Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
A featherlight touch against my ribs stirs me from sleep.
An involuntary twitch spreads through my body from the sensation.
I peel my eyes open to the far-too-bright light coming in from the window on the right side of my room.
It assaults my vision, spiking the headache that begins pounding against my skull.
I slam my eyes closed, groan, and pinch the bridge of my nose.
Erik must be tracing my tattoo, as he often does. He’s always asking me about it, and I never answer. It’s like he thinks he can reveal its mystery by touch.
I’m not wearing any clothes, which doesn’t surprise me because we have so much fun together. Even though I can’t seem to remember last night with Erik.
Actually, I don’t remember much of last night after Mikael showing up. It’s all a bit hazy after that.
Making out with Erik in front of Mikael. Blood.
I audibly breathe out when he doesn’t stop tracing. I grab Erik’s hand and lace my fingers within his, pulling his arm around to…
Oh Fates…
I roll over, unsure of who I’ll find in my bed because that is not the way Erik’s hand feels.
“Well, that was nice while it lasted.” Mikael purrs in my ear.
A startled scream fills the silence as I jolt back and fall out of the bed with a loud thud. I sit up and snatch the sheet from beneath Mikael—who’s lying on top of it in nothing but his undergarments—and wrap the white cloth around my naked body.
I’m frozen from the shock of seeing him, basically naked.
In my bed.
Oh… No…
Did I drink that much? I run a hand through my tangled hair and look at him in angry confusion.
“We… What…?” Different thoughts keep replacing the next, and I can’t get out a full sentence.
“No, Love, I didn’t take advantage of you. Unlike the other company you seem to keep.” Mikael scoots up, leaning against the headboard, and puts an arm behind his head. His muscles flex as he does, showing off every line of his sculpted frame from his abs to his thick thighs.
A blood-red jewel nestled in an ornate setting, suspended on a black chain, rests against his chest. Just above his heart is a tattoo I’ve never seen.
I divert my eyes back to his face before he gets the wrong impression. But it’s too late. A smile stretches across his face, noticing how I’m taking in every detail of his body that’s on display.
“Nice to see you’ve maintained your training regimen.” I offer a fake smile back.
Two can play this game. After all, it’s not like he hasn’t already seen me naked. We used to tease each other, walking bare in front of one another with a sly smile, seeing who could resist the longest until they caved to pleasurable activities. I always won.
I stand, then let go of the sheet.
His eyes darken, shifting from joyous to hungry.
Slowly, oh so slowly, I walk over to my dresser, swinging my hips more intentionally than I normally would. I remove the chemise I had made last night and slip it over my shoulders before turning around to face him again. “What, no comment on my training?”
“Beautiful as ever. You were always perfect.” His words, and the lust-filled look in his eyes would’ve had me aroused in the past.
But now irritation spikes that it could be this easy between us after so long. What am I even doing? I don’t want him here, or in my city.
I grab a candlestick from the top of my dresser and throw it at him. He rolls out of the way and jumps out of the bed. His mouth opens as if he’s about to say something, but I don’t care what he has to say.
“Get out. You can’t come back and offer compliments so easily after what you did. You aren’t welcome in my city and if you linger, you’ll be sent to your death.”
“Are you sure?” Mikael asks, strutting toward me with a confidence he has no right to.
I grab a dagger next, and throw that at him as well, but he effortlessly sidesteps the assault, and it clatters to the ground near my door.
“Very,” I answer sternly. Picking up my boot, I remove another dagger and aim it at his face. “Do you want to keep coming toward me? I’m not asking you to leave. I’m telling.”
“Bryn, stop.” He warns. “I’m—”
“No! I will not stop. Get out of my city and never show your face around me again! Or I will stake you in the heart.” I scream at him and throw the dagger.
I’m letting emotions get the best of me, but everything from before is bubbling up, threatening to shatter me all over again.
I throw my boot next. When he keeps pursuing me, I jump onto the bed and run across it to the other side of the room. I pick up a book and throw that too. Anything near me that can be used as a projectile is hurled at him.
“Stop throwing things at me!” Mikael yells as he charges toward me.
“Stop following me!” The words leave me in a feral scream. I’m so angry that he’s here, in my room of all places. Slept in my bed next to me while I was naked. “What the fuck would you have to say that’s so important you couldn’t have sent a letter!”
“You wouldn’t have read a letter!” His anger is rising with my own.
Mikael rushes at me and tackles me to the ground, stopping my onslaught. We roll around on the floor, wrestling. I work my way out of every hold he puts me in.
“Bryn. Stop. Listen to me,” Mikael shouts, his voice rough with exasperation.
I twist away from him, but he moves too fast and lunges before I can get up.
Gripping my shoulders, he slams my back into the wooden floor.
The impact drives the air from my lungs, and I’m left gasping for breath.
Mikael’s muscular thighs secure my arms to my sides as he sits on top of me, his palms pressing my shoulders against the floor.
We’ve been here before, chests heaving from exertion after sparring in the training ring.
We’d practice maneuvers and how to take down opponents.
The last time he pinned me to the ground like this, the sexual tension burned so hot it consumed us.
He tilted his head and brushed his thumb across my lip.
I nodded. Our mouths collided and he claimed me.
And now, he’s looking at me the same way he did centuries ago.
A devilish smile slowly spreads across his face as his length hardens and presses against my body. Just like then.
“The scent of you—the way you taste—has never left me. I’d know you anywhere, in any lifetime.”
My stomach swells with butterflies, spreading heat between my thighs. My damn body has a memory of its own, reacting to this man’s presence. Remembering what that moment led to, and the way he expertly sent wave after wave of pleasure through me.
Mikael’s gaze drops to my chest, to the thin fabric of my chemise that hides nothing. He leans down and his words are a whisper against my ear. “We both seem to find ourselves wanting.”
I buck my hips, because no. He falls over my head, and I roll out from under him and get up. My words come out sharp as I look down at him. “Does this work on other females?”
He’s splayed out on his back, hands raised in surrender. “There have been no other females. I made a vow to you, and I have not broken it.”
“Well, your lips will still never grace mine again.” I scowl.
“Challenge accepted.” He counters.
I cross my arms over my chest. “There is nothing to challenge, you ass. I guess you must have forgotten that you betrayed me? Betrayed us?”
“I haven’t forgotten. It has haunted me ever since.”
“Well, that makes two of us.”
“I know you’re more than angry with me. But please, we need to talk. Your life depends on what I have to say.” He points to the table. “I got you some water and breakfast.”
“Fine,” I say more to myself than him. I’m too exhausted to fight anymore, my headache has returned, and I am starving.
I sit at the table and judge the food he ordered. There is an assortment of fruit, eggs, and grains; all the choices I would have made for myself.
Except for the single pastry that has been placed in the middle of the table. Its buttery, sweet, flaky crust is filled with a delicately flavored vanilla whipped cream and topped with glazed fresh fruit. My mouth almost salivates at the sight of it.
They were my favorite.
I stopped ordering them because they reminded me of him.
I grab the pastry, ready to toss it out the window… but… oh, as the scent reaches me, I hesitate. I haven’t had one in so long. Fuck it. No point in wasting it.
I take a bite and have to stop myself from groaning at the absolutely divine taste that fills my mouth.
Mikael joins me—at least he had the decency to put his pants on—and sits across the table. He pours two cups of coffee and pushes one toward me before sipping his own.
“My life is waiting for you to tell me what is so important.” I stab a piece of fruit, eyeing Mikael as I do so, then wave my fork between us, prompting him.
He sighs and runs a hand through his clean hair, now back to its bright blond. “You’ve been cursed, and you’ll die if we don’t break it.”
I lean back. “How did I get cursed, and why should I care?”
“My king hated our relationship. The jealous scum wanted anything good that others had. He commanded me to steal this.” Mikael’s voice deepens, sharp and harsh, as he moves a hand to his pocket and pulls out an amulet.
Between his fingers hangs a purple stone encased in jagged teeth, fastened with a golden chain.
He leans forward, holding the amulet out to me.
I shake my head, and he puts it back in his pocket.
“The king wanted to punish me by cursing you.”
“Punish you? It’s been too long for King Ignatus to care.” I counter, not believing it. “How exactly does cursing me punish you? You gave him the way to kill fae, ever his loyal general.”
“Because all I cared about was getting back to you. After the Wastelands was created, I could no longer sense you through our bond and it drove me mad. He forbade me from searching for you, but I still tried to cross the Wastelands, multiple times. He finally forced me to stop.”
“What is this? Some weak apology?” I take a drink of coffee as if I could care less.