Trick (Foolish Kingdoms, #1)

by Natalia Jaster

For only a clever man knows how to play the fool.

“Have you ever fantasized about flinging yourself into the fire?” the jester murmured, pupils glittering with intrigue behind the diamond cutting through his left eye. “Have you ever imagined being naked and breathless, clasping someone who’s as rampant as you are? Ever opened yourself for a man or woman, spread yourself so wide they could reach every deep, tight, and moaning part of you?”

The slender plank of her mouth parted like a latch breaking open, beyond which deep, dark, damp places lurked.

“The greatest courage a person can have is to love another, for there are only two outcomes. Either the love lasts, and our lives are compromised, or it doesn’t, and our lives are emptied. Either way, we suffer more than we celebrate. I’ve enjoyed suffering with you. We are a tale for campfires.” His mouth descended, pressing flush and hot against my own. “That is all. That is everything.”

“Should she wish it, I shall do this to her forever, even as the walls crumble around us and the land burns to ash. I will stay with this woman, follow this princess into hell, and keep touching this future queen the whole time. I will keep wanting her, keep sparring with her, and keep coming back to her.” Poet whispers, “Right now, I’m loving her … because I do, and have, and will.”

It wasn’t nearly enough. It would never be enough. I wanted her breath, wanted the taste of her branded on my tongue. I wanted her cries, wanted every sound this woman was capable of uttering. I wanted her loud and soft. I wanted her ruined, burned, and lost.

For I’m not the same fool who started this story. I’m still devastatingly pretty, ever a glittering and devious thing, but also whole.