Chapter 1 #2
Molochai was a mad, shadow-wielding sorcerer. Together with Simeon Whitlock, he had discovered magic and overthrown the tyrannical Rexus family. They placed Simeon’s sister, Christabel, on the throne and used their magic to rule over the continent.
But one tyrant had only paved the way for another.
Molochai fell in love with Christabel. And when she married another, he slaughtered Christabel’s husband and newborn child in a jealous rage before cursing the queen.
Since then, Christabel barely showed her face and remained in the castle, gravely ill.
“Molochai killed Queen Christabel’s only daughter when she was days old,” I muttered in disbelief. “They say he stabbed the child through the heart.”
I reluctantly released her trembling fingers as she reached for the collar of her blue dress, pulling it down just far enough to show a scar on the skin above her left breast.
“I survived,” she whispered. “My full name is Aryella Jay Whitlock.”
I stared at her blankly, feeling even less worthy yet more determined than before, as the information settled. “So, you’re a princess. Should I bow?” I began to lower myself to my knees.
“No!” She stood and grabbed my shoulders, stopping me from kneeling. “No, please don’t bow. I should go.”
Panic tore through me at the thought of her leaving like this.
“I’ll go. Just please don’t tell anyone I was here. This was a mistake, putting you in the middle of my mess.”
But the middle of her mess was exactly where I wanted to be.
I grasped her hand and squeezed, pulling her closer. “Stay.” I lifted one finger to graze her skin where pink gathered. Her breath caught at the contact. “I don’t care who your parents are, Ella. I’m fascinated with you regardless.” Obsessed was closer to the truth. “If you couldn’t tell.”
Her delicate throat flexed with a swallow. “It doesn’t scare you?”
Oh, it did. I was in so far over my head, it would take a miracle to keep me from drowning. Only I didn’t want that miracle. I wanted her . I would drown forever, tread the frenzied waves of the eternal, furious ocean, over and over again if that was what it took.
“I don’t care.” I cupped her face in my hands. “Please don’t ask me to stay away from you.”
Her breaths grew shallow and uneven. I bit my tongue to keep myself grounded, but her green eyes were focused on my lips, and she smelled so sweet . I lowered my mouth close to hers as our breaths intermingled. I longed to kiss her, but I lowered my hands and held hers instead.
No one in this city knew she existed, which meant she’d hardly been outside of that castle. She had never been touched. Never been kissed. Never been held. And her hands were shaking .
“You are a dream that I want to last for more than one night.” I brought our hands to my lips and kissed hers. “If you’ll give me the honor of letting me see you again.”
I began to imagine all the ways I would kiss her. All the ways I could make her laugh and smile… among other things.
She shifted closer, and the sleeve of her cloak fell away to reveal fresh bruises on her arm. Five small spots that looked like fingers.
“Who did this to you?” My voice was a dark, animalistic growl.
“It’s nothing,” she assured me unconvincingly.
“Those are finger marks.” I clenched my jaw to hold back my rage. Anger and I were old friends, but I had never boiled from the inside out like this. My fury fed my need to protect her, to surround her and fend off the danger I instinctively knew would never stop coming for her.
“Really, it’s nothing.”
“Who did this to you, Ella?” I demanded sharply.
Her eyes grew wide, startled by my tone. I’d always had a quick temper, but never this quick.
“My mother,” she admitted.
I froze. I had never hit a woman before. But as I stared at those bruises on Ella’s arm, I realized I wasn’t opposed to striking the Queen of Nyrida.
“Your mother did this to you?”
Aryella sank her teeth into her plush bottom lip. “She’s sick.”
“She’s sick?”
“She… seizes ,” she explained, then sniffled.
“She goes into a sort of trance and sees things. I was sitting with her, and she grabbed my arm while her mind went wherever it went. She holds on to me like I’m what she needs to know what’s real.
” Ella looked at me with pleading eyes, shaking her head.
“She doesn’t mean to. It’s not her fault. It’s Molochai’s curse.”
My need to comfort her pierced through the veil of my rage. I tucked my finger beneath her chin. When she looked up at me with those stunning green-gold eyes, my chest felt like it was collapsing in on itself.
The weight of her mother’s curse, Molochai, this city, this world—it was crushing her love and light and whatever dreams she ever dared to dream.
I wanted to make her mine. To take her away from it all.
I didn’t have much, but if I did one thing right in this life, I would help her carry everything .
“Let me help you,” I uttered softly. “If anyone touches or threatens you, if someone so much as looks at you in a way you don’t like, I want you to tell me.”
There was a war in her eyes, like she couldn’t decide whether to be grateful or wary. “Gavin, respectfully, I hardly know you. I don’t think you should be asking me?—”
“I’m not asking.”
Defiance fought its way into her stare. Yes , I almost said. Fight. You need that fight .
“Do you understand you’re trying to give orders to a princess?” she asked, shoulders straightening.
I fought a smirk. “Well, Princess .” I tucked a strand of soft silver behind her ear. Her cheeks flamed red, and my smile broke free. “I am at your mercy. But anyone who touches you ”—I stroked her soft skin with my thumb—“is at mine .”
She sucked in a startled breath, and gods , that little gasp. She was going to be the hardest test of willpower in existence.
“Okay,” she agreed. “I’ll tell you.”
The city bells chimed at nine o’clock. It had been three hours. I wasn’t sure I’d spent that much time talking to anyone in an entire year before.
“Thank you for dinner. I should probably be getting home,” she said. My pulse increased to dangerous levels. The thought of her leaving did terrifying things to me. “I’ll walk,” she said, but she was slow to step away. “I know the way.”
Walk? The fuck she would. Not alone.
“Ah,” I sighed, much nicer about it out loud. “I don’t think so, Ella.”
She rolled her eyes, giggling. “Are you my bodyguard now?”
“Yes,” I replied bluntly.
She pursed her lips. “I came here alone.”
“It was still light out.”
Her eyes softened. “I can walk by myself. I’ll be okay. Though it’s very sweet of you to care.”
I more than care .
“If you insist.” I would just follow her the entire way home, then, and keep watch from afar. “When can I see you again?”
Ella rolled her bottom lip between her teeth. “How long do you need to make me a weapon?”
My eyes darted to the brand-new dagger resting in its fresh leather sheath on the table beside my bed.
I had started on it immediately after she’d left the previous night and finished it hours later, just before dawn.
I’d hoped getting her what she needed so quickly would deter her from seeking help elsewhere.
Now, I was worried she would just take it and run.
“Tomorrow,” I replied. “Come back tomorrow, and we’ll start.”
“I’ll try. My uncle is… controlling. I’ll have to sneak out.”
“Just tell him to fu—” I cleared my throat. “Tell him to shove off.” It was the nicest way I could express how I felt about anyone keeping her away from me.
“They mostly leave me to read quietly, anyway. In my room or the library.” A coy grin tugged at the corner of her mouth. “It makes my absence slightly less noticeable.”
“Sneak out as often as you’d like,” I encouraged her a little too eagerly.
I was about to be a terrible influence. “I’ll be here.
” I took a chance and embraced her, thrilled when she wrapped her arms around me and placed her cheek just below my sternum.
I rested my lips in her hair and breathed in her sweet aroma.
I didn’t want to let her go, but I needed to give her time.
To earn her trust. Maybe even her love .
In less than a day, I’d become undaunted by that word. She had awakened something gentle and good within me, and my soul needed it. It needed her .
After she left, I discreetly followed her up the winding hillside road to the castle. I kept my distance, and when she reached the small bridge between the path and the main castle grounds, I stopped and watched her sneak through a side door.
Knowing she was safe in the castle, I was able to sleep that night. But the sleep I did get was interrupted four times by dreams of her. In my favorite dreams, I just held her. And while I lay awake, I thought of the decision my heart had already made for me.
I planned on loving Aryella Whitlock until the end of time.