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January 5 - January 19, 2025
The king knew, in this moment, that his greatest love would also be his ruination, and that both would come in the unlikely form of a young human woman.
Maybe the king always knew that his greatest love would be his ruination. Maybe he knew it the moment he met her. He’d know it the second time he died, too.
My husband smiled at me, lowering his raised fist, which had indeed been ready to knock one more fucking time. “There she is.”
But I felt anything but powerful when I was forced to recognize that Raihn—the man who had lied to me, imprisoned me, overthrown my kingdom, and murdered my father—genuinely cared for me.
The first time in weeks I’d seen something that looked like fight in her eyes. Goddess, I could’ve fucking wept for it. There she is, I thought.
“Did you really think I wouldn’t smell you, princess?”
“I hate this place.” He exhaled the words, ragged, like he’d torn them from deep in his chest. “I hate these people. I hate this castle. I hate this fucking crown. But I don’t hate you, Oraya. Not even a little.”
I recognized her immediately, even through the smoke. The Nightfire seemed to bow to her—warping around her body as if conscious of every curve and angle.
It was all her. Deadly and stunning. Even her hatred was fucking beautiful.
I loved you from the first moment.
“you are one hell of an ally.”
He was grinning with pure, childlike joy. That smile—it made my stomach clench.
“You’re safe,” he whispered, as he gathered me in his arms, and I faded away.
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“You were fucking dying,” he snapped. “I had more important things to worry about than your father’s games.”
“To die, rather than killing you?” he said quietly. “Yes. That would have been worth it. Even I had to draw a line somewhere. And you’re the line, Oraya.”
“Just let go of it,” he said softly. “Let me support the weight of them. I’ve got you.”
“I dream about that sound.” His mouth was so close to my throat. I could feel his voice vibrate on my flesh, right against the scar that he’d left. “Do you know that?”
“When I went into that room,” he murmured, “I thought you were dead. I thought I lost you, Oraya. I thought I lost you.”
“I’m so tired of pretending. Tired of pretending I don’t think about you every night.
“Like I said, you were made for the sky,” I said. “Would be an injustice to let that be taken away.”
But one day, the things that are the most painful are going to be sources of strength.”
my murderous queen.”
“I like a little fight,” he murmured. “Besides, she’s ruined me for all others. My own fucking fault, though. I knew it from the beginning.”
“You’re full of surprises, princess,”
“But if you wanted to experiment,” he said, “we could do that in better ways than this.”
But you do have a fucking exquisite mouth, and an even better tongue.” Goddess. Now he was definitely teasing me. “Oh, fuck you,” I muttered. “And there she is,” he chuckled.
“This place has taken everything from you, Oraya. Even things it had no business asking for, when you were far too young to give them. You’re young. You’re beautiful. You’re powerful. You could do whatever you want. You could build whatever life you dreamed of.” I forced my gaze up from the table to meet his. “You deserve to be happy.”
“Some people have been saying it was stupid of me to keep you alive at all. I guess I’m a stupid man.”
I glimpsed movement over the prince’s shoulder, at the entrance. I allowed myself to get distracted. How could I fucking not? I could’ve sworn that I wasn’t the only one—that the room went damn near silent. Or maybe I imagined it. Maybe I just imagined that the entire world stopped when my wife walked into the ballroom.
“She’s mine,” he said. “I don’t share.”
“I’m a bad dancer,” I grumbled again. He stepped closer, his voice lowering. “Maybe. But you move beautifully. And you move even better with me. And I need an excuse for why I’ve just been standing in the middle of the room fighting with you.”
“I’d spend a lifetime at the tip of your blade, and it would have been worth it.”
My father’s daughter. Victim and protégée. Greatest love and ruination.
“Hell of an entrance, princess.”
“You are so impossibly beautiful,”
“I took everything that was from around twenty-four years ago,” Raihn went on. “Tackled a little of it every day. Just me. No one else knows.”
“Go somewhere far away. Go to the human nations. Go learn about your magic. I’d tell you to go become something fucking incredible, Oraya, but you already are, and this place doesn’t deserve you. It never has. And I sure as fuck don’t.”
“You are everything,” he choked out, voice ragged. “Everything. So go, Oraya. Go.”
“You have nothing but me,” I said. “And yet, you’d let me go?” “I have nothing but you,” he murmured. “So I am letting you go.”
“I can’t fucking believe you,” I snarled. His face shifted in the beginnings of surprise. “Everything has just gotten interesting,” I said, “and you think I’m just going to run away? When there’s a fight to fight? When that piece of shit has my crown?”
“Don’t you dare stop, princess,” Raihn rasped, reading my face, the wince giving way to a twisted half smile. “Please. I don’t care if it fucking kills me.”
“Let me make you the queen that you are. Let me guard your body, your soul, your heart. Let me spend the rest of my fucking pathetic life at your mercy. If I need to die, then let me do it by your hand. Please.”
“And for fuck’s sake, princess, I’m begging you, let me go to my knees for you.”
“Is this acceptable, princess?” My brow twitched. “Princess?” He laughed, low and rough. “Queen.” He started at my inner thigh, his kisses so gentle they almost tickled, lifting my leg and placing it over his shoulder. “My queen,” he whispered again,
I never thought I’d get to kiss Oraya ever again. Now, I couldn’t bring myself to question it. I just wanted to take whatever she’d offer me. And in exchange, give her anything—everything—she desired.
This was her. Oraya. My wife.
My Nightfire flared at my blade and Raihn’s Asteris surged at his, our light and dark intertwining. Alone, he had struggled. Together, we were devastatingly efficient.
“This is what I was thinking about, Oraya. I missed you.”
“I always admired that about you,” he said. “That you fought even when you were afraid. Don’t you dare stop now. No matter what happens.”
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