Gleam (The Plated Prisoner #3)

by Raven Kennedy

If it would make any difference to scrape off my skin and pluck out my hair, I would do it. I would do anything to get rid of the gleam of my body.

I left it there, metal worn and tainted with the passing of too many hands, though it wasn’t nearly as tarnished as I was.

Just lie there. Just lie there and chip away, little by little. Just lie there and feel yourself die from the inside out.

“Thank you for explaining exactly what you think of me.”

Mr Darcy coded

Your Moldering Majesty.”

get him jade

I like your anger, Goldfinch. If only it weren’t always directed at me.”

When he steps back, I’m both relieved and bereft. I try to feel nothing instead.

Why couldn’t he love me? Truly love me? Midas loves my shimmering skin, my gleaming hair. He is undoubtedly in love with my power. I gave him my heart, and I was too young, too stupid to see that his adoration was for my gold, not me

I have to cauterize the pieces of my bleeding heart, because I have plans to make.

there’s just one rule I want to make really clear to both of you. And it’s a matter of life and death.” The seriousness in my tone makes them pause. “Neither of you are to touch me. Ever

Midas has already set the precedent that no one is to ever touch me, so all I need to do is drive that rule home.

“Never, under any circumstances, are you allowed to touch any part of me. King Midas will have you killed in an instant, even if your intentions were honorable. Do you understand?”

As soon as I speak the question aloud, regret makes me bite my tongue. Whether he’s on this level or about a thousand levels below in hell, it shouldn’t matter, and I shouldn’t care. I don’t care.

“A lady is entitled to change her mind.

Who knew trained soldiers could be such whiners?

For the first time, Midas isn’t here to dictate to me. It’s so liberating not being told what to do. Not being a captive. Not being kept. It’s an indulgence I’ve never had the opportunity to enjoy. It’s a balm, cool and brisk, against a part of me that’s been tepidly stagnant for far too long.

I’m weak and I’m alone, and in only six weeks, I’ve gotten the look of someone who’s caved in on herself.

He and that commander of his are either infatuated with you or purposely taunting me.”

infatuated x

It’s on the tip of my tongue to point out that he’s always made sure that people were, in fact, infatuated with me. He loves dangling me in front of others like I’m a gold carrot.

I was obviously very good at lying to myself, because there’s no other way I could’ve convinced myself that he loved me.

“I will say what I want, and I will leave this fucking room when I like, and you can’t stop me.”

I’m your protector and your king.” My cager and betrayer.

The way they’re looking at each other is as if nothing else exists. There’s a subtle haze clinging around their embrace, love shining in their eyes. At the bottom of the page, a single word in the old fae language is painted in elaborate calligraphy. Päyur

Mercy won’t do anything for them, and neither will I.

“You see a commander from another kingdom’s army coming toward your king’s favored, and your instinct is to back the fuck up?” he seethes.

i love him. man said why aren't you guarding her against me ?! 😡

you’re both incompetent idiots who have no business guarding her,”

“I will walk her to her rooms, and she’ll be far more protected by me. Unlike you two, I would never back up if a threat approached.”

“I’ll do that anytime you need catching, Goldfinch.”

and I don’t think gold’s your color, Commander.” “I disagree. Gold has quickly become my favorite.”

😏

“You’re very floppy.” I rest my head against his firm, muscled chest. “You’re very hard,” I counter. A rich, dark laugh slips from his mouth. “You’ve no idea.”

😏😏😏

because I feel so robbed. Robbed of something … something that could’ve been mine.

“My intention is never to use you, Goldfinch.”

One of my ribbons slips from its bow, the golden length looping around his arm, and an entirely too pleased look crosses his face. “Your ribbons seem to like me.”

“I don’t care if Midas hears about me touching his favored. In fact, I hope he does.”

“My own good was stuck on a pirate ship, with an aura like a beacon that flared across the Barrens,” he grits out,

“My own good hated me, fought me, argued with me, but I didn’t care, because I watched her slowly come out of her shell, peeling back one layer at a time, and it was stunning.” He raises a finger in front of my face. “I got one touch. One taste, and if it was an act of selfishness, then you should know, it certainly wasn’t one-sided, Auren.”

“I’m saying that you are my own good. And for you, I gave you a choice, but you chose him

I suppose the flutters of stomachs and squeezes of hearts just can’t be trusted.

“I’m glad you’re choosing you,” he says quietly, and my lips part, like I want to swallow the rumble of his cadence. “You are?” I go completely still as he moves his hand and grips my chin, like he wants to make sure I’m paying attention. I am. “Yes, Goldfinch. Because I’m choosing you, too.”

Highbell has become a living, breathing castle that sneers at me through every gilded surface. If I don’t get it all covered, if I don’t erase every last inch that’s been polluted, I’m going to go mad.

Mastered it. It feels like my stomach turns to ash, burnt down by the flare of fire erupting from the throat of my cloying fury. Mastered me, he means, this complete and utter piece of shit—

“You say the word, and it’s done. You hear me?” His hand lifts, and he snaps his fingers so loud that I flinch. “That quick, Auren. I’d end him in a breath, in a room full of people who’d run screaming, with monarchs who’d band together against me. But if you wanted me to do it, I would. So say it

After a pushed breath through his tense chest, he looks at me again. “There’s only one thing that I find I want anymore.”

Midas nods. “I’d actually like to speak with you.” I’d actually rather chew iron nails and shit them back out, but the life of a king isn’t easy.

“If I knew you had interest in tangling yourself up in my bed, I would’ve at least had the forethought to be in it already.”

You’re not the villain in my story.” “I am,” he says without remorse, his sharp jaw tight with tension. “But I’ll be the villain for you. Not to you.”

What are we without our white lies and protective walls?

You think I’ve been hanging around Fifth Kingdom because I’m excited to attend a ball?”

“I’ve wanted you since the moment I laid eyes on you, Goldfinch. I was just waiting for you to catch up.”

“Love happens in all kinds of ways. Fast. Slow. In bits and pieces, or immediate. Filled with lust, one-sided longing, a snap realization never noticed before. Deeply. Thoroughly. Love is a whisper we didn’t hear or a sound that drums in our ears and drowns out everything else.”