Chapter Twenty-Four #2
Kadeesha’s mind raced. She combed over everything Malachi had just said and everything he’d done.
One thing it was imperative to figure out up-front: Did he bite her because he’d been as overwhelmed by desire as she was, or was it part of some larger maneuver?
She internally flinched that the latter could be the case, even though she knew that was completely foolish, especially given her own agendas.
She gnashed her teeth, flames burning just beneath her fingertips, at the prospect that what occurred was another plot of Malachi’s to expand his might.
Had he always intended to turn her pliable enough to ensure they ended up at this precise moment?
Had he intentionally manipulated her so she freely gave something vital away that might increase his power and reduce hers, rendering her even less capable of moving against him and protecting herself and her kingdom against his conquering ambitions when their bargain was done?
It wasn’t a far-fetched conclusion. Malachi had, after all, proven ruthless and remorseless to a fault.
Yet for all her wariness and simmering fury—and perhaps this proved her enemy had already won—when Malachi reached for her, she let him haul her back closer, so she was once more pressed against his chest, with the two of them wrapped in each other’s arms. He brushed a kiss to the pointed tip of her ear, then repeated the same with her earlobe and right atop her Marking.
It was like being struck by a lightning bolt, but one that delivered endless waves of pleasure instead of agony, whether she wanted to feel it in the moment or not.
Malachi ended what was unmistakably a campaign of seduction with a fervent kiss to her lips that made her toes involuntarily curl.
“You doubt me,” he said, “and you should be leery. I am the bastard that had a hand in a portion of your court being murdered, I coerced you here, and I plan to engulf your court into mine. However—”
“If this is where you think you’ve entranced me with your cock enough to consent to allowing you access to my magic, the answer is hell no,” she seethed at Malachi, her anger finally cresting and overriding whatever binds Malachi had on her.
It didn’t matter that as she raged, her body rubbed against his of its own accord.
Malachi barked in laughter. “Fuck no, Princess. It’s a two-way passage, remember?
I’d be giving you just as much of a clear pathway to access my power if I coaxed you down that route, since you bit me too.
That, I’d never yield to anyone. I was simply answering the question you asked about why Markings aren’t obsolete among us northernfolk. ”
The statement was haughty and disgruntled and asshole-ish and quintessentially Malachi.
But those were traits about him she knew well, and they made for a rational ledge atop which she could find her footing.
Less panic-stricken, she said, “If that’s not what you intended to come of this, why’d you bite me? ”
She was ready for him to pitch her some bullshit or outright refuse to answer.
However, Malachi freely said, “It wasn’t something I schemed to do beforehand, if that’s what you think.
I was inside of you, and every aspect of you is fucking bewitching, and I just had the urge.
I couldn’t control it with your pussy gripping my dick like it was, and I didn’t give a shit about restraint under those circumstances when your very scent, the sound of your voice, and the entirety of your being admittedly holds me prisoner when I’m around you.
That’s certainly more than it’s wise to admit, but fuck it. ”
There weren’t many ways to leave her speechless. Malachi’s frank admission was one of them. What was wrong with her that it also left her turned on?
“Your turn.” His prodding held a clear challenge for her to be just as earnest as he’d had the audacity to be.
“I’ve already answered that,” she responded, hedging.
“No, you informed me why you bit me back, not what drove you to initiate it a second time,” he said, calling her out.
She could’ve lied. However, she wasn’t a coward and she wasn’t about to let Malachi believe he’d backed her into some kind of corner where she shifted into a scared and demure creature she’d never be.
“Your cock hit places so deep, with such a swagger, that after I’d had one taste of you, it was either bite you again or combust. You screw with my senses and twist what I should and shouldn’t feel where you’re concerned.
You make me want things, relish things, I know are dangerous, deadly even, given who you are, who I am, and how our time together will end.
But none of that mattered a short while ago, and I couldn’t control the urge either.
” Neither could she manage to stop herself from revealing more than she’d intended.
She also couldn’t halt the urge just then to swipe her thumb along Malachi’s Markings and subsequently do the same with her tongue.
She stopped short of biting him a third time; she wasn’t yet that far gone.
Yet, her mouth watered with desire, hunger, and her clit throbbed.
When she gazed up at Malachi to see his reaction, his eyes were lightless pools of the darkest brown, virtually as black as the nighttime sky, and a dark, sensual energy sizzled about him.
It went straight to her core, magnifying the liquid heat that was already there.
“What will we do about these Markings?” She was proud of herself for somehow managing not to climb on Malachi’s dick while asking the pertinent question.
He shrugged. “While I didn’t plan on them, when Rishaud catches wind of the Markings, it’ll drive him insane. So, their presence further serves our shared purpose.”
For now was the unspoken ending to that determination.
“And after we’ve ridden Nimani of Rishaud’s stain?” she asked frankly.
Malachi shrugged. “We’ll deal with the Markings when the need arises. When they become … a greater issue.”
He wasn’t serious. “They’re already a colossal problem.
” She pointed out what they both knew, not understanding why he all of a sudden seemed resistant to speaking the truth.
It was what it was. Then there was the fact that Malachi was supposed to be selecting a queen.
A bolt of scalding jealousy ripped down her spine.
It drove her to—with a touch of irrational venom—ask Malachi, “Did you forget you’re in the process of vetting a bride and getting married soon?
Tell me, what prospective bride is going to be okay with you basically being Marked as belonging to someone else?
” While it might’ve been a bygone custom in the Six Kingdoms, Kadeesha was well aware of the full extent of what Markings signified existed between a couple and what they informed the rest of the world of.
Malachi’s face pinched in consternation, as it always did when the subject of his impending nuptials came up.
His clear dismay dulled the sharpest edges of the abrupt shock of jealousy that had sunk its fangs into her, but she didn’t look too closely at the tempestuous emotions lest she then have to acknowledge something she didn’t wish to.
It also didn’t matter; it would change nothing about where she and Malachi would end up—on opposite sides with one of them not walking away alive.
Upon thinking of the inevitable future, something in her twisted away from the idea.
She mentally shook herself hard and shut down whatever softness might’ve been emerging.
That way lay not only her doom, but her kingdom’s further suffering.
It was then that she noticed Malachi gazing at her with one of those intensely probing expressions.
She checked her face, made sure it was a mask of stone that gave away nothing.
When his lips parted, her heart vexingly raced and she wasn’t certain what he would say.
Before any sound came out, he shook his head.
Then, his expression shuttered as she’d done with hers.
He let her go, threw his legs over the bed, and stood with a fluid grace.
“I’ve got important tasks to tend to today, which starts with killing my cousin and hopefully ends with murdering treacherous nobles if Leisha was successful in her affairs last night,” he drawled, instead of responding to any mention of his wedding plans.
Kadeesha let out a breath and stood too, taking the cue.
She was halfway to where her ripped flying leathers were strewn in the middle of the room when Malachi said, “Stay and rest. I’m sure you’re exhausted.
” He threw her a wink that was all male ego.
The mood between them had shifted back to their usual banter, complete with his egotistical and crass remarks.
She welcomed it. Treading familiar territory, instead of them lingering in the strange sphere they’d stumbled into the previous night, soothed the rawest of her nerves about the whole affair.
She rolled her eyes, leaning into the casual repartee, then stooped to gather her leathers.
“I’m as energized as you are,” she said, pulling on her pants whose buttons were missing and glinting beneath the marble table they’d dined at.
“Furthermore, I am not missing the deaths of those who had a hand in trying to kill me and the explosion that placed Samira in an infirmary bed. I want to be present, and if I can’t participate, I at least want a front-row view.
” She tossed her top aside because there was no hope for it.
Malachi, the ass, had torn it down the middle.
She strode back to the bed and grabbed the thick fur blanket from it.
She wrapped the fur around her shoulders, clutching it closed at the center.
“What?” she snapped at how Malachi eyed her with amusement.
“You, love, are veritably magnificent when you’re blood-thirsty. I like it.” He all-out grinned, and Kadeesha envisioned punching him, even as she recoiled away from his use of the word love and how it threatened to make her go molten.
“I am not bloodthirsty,” she said, insulted. “That’s the heinous energy you operate with. I simply render rectification to situations that call for it when others force my hand.”
He snorted. “That’s such a queenly, elegant way to say I murder those who fuck with me, the same as you do, Malachi.”
She pushed her shoulders back at the comparison and didn’t deign to respond to the charge. “I’m assuming you’re spilling all this blood in your pretty throne room decorated with all the lovely flowers, yes?”
Malachi grinned again, though this one wasn’t anything close to mirthful. It was downright terrifying. “Have you ever looked upon blooms that have been splattered with blood? It is quite poetic. Why do you think so many flowers adorn my throne room in the first place?”
This male. He was seriously insane. Another thing she refused to examine too closely was what it said about her that, as she made her way to her room to change, she was gleeful about the blood Malachi’s throne room would soon be soaked in.
The people who will lose their lives deserve it.
They almost got Samira killed, she told herself to ease her conscience and prove that Malachi hadn’t been right. She and he were not similar.