Chapter 22 #2
My sister is pregnant. The reality of it, and the fact that I’m not there for her, has barely had a chance to sink in.
I can’t imagine there is any sign of the pregnancy yet, but I wonder if she is suffering from sickness or is one of those who simply grows more radiant. Knowing Kay, it will be the latter.
As for William, nerves fill my stomach as I pray to the Gods that he has kept his head down. Kept Artur’s trust firmly in place and kept those marks on his skin hidden. Because if he hasn’t … all the magic in Morathka won’t be able to save him.
As Benny passes me some cooked meat, I focus on the here and now, absentmindedly rubbing the inside of my thighs, hoping to ease the aching. I have some pain-reliever tonics with me, but it seems foolish to squander them on this when far worse may await us in the future.
‘Want any help with that?’ Ruben says, nodding towards my legs.
Across the fire, Kyor goes utterly rigid.
I raise my eyebrows. ‘I’m pretty sure Kyor would skewer you if you started massaging my inner thighs right now.’
I’m surprised by the blush that colours Ruben’s cheeks.
‘I wasn’t saying … I was …’ His voice cracks. ‘It’s the heat from my hands – it can help with pain. When Mum struggled with her knees, it helped bring her a bit of relief.’
‘She doesn’t need a massage,’ Kyor says tightly as he stands and crosses to me. ‘She needs to stretch the muscles out. A workout will help.’
I sigh. ‘A workout, now?’
‘Would you refuse if it were Zelle telling you to practise?’
It’s a low fucking blow, but Kyor’s right. When Zelle told me to work out, I did it, no matter how much my muscles were screaming.
The prince holds his hand out towards me, and though a groan threatens to escape, I hold it in and let him pull me to standing.
He’s right. A stretch will help.
‘Over there.’ He points to a clearing a few feet away. ‘I’ll get my things.’
I do as he says, walking towards the indicated space, and immediately regret the decision to leave the fire.
Two steps away from the source is all it takes for the chill to return.
Three steps and my fingers start to burn with numbness.
Still, I carry on … until I realise Kyor’s not beside me.
When I turn around, I find he’s next to Ruben.
I’m too far away to hear what’s being said, but from the way Benny and Caz are exchanging looks, it’s more than a little tense.
My eyes catch Benny’s and a nervous smile teeters on his lips as he lifts his fingers to his chest and forms a triangle shape. Prick.
‘You ready?’ Kyor strides towards me, leaving Ruben by the fire, jaw locked and fists clenching and flexing as if it’s taking all his willpower not to let them strike someone.
‘What did you say to him?’ I reply, nodding back towards the fire. Not that there’s any need. We both know exactly who I’m talking about.
‘Just general pleasantries,’ Kyor says as he moves to sweep past me, but I grab the sleeve of his shirt before he can. When he twists back to face me, he offers the slightest shrug. ‘I told him that if I catch him anywhere near your inner thighs, I will cut off his hands and feed them to Elska.’
‘For fuck’s sake. He’s a friend, Kyor. You can’t treat him like that.’
‘Watch me,’ he snarls. Static pulses across his hands, though from the way the tiny sparks flicker in his palm, I’m not even sure he’s aware of it.
‘I told you what I’d do if somebody laid their hands on you …’ Those sparks rise, faster and brighter than before. ‘He’s not just a friend, is he, Rose? He’s a friend you used to fuck.’
I don’t bother replying and my silence only stokes his fury.
‘You don’t get it, do you?’ He hisses at me and a bolt of lightning severs the clear sky. ‘You don’t understand the thoughts going around and around in my head.’
‘Thoughts like you with the redhead, you mean?’ I spit back.
A growl trembles from the very pit of him.
‘I didn’t so much as kiss her. Didn’t touch her skin.
But he … did he make you come, Rose?’ His voice is low, a whisper that resonates through my very core.
‘Did he hear those noises I rip from your throat? Did he taste your juices? It’s driving me mad, wondering.
Driving me fucking mad.’ His fists open and close in a manner ironically similar to the motions Ruben himself was making moments ago.
‘He’s just a friend,’ I repeat stubbornly.
‘Don’t lie to me. I just need to know. Did he?’ In one stride he’s there, pressed into my personal space so that there is barely a hand’s breadth of distance between us.
A lump threatens to form in my throat, but I swallow it down and stoke my rage with the flames of his fucking outrageous hypocrisy.
Does he think I haven’t thought of what he’s done to other women?
What he did before, not just with Thea but with all the countless others he’s swept into his bed?
After all, you don’t get the type of reputation Kyor has by being a pillar of piety.
He didn’t come to our bed a virgin any more than I did.
I step towards him, refusing to crumble, and let my lips twist into a snarl. ‘You have no right to ask those questions.’
‘Did he? Did he, Rose?’
I raise my voice. ‘Did you not just hear what I said?’
‘I will ask you one more time, Rose. Did he—’
‘Yes!’ The word flies from my lips as nothing but pure fury rages through me. ‘He did. That’s what you want to hear, right? Yes to all of it. Everything you did to me, he did too. And so many, many times. For moons and moons and moons. Are you happy now, Kyor? Are you?’
It’s as if I have struck him with a blade.
He was the one who asked, who pressed, who demanded an answer, and yet his whole body recoils, as if the words alone were enough to break something inside of him.
It does nothing to cool my fury, and I turn the tables on him. ‘And what about you, Kyor, hmm? Do I get to ask the same of you now? Do I get to ask where your hands have been? Your mouth? Your cock?’
He doesn’t answer my questions, and from the way the sparks are humming from his hands, I’m not even sure he’s capable of speaking.
A single beat of silence punctuates the air between us before he spins and marches towards his wolf. Within a heartbeat he has mounted and they’re disappearing off into the night.
Guess I’m stretching alone tonight.
I grab the sword. Fuck him. Fuck him.