Chapter 32 Breakfast Before War
brEAKFAST BEFORE WAR
I woke up surrounded by a cloud of male.
I pressed my face into the pillow, inhaling the delicious scent. Warmth and woods, mixed with…wait. I lifted my head, blinking. I was on Kairos’s side of the bed, his pillow clutched to my chest. How did I get over here?
A shirtless Kairos sat at the table, tearing into breakfast. He grabbed a hunk of bread and ripped it in half. Bit into smoked fish. Licked his fingers.
I sat up, shoving the pillow away.
Kairos glanced over, grunting.
“Morning to you, too.”
“Sleep well?”
“Fine.” I cleared my throat. “You?”
He made a sound and nudged the chair beside him. “Come. Eat.”
I stood, tugging the nightdress down as I padded over. I sat beside him in a slip of fabric that wouldn’t have covered a sneeze. I pulled it down. It rode up my thighs. I yanked again, harder. No use.
Luckily, Kairos seemed completely focused on his food. He bit into an apple, juice running down his wrist.
I nibbled on a wedge of cheese, trying not to look at him. The cheese was delicious. Salty and sharp. Creamy. Definitely worth staring at instead of the expanse of bare chest.
So much muscle, mapped in runes. Most of the markings flowed in elegant coils, but one cut across the rest, centered high on his chest. Black and thick. It covered his entire pectoral muscle, right above his heart.
“What’s that rune?” I asked. “It looks different. The lines are harsher.”
“Every realm has their own method for drawing runes. This one was drawn in Skaldir.”
My stomach dropped. “The king did that to you?”
He nodded. “King Vaeron was curious about an obscure rune. Easier to test it on the executioner than risk a valued court member.”
Cold prickled along my arms. “What does it do?”
“Controls blood flow in other people. I can slow heartbeats until someone drops. Make veins burst.”
My hands clenched on the table. “They had no right.”
“Rights don’t mean much when you’re enslaved.”
“Tell me what happened.”
Shrugging, he set down the bread. “They dragged me to a room in the Arcanum. Strapped me to a table.”
My throat tightened.
“The High Cleric carved every line. Took hours. When he finished, he fused the rune with a spirit. It…didn’t want to be trapped in flesh. Fought the whole way in.”
“Gods.”
“Felt like something was ripping my insides apart. Wrapping around my bones.” He smiled wryly. “I spent three days in a cell losing my mind.”
My hands shook. I pressed them flat on the table.
“Eventually, I stopped fighting,” he said quietly.
My mouth dropped open. “That’s torture. They bound something inside you against your will!”
He shrugged. “It’s done.”
“Does it control you?”
“No, it’s not like that. We’re merged. What I want, it wants. It just makes me better at certain things.”
“Like?”
His smile darkened. “In battle, I’m more vicious. I don’t tire, slow down, or stop until everything’s dead. In the bedroom, it’s the same. More stamina, intensity, more…pleasure.”
I couldn’t look away.
His gaze caressed my naked skin. “It amplifies what’s already there.”
My face flushed.
“But I’m still in control,” he added.
A spirit bound by a rune. Feeding on rage and lust. It seemed like a tale meant to frighten children.
I leaned in, examining the rune. My fingers hovered near his chest, then they slid over the first jagged line. Such a strange sensation. It didn’t snap at me like most runes; instead, the threads glided in my hand like breathing ropes. I felt them wrapped around every nerve, blood vessel, and bone.
I pushed harder, seizing a thread.
Kairos’s hand closed over mine. “Don’t.”
“You don’t want me to break it?”
He shook his head. “It’s a part of me.”
“Are you sure?”
His thumb grazed my knuckles. “Whatever this thing is, it makes me strong. I don’t want to lose it.”
“How does it not bother you?”
“If I spent every day whining about what’s been done to me, I’d have nothing left for what’s in front of me.”
He lifted my hand from his chest and kissed it.
My heart fluttered. This felt too good, like Vaeris all over again…something that would eventually hurt me.
I leaned in closer, my eyes hot. “You didn’t deserve what they did to you.”
“If you’re that worried about me, come sit on my lap.”
I buried a smile. “I’m trying to be serious.”
“So am I.”
I pulled back, my heart pounding. “You already got me in your bed.”
“Do you think that’s enough for me?”
“I’m not here to satisfy you.”
“No,” he said hoarsely. “You’re here to torture me.”
I stood, my skin prickling with the intensity of his stare.
“I spent the entire night lying next to you, dying to touch you. You know what kind of hell that is?”
Heat flooded through me. Yes, I did. I’d been awake too, burning with the need to close the gap between us.
Wanting Kairos meant trusting him. Trusting him meant giving him the power to hurt me. When Vaeris abandoned me, at least it proved that he’d never really wanted me. Our forbidden love had never been real, so it didn’t break me.
But Kairos wanted to devour me in front of everyone. He’d given me gloves made of dragon hide and asked about my life like my answers mattered. What if I let myself believe it? What if I was just a temporary obsession, and it only looked like something more?
I couldn’t survive that.
“Get dressed,” I whispered, stepping back.
He stood slowly, his face tight with frustration.
I turned away, rummaging through the closet. I pulled out a dress and changed quickly behind a screen, my hands fumbling with the laces. I made sure to slip the dragonhide gloves inside the pockets.
When I emerged, Kairos froze.
A muscle ticked in his cheek, but he was breathtaking. Even exhausted, he was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. Cold, deadly, and utterly magnetic.
My hands trembled. “Ready?”
His eyes finally met mine. “Are you?”
“I’m nervous.”
“You’re a mortal stuck in an underwater palace. Everyone will expect that.”
“It’s not just that.” I swallowed hard. “They’re going to know what I am.”
“They won’t.” Kairos adjusted his collar. “Vaeris doesn’t want you exposed any more than I do. They’ll assume this is a pissing match between kings.”
“So I’m…a prize you’re fighting over?”
“Yes, which means you act like you chose me.”
My heart hammered. “What if I can’t do this?”
His hand caught mine and squeezed. “You survived Skalgard. That makes you tougher than half the people in that room.”
“Vaeris used to say I was too soft for court, that they’d eat me alive.”
His gaze hardened. “Vaeris is an ass. Ignore him.”
I heaved a sigh. “Okay.”
He threaded our fingers together. “Come.”