Chapter 31
MALAKAI
The echo of the shattering ceramic and rolling vegetables hasn't even faded from the stone floor when heavy, lumbering footsteps reverberate down the outer corridor.
"Hey, Malakai!" Cern’s booming voice echoes through the stone archway, entirely oblivious. "We smell something burning down here. Did the duchess try to—"
A violent, protective fury snaps through my veins at the interruption.
I do not let my mouth leave Aveline's skin, but with a fierce, blinding flex of my will, my shadows explode across the expanse of the kitchen.
The oak doors of the kitchen slam shut with a force that shakes the copper pans on their hooks.
The heavy iron bolt drops into place with a deafening, echoing thud, sealing the entrance and locking my brothers out in the corridor before they can even reach the threshold.
"Hey! What the hell, Malakai?" Valen’s muffled shout rattles the wood from the other side. "We’re hungry!"
I ignore them entirely.
The house understands the demand, muffling the remaining noise from the hallway until the kitchen is a silent, isolated vault.
Aveline and I are left clinging to each other on the edge of the high wooden island, the ragged sound of her breathing the only noise in the sudden stillness.
My hands are locked beneath her thighs, holding her pinned to the edge of the counter while her legs wrap tightly around my waist. A tangled storm of blonde silk hair wraps around her flushed face. Swollen lips.
Blue eyes.
Pink cheeks.
Perfect.
We stare at each other in the dim, golden light. The amulet at her throat rises and falls rapidly against her collarbone, and I want to rip it away, to let her power play with mine. I want all of her. The gold current beneath her skin is humming, vibrating against my own magic.
I need to hear it. I need her to say the words before I completely lose my mind.
"What do you want, Aveline?" It’s the desperate plea of a man who has spent lifetimes waiting to be hers again. My fingers dig into the linen of her overdress, my forehead pressing against hers. "Tell me. Before I ruin every rule of this courtship."
Aveline doesn't flinch.
She doesn't falter.
She looks dead into my eyes, her fingers tightening into the fabric of my shirt.
"You," she whispers. "I want you, Malakai. I’m ready."
The last thread of my self-control snaps.
A low, guttural growl rips from my throat.
Devoid of a single ounce of restraint, I hoist her clean off the wooden counter, keeping her legs locked securely around my waist as my arms bracket her back.
I do not walk; the living castle fractures the space around us, the shadows boiling up from the floorboards to swallow us whole.
Between one breath and the next, the kitchen is gone.
We materialize directly in the center of my rooms. The double doors behind us slam shut, the lock clicking into place with absolute finality. The room is thick with her scent.
I refused to let the castle clean it since the last night she slept here.
I drive her backward toward the massive bed, entirely consumed by the need to claim my queen.