Chapter Twenty-One
Haide
My knuckles split against Zev’s forearm for the third time this afternoon, and it is more than necessary but not nearly enough. Still, if I don’t work off some of this tension now, I’m fucked.
The sting of my knuckles barely registers over the restless energy crawling under my skin. The need to move, to hit something, to burn through the pressure, builds in my chest.
“Again.” I reset my stance on the courtyard stone, boots scraping into position.
Zev circles me, that familiar smirk playing at his mouth. “You’re sloppy. Something on your mind, Luda?”
“Shut up and fight. That bitch is going to show her hand eventually, and I want to be on my game.”
“You’re always on your game.”
“I said fight.”
He lunges. “You will kill her.”
I sidestep, grabbing his wrist and twisting. “Duh.”
He rolls with the momentum and comes up behind me, arm locking around my throat in a hold I could break if I weren’t distracted by the heat tracing my spine.
The bond.
Always the fucking bond, dragging my thoughts toward him no matter how hard I work to burn them out.
Zev’s breath skims against my ear. “You know, if you wanted to work off tension, there are better ways.”
“Name one.”
He shrugs. “My room. My mouth. My—”
I elbow him hard in the ribs. He grunts, loosening his grip enough for me to slip free, and I spin to face him with a grin.
He swipes the blood from his lip. “Nicely played, nicely played.” This is easy. This is Zev and me. How we’ve always been.
“Tell me how nicely you’re going to play when Legend wakes up.”
“Who me?” He smirks, thrusting his leg out, but I jump to avoid it, only to get elbowed in the gut a second later.
My knees buckle and I fall to the floor with a grunt, clutching my stomach.
I wait for the beast to rumble or threaten his life, but he’s oddly silent. A fact I hadn’t missed.
The training room doors are thrown open and Sinner smirks our way. “Well, this should be fun.”
“Not in the mood for your games, Sinner. If you’re not here to tell me you found her, go away.” I jump to my feet and blow the hair out of my face.
“I wish, but nope. No sign of her yet, but it’s only a matter of time.”
I huff. “Then what do you want?”
“So many things, newest little royal, but I’ll settle for seeing my brother’s face when he realizes.”
“Realizes what?”
“If I told you, it wouldn’t be very fun.” He grins. “Family meeting. Bring the pretty boy with you.”
“You think I’m pretty, hm?” Zev teases, swiping the blood from his face with a towel.
I roll my eyes before following the asshole from the room.
This should be fun.
Not.
…
Gang’s all fucking here.
Knight stands near the wall with his arms crossed, and Sinner leans beside him, entirely too entertained by the situation—and the fact that I drove steel into his brother’s thick skull.
Silver and Vicente hover a few feet behind them with a cautious stance, and Zev lies sprawled on the table like he owns the place, one boot hanging off the edge. He watches the room with curiosity, but mainly stays fixed on Sinner.
He’s probably trying to figure out the chances of getting the King to be the other bread in a sext sandwich; they’d just need to find a middle player.
Oddly, everyone is silent, and I’m pretty sure I’m the reason for that. Apparently, Creed filled them in on the whole “queen of the dragons shit,” as Sinner describes it.
He also told them the one thing Legend has yet to put together.
Well, not the one thing. There’s still the biggest issue of all.
Speaking of my bastard mate.
The man refuses to pull his gaze away from me. His attention fuels the humming bond between us, absolutely relentless about reminding me that he belongs to me in a way neither of us can deny.
I can’t decide whether he’s more angry, sad, or what, but there is one overpowering emotion above all.
Heat.
So hot, it stirs low in my belly, threatening to erupt any minute.
My thighs press together on instinct before I can stop it, the sensation rolling through me like my body just remembered something it’s been trying very hard not to think about. Him on top of me, inside me. The pressure of his cock and the filth of his words.
It’s a need so deep I almost fucking whine, which only makes me want to stab him all over again.
I want to tie his ass up and show him the error of his fucking ways and watch as he begs me to—
Legend’s mouth curves, slow and filthy.
“Kinky, little mate,” his voice slips into my head, rough with amusement. “That’s bold considering how mad you are.”
I keep my face perfectly neutral.
Inside my skull, though, I snap back immediately.
“Don’t flatter yourself.”
His grin widens.“You’re soaked.”
My jaw tightens.
“You should probably do something about that,” he continues lazily. “Because if I keep feeling it through the bond like this, Little Monster—I’m going to bend you over the nearest solid surface and see how long that attitude lasts, preferably while that asshole you call a friend watches.”
Heat flares again, sharp enough to make my pulse stutter.
The absolute nerve of this man.
You can try.
Satisfaction cackles through the bond.
How could I forget, he likes the fight.
Unfortunately for him, wanting him and forgiving him are two completely different things.
He is mine, there is no doubt, and I will end anyone who threatens to take him from me—slowly if I get the choice— but that doesn’t mean I won’t make him suffer along the way. As he fucking should.
Fooled by magic or not, I don’t give a damn.
He should have known.
He did know. He kept your dagger and he watched you when he was with her. He came to you in that tree house and—
I cut off the thought, wanting to hold on to a little bit of the anger that’s fueled me these last few weeks. Without it, I will be weak. If I let go and life decides the joke is on me one more time, I’m likely to throw myself off a damn cliff. One where my dragons wouldn’t be able to catch me.
The silence stretches another few seconds before Sinner finally exhales like he’s reached the end of his patience. “Just tell him.”
Every head in the room turns toward him.
Legend frowns. “Tell me what?”
That’s the problem, isn’t it?
How exactly do you explain to someone that the very thing that will make them the king they were born to be—untouchable and unrivaled by anyone outside his bloodline, except me —was torn straight out of his soul?
My lips press together.
“Haide,” Creed starts carefully.
Legend growls, vicious enough that it straightens Zev off the table. “Don’t say her name.”
Creed exhales slowly and glances at me again.
Legend’s head snaps toward him. “Don’t fucking look at her, either!”
Creed throws his hands up and Sinner chuckles from across the room.
“How about you shut the fuck up, Legend,” I suggest sharply. Even if it’s all Creed’s fault, I don’t believe in punishing someone continuously after they’ve already sincerely apologized.
I think that’s what you call growth. Who would have thought.
I let the noise of the room fade a little while I reach for the one thing that has been silent since Legend came to nearly twenty-four human hours ago.
“Beast?”
Legend frowns immediately. “What do you mean, beast?”
I don’t answer him, calling out to the Nightkin again.
“You said you wouldn’t leave me…”
My heart skips when there’s no response. Legend must catch it because he sits forward, his features contorting like the thought of me in pain causes a physical reaction within him.
But then ever so slowly, heat builds beneath my ribs, spreading outward in waves that roll through my veins. I close my eyes, allowing the small smile that tugs at my lips free.
He’s still here.
My temples throb, the gems flaring, burning hot against my skin. The atmosphere shifts as magic thickens the room.
Power coils upward from my chest, and I lift my gaze to Legend as it rises.
Dark smoke swirls around me, my eyes turning heavy, exposing the age of the magic that resides inside my soul, right where the bond lives.
Legend stills, eyes wide as he watches his Ethos rise to the surface. I feel the moment my eyes change, and his take their place. The beast’s red, unmistakably demonic eyes meeting the man he was created for, the man he belongs to above all else for the very first time.
A kinship of sorts blooms deep within my marrow as recognition roots itself into the man across from me, stealing his breath and bringing a glossy sheen to his big, blue eyes.
And in turn my own. I can’t help but feel like I’m witnessing something that should be private, unease clawing at my throat, soothed only by the knowledge that I am giving him something he has clearly been waiting for his whole life.
Proof, that he’s as royal as his name declares him.
Certainty, in case there was even the smallest of doubt, that he has a fated mate and I am it. Our bond giving life to the very beast he’s staring back at.
“What the fuck?” he breathes.
The Nightkin retreats into my chest like smoke being sucked back into a bottle. Every face in the room goes slack with shock.
Legend is silent, staring at me with every emotion in the book written across his face.
It’s too heavy, so I look away, and the beast vibrates in my chest in response, soothing me from the inside out.
“Well,” Sinner drawls, effectively lightening the mood of the room. He leans against the doorframe with that cocky smirk of his. “That was thoroughly fucking terrifying. All hail the Dragon Queen, I suppose.”
“Shut up,” Creed snaps, but his voice is distant, distracted. His eyes go unfocused for a heartbeat, like he’s listening to something the rest of us can’t hear. When they clear, his face has gone pale. “Shit. We have a problem.”
“What now?” Knight demands.
“Arabella’s escaped.” Creed’s hands rake through his hair. “And Valeryth’s ancient wards have been activated. The entire realm is sealed behind a wall of dark water.”
My stomach drops. “What the fuck does that mean?”
“It means,” Creed continues, his voice tight, “that no one gets in or out. Innocent or guilty. The old magic that built those barriers hasn’t been touched in centuries. We don’t even know who activated them.”
I surge to my feet, my chair scraping against stone. “So, fix it and figure it out.”
“It’s not that simple, Haide. Those wards were designed to protect, and someone has turned them into a weapon. We don’t know if that weapon will detonate if we try to penetrate it and if that happens…”
I sigh, shaking my head. “Boom goes Argent land and all the Argent there with it.”
Creed pinches the bridge of his nose. “And everyone will assume we’re the ones who made the move.”
“Yeah. That’s a fucking mess and a half.” I look to Zev. “We should get some more hours in the training center. See if we can work any magic out of you.”
“He has it.” Silver pipes up for the first time, attention sliding over Zev with a little more than innocent interest. Hmmm. “I felt it when I healed him.”
“Ah, so it was you.” Zev’s lips tip up in a smirk. “I was wondering who left that scent behind, keeping me awake at night.”
Silver’s eyes narrow into a sharp glare, but the color they change gives him away. Double fucking hmmm.
Legend’s laugh is dark. “Speaking of scents. Care to fucking explain why”—he moves forward until he’s right in front of me, taking up space I didn’t give him—“the fuck I can smell him on you, little mate?”
I go to step away, but he catches my wrist, and the bond fucking purrs.
“You don’t get to call me that.” I yank my wrist free. “You lost that right when you chose her.”
Something cracks behind his eyes. Brief, raw, then gone. His jaw works once before the smirk slides back into place, armor clicking shut.
It’s a petty thing to say, honestly, all things considered. But tell that to my ego.
“I didn’t choose shit,” he hisses. “Creed’s spell chose for me. You already know that.”
He closes the distance once more, and his voice drops low enough that it’s only for me. “So, what are you really angry about, Haide? That I was with her without choice, or that you weren’t fucking strong enough to pull me through it from the start?”
Truth burns through my chest, acid-hot.
I shove him as hard as I can, but he absorbs the blow without moving an inch.
“Fuck you, Legend.”
“Name the time and place, little monster. I’ll clear my schedule.”
A low whistle cuts through the tension behind me.
Zev’s posture is so aggressively relaxed it might as well be a declaration of war. He watches Legend through lidded eyes. Then Sinner.
And Silver.
My best friend is a hungry little ho.
Legend’s attention snaps to him.
“Something to add?” Legend’s voice goes dangerously quiet.
Zev’s mouth twitches. He doesn’t sit up, doesn’t tense, doesn’t do a single thing that says he considers Legend a threat.
He lets his gaze drift back and forth between me and Legend, slow and knowing.
The smirk spreading across his face is the most deliberately provocative thing I’ve seen since I left Exile.
“Nah.” Zev pops the word. “Just enjoying the show. Maybe I can stand in the dark corner somewhere and watch the one that is bound to happen later?”
Legend’s magic flares and the bond between us spikes with possession.
He studies Zev with laser focus, calculating, likely tracking every point of contact, every shared history, every inside joke written into how easily Zev’s body exists in my space.
Zev knows exactly what he’s doing. He’s known Legend’s type since before we left the island.
He doesn’t even have to try. This is just how he exists.
Loose and easy and completely unbothered by power dynamics that would make most people piss themselves.
He survived Exile by being smarter than the violence around him, and right now, he’s surviving Legend by refusing to play the game at all.
Which, of course, makes Legend want to kill him more.
“Haide.” Legend’s voice turns into a leash, tugging at the bond. “Tell your pet to sit up straight before I break his spine into the correct posture.”
Zev’s eyebrows lift, and he looks at me with theatrical concern. “He always this romantic? No wonder you hate him.”
A laugh punches out of me before I can stop it when a knock sounds at the door, pulling us all out of our—whatever the fuck this was.
Sinner closes the door behind himself, flipping through envelopes. “No one was there, but these were!” He flashes the front toward us, eyes shifting to Zev. “There’s even one for you.”
Creed reaches for his letter first, breaking the wax seal. His face goes blank as he reads the content.
“Oh my fuck. What now?” London rolls her eyes, gripping Knight’s arm.
Legend holds onto both of our envelopes, and he flips it upside down. As soon as he locks into the seal, ice fills the bond. “What. The. Fuck.”