the obscene.”

“I will kill for you, Raven. And if you decide to disobey, I will make you watch.”

“I don’t give a fuck who you are here. But with me, you will remain mine. Your shadows are mine.”

“Baby, I’m fearful, and nothing ever scares me. I am so in love with you, Raven. This place, it’s not like Seolia. I’ve tried to warn you in every way I can without telling you. I’m prepared for you to hate me, but I’m different here and have to be.” He tipped my chin up to look at him. “Please forgive me. Be patient with me. I wasn’t in love when I left here, and now I am, madly, and I need to protect your heart. I’ve broken my own rule with you.”

I didn’t belong here. I didn’t want to belong here. This seat didn’t want me as much as I didn’t want it. “Show her.” My eyes snapped to Zeke as he entered the room. He knew. This entire time, he knew who I was. And he never told me. Betrayal. Cold, purposeful betrayal. Why would he hide this from me? I did hate him — I hated him for this secret.

“The fates chose wrong when they split our souls. I hope it’s rectified in the next life because I want nothing to do with you.”

“You wanted my shadows. Here they are, Raven. We promised to love each other.” “That’s the hardest part about this,” I whispered. “I will always love you. And that’s what makes me hate you.”

And now I sat on the very throne of the man who did it, who stole my mother away from me. Who made me question my entire being, why I was here, and why I was chosen. But my father had chosen me and decided to let me live a life of seclusion, away from the palace, in the care of someone he let one of his soldiers choose. He kept my identity a secret until death, when he finally willed me his palace. We could’ve had ten years together. I could’ve had some answers to who I was and who I could be instead of being thrust into it and clinging to a man to help me through.

My heart singed and charred as the flames nipped at my most vital organ. I realized no one could save me from the depths of my mania now. I would numb my pain, my heart. I would become the Queen of Darkness.

“I hate her, Jeanine. I don’t want to do this anymore. I want to tell Raven. I want to tell her everything.” “You can’t,” she reminded me sternly. “If Mira found out, it would cost Luca and Alice’s lives. Zeke, we will devise a plan but can’t act impulsively.”

“Knock on her door, Cade. I give you permission to console her, but I can guarantee you will never have her again the way you want. And if you do?” I chuckled, shrugging a shoulder. “I’ll fucking kill you.”

“One last night with her, Cade, is all I’m allowing you. Because after this, I can promise you won’t ever stay in a room with her again.”