Chapter 20 Hannah
Hannah
The nerve of that asshole, after all this time, to expect me to be available at his whim. I gritted my teeth and dug my feet into the mattress and launched myself higher, needing the motion and something physical to burn through the volatile anger coursing through my body.
The door exploded inward with a crack of splintering wood and slammed against the wall. I inhaled a deep breath, spinning around on my next bounce toward him.
He looked like a storm forced into a body. His shoulders crowded the frame, his chest rising and falling like he’d run himself ragged to get here. His hands were fisted at his sides as if he was barely holding himself back from breaking something else.
Or someone.
I bounced a couple more times out of spite, my bare feet sinking into the mattress and pushing off again. My blue skirts lifted with every jump as I stared at the furious fae filling the doorway.
Good, King Jekyll and Hyde needed to be put in his place.
I let myself bounce one last time before stopping, pressing a hand to my chest like I needed to steady my breath.
“Well, my stars, Your Majesty. Are you just busting down any lady’s door now, or am I special?
” I tilted my head, letting my gaze drag over him the same way his had already dragged over me.
“I thought you were busy with meetings. I know I am. Although…” I let my eyes flick toward the shattered door. “It wasn’t actually locked.”
His gaze moved over me again, slower this time.
His focus landed on my bare feet, climbed my legs, lingered just long enough at my waist to make my pulse kick, then kept going.
Heat spread across my skin before I could stop it.
Oh, no, Hannah. We’re not going to do this again. He doesn't respect us.
I stepped down to the floor, enjoying the cool wood under my feet. I smoothed my skirts over my hips, ignoring my racing, betraying heart. “Cat got your tongue?”
His attention snapped away from me long enough to scan the room. “Is it Olen? Is he here with you?”
“Olen?” I folded my arms and raised a brow. “Oh, please. No.” I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing outright, because the sheer fury rolling off him at the thought made something deep inside me pull tight. This was a dangerous game, and I knew it. That didn’t mean I was going to stop.
He continued to survey every inch of the room as if he needed proof and the idea of me with someone else was so intolerable that he had to see the emptiness for himself. His chest hitched again before he turned to the door and twisted the handle, which gave easily in his grip. “It wasn’t locked.”
“It wasn’t locked,” I echoed, a smirk tugging at my mouth. “I did tell you I was in a meeting. Very important people. Couldn’t be disturbed. But I didn’t say anything about locking the door.”
He straightened, the handle still clutched in his white-knuckled grip, the lock inside the handle’s frame and the latch broken. A muscle jumped in his jaw as he stepped farther inside and then shut the door. “You were jumping on the bed.”
“Excellent observational skills. No wonder you’re king.
” I tilted my head, watching the way his lavender eyes darkened, and the way his breathing stayed just a little too uneven.
“It’s a Tennessee tradition. Very important meetings require it.
” I let the words hang for a beat. “Did you think I was doing something else?”
Something shifted in his expression then.
The anger didn’t disappear, but it changed, deepening into something darker that made my stomach tighten.
His gaze dropped to my mouth, then lower, tracing the rise and fall of my chest beneath my bodice.
“You clearly wanted to speak with me,” he rasped. “You stole my astrolabe.”
“What the hell is an astrolabe?” I arched my brow higher, playing innocent even though I knew he meant the weird compass-looking thing. There was no way I was making this easy for him.
“This habit of yours is unseemly, petty, and childish.” He stepped further into the room, hands settling on his waist. “You can’t be serious about your own survival when you waste time stealing inkpots instead of practical items.”
I blinked at him, then let my expression flatten.
“I stole plenty of practical things from the Night General, thank you very much. That’s where I got the clothes.
” I gestured vaguely at myself before crossing my arms again.
“And I took a weapon. But there was a giant catfish monster chasing me, so forgive me if I lost that trying to fight it, and didn’t stop to curate my collection.
And I did try to talk to you, but you couldn’t spare me five minutes. ”
“I came to you, and you shut the door in my face.”
Oh, that had hit a nerve. Good.
I leaned into it, letting the irritation shape into something colder and deliberate.
“I gave you a taste of your own medicine.” I took a step closer, chin lifting.
“And that still doesn’t explain why you’ve been avoiding me for eight days.
You said we’d talk. You gave me your word.
Then nothing. Radio silence. I get updates from Thea like I’m some kind of outsider instead of the person all of this realm apparently revolves around. ”
His jaw clenched, but I didn’t stop.
“I know you’re busy.” I jutted my chin, refusing to look weak.
“And that things are falling apart and you’ve got a thousand responsibilities.
But you act like I should just be sitting around waiting for whenever you decide I’m worth your time.
” I let out a short, humorless breath. “How does it feel, huh? Having the shoe on the other foot?”
I met his gaze head-on, refusing to back down even as something in my chest twisted tight. “Bet it doesn’t feel so great.”
Something flickered in those lavender and violet depths, the violet nearly swallowing the lighter color whole.
His jaw flexed once before he spoke, like he had to force the words past restraint.
“There were matters that required my attention. Your life and the entire realm are at risk. Bram intends to destroy every court but his.”
“There are always matters.” I stepped closer anyway, invading his space on purpose.
I stood close enough to catch the mix of stone, smoke, and something darker that clung to him.
“But you found time for everything else. You ate. You slept. You met with Ashren and Folge and half the castle.” My nostrils flared. “Everyone except me.”
He narrowed his eyes.
“I’m not asking for everything or even the most time of everyone you interact with. But the fact that you couldn’t spare five minutes to acknowledge how you treated me speaks volumes about you.”
“You have no idea—” He cut himself off, fingers flexing hard at his sides.
“Then tell me.” The words slipped out softer than I intended, but I didn’t take them back. “Stop shutting me out, and actually tell me what’s going on. Because from where I’m standing…” I held his gaze. “It looks like you’re scared. Of the conversation… or of me.”
“Scared?” He stepped forward, slow, deliberate, and predatory. “You think I fear talking to you?”
My pulse kicked harder, but I didn’t move.
“You think I can’t control myself?” His voice dropped. “I can control myself, and I can say anything to you that I wish.”
The air between us tightened, started crackling, coming alive, like a storm about to break.
He closed the distance in two long strides, stopping so close I had to tilt my head back to meet his eyes. The violet had taken over now, all-consuming.
“The only thing I feared…” His voice roughened, catching. His throat worked.
“What?” I planted my hands on my hips, even as something in my chest pulled toward him. “What do you fear, Kai?”
His gaze dropped to my mouth.
“I fear,” he said quietly, the words dragging, “that if I let myself stay near you for more than a moment, I will do something neither of us can take back.” His eyes snapped back to mine. “And now is not the time.” His gaze moved from my eyes to my lips, his own parting.
The tension snapped.
His hand shot to the back of my neck, fingers threading into my hair as he dragged me into him, and his mouth crashed into mine.
Every thought I had vanished.
Heat rushed through me, fast and wild, stealing the air from my lungs. My hands fisted in his tunic, gripping hard as I rose onto my toes, drawn to him by something deeper than sense.
He kissed like control had already lost.
Rough. Hungry. Possessive.
Like he’d been holding back for too long.
I gasped, and he took it, the kiss deepening as his hand tightened at my waist, pulling me flush against him like distance wasn’t an option anymore.
My fingers slid up and tangled in his hair, and I tugged hard. A low, broken sound ripped from his throat, and that sent heat spiraling through me, low and fast.
He moved me backward without breaking the kiss, step by step, until I hit the wall with nowhere left to go and nowhere I wanted to go anyway.
“Hannah,” he breathed against my mouth. His voice was rough and unsteady in a way I’d never heard before. “You infuriating… beautiful creature.”
My heart stuttered. “Your sweet talk needs work,” I shot back, breathless, even as I dragged him back down to me.
His mouth claimed mine again, harder and less restrained. His hands slid along my sides, using me like an anchor.
I arched into him, a moan escaping before I could stop it.
My fingers worked at the clasps of his tunic, desperate to feel skin beneath my palms. When I finally managed to push the fabric aside and press my hands to his chest, the heat of him seared me, and an electric shock pulsed where our skin touched.
His muscles tensed, his breath hitching.
“You’re driving me mad,” he rasped against my jaw, then my throat, each word rougher than the last. “Every moment. Every time you defy me. Every time you look at me like that—”
“Good.” I caught his mouth again, cutting him off, refusing to let him regain control. “Now you know how it feels.”
Because I was done being the only one losing control.
He lifted me then, his hands gripping my thighs, my legs wrapping around his waist. The world tilted, spun, and then my back hit the mattress.
His weight pressed me into the soft bedding, and his hips settled between my thighs.
The sensation of him—solid, overwhelming—sent a dizzying rush through me.
He was bigger than I’d realized from those accidental brushes against him on the caribou, and the awareness hit all at once.
I gasped as his mouth trailed down my jaw and along my neck. His teeth grazed the sensitive skin where my pulse hammered wildly. His hands slid up my sides, thumbs brushing the edges of my bodice, and every nerve in my body lit up.
“Kai—” His name broke out of me.
“Yes.” He pulled back just enough to look at me, and the sight of him—hair disheveled from my hands, eyes blazing with that impossible violet fire—had my chest tightening with something stronger than want. “Say my name again, Hannah of Tennessee. Say it.”
His forehead pressed to mine, and his breath came in harsh gasps that matched my own. One hand cradled the back of my neck, holding me where he wanted me, while the other settled over my breast.
That pull inside me surged with a deep, aching throb that demanded something I couldn’t name. It caught my breath and burned through me.
“Kai.” My hands were already dragging him closer, fingers curling into the hard planes of his shoulders before sliding into his hair. He’d healed fully from the wolf attack and the battle.
His mouth found mine again, slower but no less consuming. One hand shifted to cradle my head, and he kissed me like he’d been starving for a while and wanted to devour me all at once.
My bodice loosened under his hands, the laces slipping as his fingers worked them free. Cool air brushed over my heated skin, and I shivered, but it had nothing to do with cold and everything to do with need.
His palm pressed flat against my sternum, right over my racing heart.
“I can feel it,” he murmured against my lips, voice low and rough. “Your heart. It beats for me. You’re mine.”
“Arrogant twatwaffle,” I breathed, but the words held no bite.
His laugh was low, vibrating through me. “Perhaps.” His mouth moved lower, trailing fire across my collarbone. “But I’m not wrong.”
Then a loud knock sounded at the door, causing him to still.
Oh, hell no.