Chapter 20
Maggie
Jax tore through the crowd, shoving me behind Noth who sprouted claws the size of swords to block the Elven blade aimed at my head. I didn't have time to be afraid as the tip of the sword sliced the hair above my ear.
Noth’s deep voice filled the air. “Touch her and prepare your grave.”
With NIghtmare speed, he knocked the Elven attacker out with one punch while Jax blocked her escape. Noth gathered the mantle of the crown around himself as we squared off with his people in the growing morning light. The change in the air was palpable.
“Take her to the dungeon,” Noth proclaimed, his voice resounding over the crowd.
For one hideous second, I thought he meant me, because something was definitely different. But the guard dragged the Elf into the palace instead.
“Stay behind him,” Jax advised. “I have his back.”
“Are you his bodyguard now?” I asked Jax.
“You're hired,” Noth snapped, still scanning the crowd for threats.
“Guess I get to ask for whatever salary I want then,” Jax quipped.
“You would dare move against me, Nemian?” Noth asked.
I watched the Noth I knew for this past year shift into something far more frightening than a Nightmare.
“You can't think that was me, Your Highness? I threw a spell to block the assassin. That’s what you heard.”
He had to be kidding. We all witnessed him call out a word of power. I didn't understand the rules of this game. Could you lie in front of everyone and get away with it? Noth and I bonded, whether they liked it or not. But as I looked at the faces around us, I saw calculation in every expression.
What were they all waiting for? Slap this Elf-eared donkey’s ass and be done with it. The crowd, the other Council members, just stood there, anticipating Noth’s reply. Not even Yaya moved.
Well, that was all right. I was more than ready for round two.
Noth caught me by the back of the collar as I started forward. “She’s nothing. None of your concern.”
He might as well have plunged a dagger in my chest. I wasn't one to take offense easily. I dished it out too much not to take it, but Noth’s words sliced to the bone. I shrank back to his side, falling into a defensive stance.
“Thanks, Rat Face,” I snarled.
I want you to survive this.
My jaw hinged open at the sound of Noth’s warm, dark voice in my mind.
You're giving away our secret, Pumpkin.
I closed my mouth and attempted to look like I was still angry at him.
Which I was, but he made me curious. If he snuck into my head, did I live in his too?
A certain song Fallon taught me came to mind and as I sang it to myself, the tips of Noth’s ears grew as red as his eyes. This was going to be so much fun.
“In fact, you should all go back to bed. You can begin planning my coronation in the afternoon.” Noth spoke as if our little exchange didn’t exist.
After five seconds in the heart of Noth’s territory, coming closer to dead than Noth had ever gotten, I wasn’t mad he kept our communications secret.
Yaya stepped forward. “I will take care of them if you take the soldiers,” she said to Jax.
“Don’t risk her again,” Noth whispered to Yaya.
I always took care of myself, but I was starting to realize I was definitely in over my head.
I had watched Evie take to being Queen of her territory with relative ease so how hard would it be to stand by Noth’s side?
I looked around. Then again, Evie’s territory acted a good bit calmer than the Elven one.
I had underestimated my sister once again.
I could just bluff my way through this, right?
“Show’s over,” I crowed and felt bad as Noth flinched.
Damn, I was really going to have to learn how to do this better.
The assemblage moved off into the growing morning light and Noth took my hand, steering me through the palace I now had time to appreciate, to the room that was definitely his.
As far from the gold gaudiness of Brad’s room as possible, the space dressed in calming grays and blues.
Hints of magenta that would show off a little alcove for Gertrude gave it some personality.
The warm, dark wood furniture and massive bed might have been bare, but at least they hadn’t destroyed the bones of the space.
Noth tossed me onto the naked mattress and followed me down until he pressed me into the luxury of it.
“You were beautiful and terrifying. I have never wanted to claim you more. The garden is gorgeous.” He kissed up my neck. I noticed his pause and heard his unspoken ‘but’.
“Just say it,” I told him, while I still had some of my wits about me.
He didn’t take the coward’s way out. He looked me in the eye as he said, “You can go home if you want. My parents raised me to do this, but it’s not fair to you.
The Council will have to admit they were wrong and were taken advantage of in some fashion and it will not go easy with them for the foreseeable future.
Brad might have been the worst of the worst, but my own people are no trip to the Venticular Falls.
Usually, they're just not quite so obvious about their discontent.”
I wanted to take his warning seriously and not rush into the first ‘no’ that came to mind. “Where do I fit in all this?”
His slow grin slipped into my girly bits and did a little slide. “On my cock. Want to try it out?”
He was deflecting, but instead of hounding him for an answer, I decided we both needed a little grace after the night’s and month’s events. And I really did want to try it out again. It was definitely one thing we did well.
“I guess I might give it a spin. See if you’ve improved any.” I almost swallowed my words. If Noth improved his fucking anymore, I would never get out of this bed.
He kissed my nose. “I love you too.”
My heart skipped. He had heard me. No one had ever said it back. It was simple, undramatic by Noth standards and somehow arrowed directly into my chest. So easy to believe it in our nest of two.
I took his bottom lip in my teeth, purposefully not biting. “I know.” He pinched me. “I mean, me too.”
“Then we can work out the rest, Pumpkin.”
And then Noth treated me to the very best version of his cock as promised.
~~~~~~~
2 months later
I wasn’t supposed to be here, but I had taken to wandering around the palace as by myself as I might get with Noth’s three guards tailing me. Still, they didn’t stop me when I took the key from the Elves on watch and opened the door to the dungeon.
It radiated silence. I liked to meditate and try out new spells on Brad before Yaya put me through my paces. The flickering lamplight gave me something to focus on as I rolled out the mat I kept here and sat in position.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
Why do you have to tell yourself to breathe every time? You’re already doing it.
I hit my own personal Noth mute button. I was still getting the hang of the whole ‘monster talking in your head’ thing and learning how not to broadcast all of my thoughts to him.
I didn’t feel bad. He hit my mute button often enough when I tortured him while he did Godds knew what King things and left me alone… again.
I shook my head to clear it of that disappointment, focusing on the sleeping Brad.
Was it weird to exercise down here? Probably.
I convinced myself that if I regularly checked on our prisoner, all the trials he put us through would gain some meaning.
His looks hadn’t improved under Noth’s tender mercy.
More than that, the herbs he had been taking must have been doing wonders because his skin turned greyer by the day.
I dosed Brad with a bit of healing here and there to make sure he didn’t die too fast for Noth’s pleasure.
That’s what mates did for each other, right? They kept each other busy and happy... apart.
Noth and I still had lots of sex. I focused on that as I stretched, lifting my toes to the back of my head, warming up to meet Yaya for training after I tested out a new sigil of rejuvenation.
It might be Godd-level sex, but I think we had already covered every available surface in our three rooms with some version of our tangled limbs.
I had a lot to be grateful for and I felt ungrateful for it feeling all wrong.
I wasn’t a Queen, even while Noth was a King again.
But I elected to stay. The bond was a new and wonderful thing that should have made me and Noth closer than ever, even if it wasn’t complete.
Evie said the last step involved biting each other.
I don’t think either of us could find time to bring that up with all the tension in the palace and all the work Noth was pulled away to do, let alone seal the deal.
And that was hella confusing because I still wanted to strip off every inch of Noth’s royal attire and have him rattle my lungs despite the growing laundry list of how this was not okay.
Brad stirred, his thin blanket slipping off his bony shoulders.
“You again,” he spat.
Somehow I dealt with his direct antagonism more easily than the tangle Noth and I found ourselves in once there was no more adventure to be had.
“It’s me,” I chirped in my best imitation of Evie’s positivity. “I’m the problem.”
Brad sat up, eyeing me warily. “I’m not in the mood for you today.”
“That’s too bad. And here you thought I gave a shit.”
Magic automatically swirled beneath my skin as I sketched a sigil large enough to fill the entire room with magic. He wouldn’t escape my healing.
“Put it away, witch.” Brad backed up to the limit of his cell.
I pulled on more power than I usually did, curious if I could cure whatever ailed Brad just through sheer force. Evie dosed him with a fair amount of magical light the last time he tried to take over the Harrowlands and even though he survived her rage, it didn’t seem like all of him had.
The sensation of Noth heading our way crawled up my spine. I turned to watch the darkest corner, where he materialized from the shadows.
“What are you doing to our guest, Pumpkin?”