21. Chapter 21
Logan
Her back was flush against my chest as we brushed our teeth in front of the sink.
The furthest from the bed we’d gotten in the past four days had been the tub, the shower and the sink.
But as she’d reminded me this morning, we could ignore what was happening out there only for so long.
And she’d given me another reason to want to fight this. She’d given me her.
I gathered her hair in my fist as she washed her face, shivering each time the cold water touched her skin. She turned around, wrapping her arms around my waist, holding onto me even as I leaned to spit in the sink and wash my face.
“I could ask Christof for some glue,” I said, kissing her warm, soft lips.
“All I need is a needle and some thread. I’m good at stitching things together.
” Her eyes glistened as she considered it briefly.
With her lips pressed to my chest, she rolled her dark gaze up at me.
“I want some devilled kidneys on hot buttered toast.” She smacked a few kisses over my heart. “And a steaming cup of tea.”
Saints. If she asked me to cut my heart out of my chest, I would have dug it out of my throat and put it on a plate for her—on top of hot buttered bread. Pepper and salt on the side, just how she liked her breakfast.
“I’ll see what I can do.”
Her fingers traced the length of my spine back and forth, stopping over each dent. “You’ll cook for me? Do you even know how to turn the stove on?”
“Piper wouldn’t eat for two whole months unless I made her griddlecakes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Sometimes as a snack, too. Just saying the name is starting to make me nauseous.”
She smiled, eyes and all. “I want some griddlecakes then. A little taste of Logan’s special.”
“You got a taste of Logan’s special this morning,” I said, capturing her bottom lip between my teeth. “This is the ‘my wife likes torturing me for fun’ special.”
She peppered kisses all over my neck. “Poor baby,” she cooed, sinking her pitiful teeth in my throat. She liked biting, and she liked biting hard. And Saints, it made me hard as fuck.
I chuckled, backing her against the sink when she ground her hips against mine. “You want to cut me up or eat me up?”
She finally let go, licking her lips as she pulled back to inspect the mark she’d left, tracing the tip of her finger over each little tooth dent. “If you had only a day to live, what is the first thing you’d do?”
“Already did it. Multiple times.”
Her smile was shy. “Something else.”
Lowering my brow to hers, I said, “I already did that, too.” Arguably, long before we did the first thing—multiple times.
“I miss you already,” she whispered.
“I’m right here, honey.”
The inside of my ear itched as it caught a sound in the distance. Horses rolling down the path to my estate, dragging a heavy carriage behind. A familiar heartbeat—no, two familiar heartbeats.
Fuck.
I kissed her lips. “Get dressed. We have guests.”
“Who?”
“The damn king.”
Something changed in her expression, and she swallowed hard as she peeled herself from me.
Forcing myself to back away from her, I grabbed a jacket off the hanger and stormed downstairs. Henry and Arthur were already there, aware and tense.
The royal red carriage finally came to a stop, and a pair of gilded stairs were pulled in front of the doors.
The wood groaned and bowed with each heavy step Ulric took down; his mouth pulled in a smirk as his eyes lingering over the architecture.
He’d never stepped so close to my family’s estate.
Whatever courage he’d found to come here today, I would not like.
I had to force myself to be still when Luella was helped out by a guard, struggling to stand on her feet and missing her cane.
I was going to kill him. And it was going to be today.
“Take your hands off your guns,” I sighed, lighting a cigarette as I braced my shoulder against the doors next to Arthur and Henry. “If you’re going to try to kill your king, be a bit more creative.”
Ulric’s eyes immediately fell to my throat where my wife’s mark was probably still visible. “Son, what a sight for sore eyes you are.”
“What do you think you’re doing here?”
He hadn't liked my tone, nor my words of greeting, but he held his old tongue back. “About time I finally meet your wife, isn’t it? Meet the mother of my future nephews. I hear you two have been quite passionate lately. I have to meet this witch that even the famed Blood Reaper can’t resist. And thank her, of course.
Without her, my bloodline might be doomed. ”
Fucking Rupert.
Ulric looked around the foyer. “Where is she? Why is she not here to greet her king?” His smirk turned deranged.
“Or did you already suck her dry?” He threw his head back as he laughed.
“Wouldn’t put it past you considering the tales they tell about you in the Eastern Continent.
Your reputation has never been easy on the ear, son. ”
A reputation he’d forced on me. He’d groomed me to be feared, handing me to enemy after enemy without batting an eye and expecting me to claw my way out. I’d just wanted to survive; unfortunately, being feared had been what had helped me survive.
His head swirled in Henry’s direction when he drew back the hammer on the gun holstered against his thigh. “What do you think you’re doing?”
I blew a cloud of smoke in his face. “Another word about my wife and he will pull it out.”
“Are you threatening me?”
“Yes. I’m glad you’ve finally caught on.” I flicked my cigarette at his feet. “You dragged Luella out of bed for this, you filthy piece of shit?”
His amusement turned into a sneer. “Be careful. She’s still my daughter. And there’s nothing you can do to protect her unless you stay true to the agreement we made together.” He stepped closer, his words were low and threatening, “You will respect me.”
Luella only lowered her head, and I hated the guilt in her eyes. I hated how she blamed herself for my misery when the true cause of both our miseries stood between us.
He faltered when I got even closer, crowding his space until he looked so small and afraid that I almost felt pity.
“I have tolerated you for her sake. You know very well that if something happens to her, if you touch as much as a strand of hair in her head, you will beg me to kill you.” Grabbing his lapels, I said, “You can’t die yet, Ulric.
I will watch you lose everything you have first.
“Show him to my smoke room,” I said to Henry and Arthur, hooking my arms under Luella’s shoulders and knees, lifting her up and walking to the drawing room across the foyer. Pain and exhaustion had marred her delicate face that was entirely leached of colour.
My sister held onto my hand after I set her down on a sofa. “He wants proof that she’s with child or at least that you will get her with child,” she said, her hollow eyes filling with thick tears. “And he won’t leave unless he meets her. I’m sorry, Logan. I really am.”
“This wasn’t your fault.”
Her entire being shook. “He wouldn’t be brave enough to step in your home if not for me.”
“Still, not your fault, Lu.”
“Your life would be much easier without me in it.”
Pushing her red hair away from her face, I lifted her attention to me. “Untrue. It has been an honour to have you as my sister, Lu.”
Her small hand rested against my cheek as tears rolled down her face. “I’m not going to let him hurt you anymore, I promise.”
Before I could say anything, her eyes lifted to the door.
“Willow,” I said, laying a blanket over my sister’s feet. “This is Luella. My—”
“His friend,” my sister said, teary eyed and choking. “His dear friend.” Her pale smile looked more radiant all of a sudden. “You really are lovely like he said.”
Willow glanced between me and her before slowly approaching. “What else did he say?”
My sister giggled, and the sound reminded me of how young she was. “He carries your picture around in his breast pocket.”
Willow’s cheeks took just the slightest bit of colour as she came to stand beside me and curtsy before Lu. “He’s a thief, Your Highness.”
A small smile pulled on my lips. “I dabble. But I can't rival my wife’s sticky fingers.”
Lu giggled again, her tears turning warm. “I think you’ve brought many new qualities in him.”
“Thievery is hardly something I want to inspire in him.”
Lu’s joy was suddenly overtaken by pure terror when Piper’s voice echoed along with Ulric’s laughter.
Willow ran out of the room before I did, grabbing Piper off his lap and holding my niece tightly to her side, horror filling her eyes.
“Finally,” Ulric said, leaning back in his armchair. “There she is.”
Willow’s firm hand grasped my elbow as I lunged in Ulric’s direction, and she shook her head. “Not in front of her.”
“Boo?” Piper whispered, noticing our tense expressions.
“You’ll go with Christof,” she said. “Take all my bones and show them to Princess Luella.”
My niece's eyes went wide. “Really?”
“Really,” she offered, plastering a smile on her face as she handed Piper to Christof.
Willow finally turned around and curtsied in front of Ulric, her fingers still digging into my elbow, holding me back, even though absolute poise was painted on her features.
“Come sit, the both of you,” Ulric said, patting a hand on his armchair.
“Let me have a look at the woman who nearly cost me my kingdom,” he continued, leaning forward to watch Willow.
His smirk grew vile the more he looked at her, and I fought the urge to gouge his eyes out.
“I can see why you insisted on her. She’s a very…
exotic choice. Not what I would choose for myself, or risk my entire kingdom for. ”
Fuck.
Willow’s eyes were burning a hole in the side of my head, and her hand finally slipped from my elbow. “What is he on about?”
Fuck.