Chapter 29 #3
“Agreed,” Kailia offered. “You look like you’re about to start a brawl, and I don’t believe that would be very convincing of us, husband. But I wouldn’t be opposed to another brawl.”
He blinked at her, his vision blurred with fury. Coupled with his existing exhaustion, he knew the male was right because he was seconds away from starting that brawl Kailia mentioned.
“Another brawl?” he asked, his tone dangerously low and quiet.
“By Sargon, Lia,” Razik glowered. “The majority of the time we can’t get you to give us straight answers, but with this, you won’t stop running your mouth.”
“By stating I wouldn’t be opposed to a brawl? How is that a problem?” she asked in confusion.
“Finish your godsdamn drinks,” Cethin snarled. “We can’t simply leave, but as soon as we’re done, we’re going somewhere to discuss this.”
The next fifteen minutes seemed to drag on forever, and he knew Razik was taking his time just to be a dick.
There was absolutely no reason for him to take fifteen minutes to finish half a mug of ale.
He’d been to taverns with him. He knew the male could take down a full mug in less time than it took to fill it.
The moment they were back in their rooms, Cethin rounded on Razik. Darkness swirled as thick tendrils coiled in the male’s direction.
“Why in the fuck would you take her to a godsdamn tavern? And by the docks? When was this?” Cethin demanded.
“Relax, Sutara. It was before she was even announced as your betrothed. And I made sure her face was hidden. Well, until the brawl. Then her hood slipped back, but no one knew who she was yet,” Razik said, far too casually for the way this conversation was about to go.
“It doesn’t fucking matter, Greybane!” Cethin yelled. “Why would you even put her in that position?”
“What position? Getting her out of this fucking castle? Letting her get to know all sides of the capital city? She’s the godsdamn queen, and you want her to simply stay locked away,” Razik spat, his eyes glowing brighter than they had before and smoke furling with each exhale.
“And in case you haven’t figured it out yet, she’s perfectly capable of protecting herself.
Fuck, she protects you half the godsdamn time. ”
“You’re done, Greybane,” Cethin snarled. “I’m demanding Tybalt remove you as her guard.”
“No!” Kailia interjected, speaking for the first time since they’d returned.
She pushed her tiny frame between them, wincing at the physical touch but shoving at them both anyway. In the next blink, she held a dagger in each hand, one pointed at each of them.
“Razik, can you leave, so I can speak with my husband?” she asked, every bit of her amber glare directed at Cethin.
“Sure thing,” he all but drawled. Then he added while smirking at Cethin, “See you in the morning, Lia.”
Before Cethin could respond, Kailia was pressing the point of her dagger to his chest, and she held it there until they heard the door close behind Razik.
“I do not want another guard, Cethin,” she said, the words steady and firm.
“Too bad, wife. He’s proven time and again that he can’t be trusted with your safety.”
“My safety?” she repeated. “Cethin, it was one of my first days here. He got me out of the castle and took me with him on an errand, and I’m grateful he did.
The only reason I get out of these walls is because of him.
You are always tending to your duties, and I’m left to…
I get restless,” she finished, as if that explained everything.
“You got in the middle of a godsdamn brawl, Kailia,” Cethin gritted out. “That was irresponsible of him to—”
“Someone grabbed me,” she interjected. “He grabbed me and tried to pull me onto his lap. I panicked and shoved a dagger through his hand. His companions were not happy with my actions.”
“Someone grabbed you?” he asked, the words low and dark for an entirely different reason now.
“It wasn’t intentional. The stabbing, I mean. I think the grabbing was definitely intentional.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to clear his mind enough to converse with her properly, but between the exhaustion and now the thought of someone grabbing her. Touching her. He couldn’t see past it.
He’d have to deal with that later. “I still think another personal guard is in order, Kailia.”
“No,” she repeated, a thread of panic in her tone as she pressed the dagger point a bit more firmly to his chest. “It takes me ages to become comfortable around someone. I find it incredibly difficult, but the thought of starting that process all over again is overwhelming.”
Godsdammit.
He stepped back before turning and heading to the bedchamber.
“Where are you going?”
“To change,” he muttered, not stopping until he was in the dressing closet.
He quickly slipped into looser, lightweight pants.
He left his shirt off, contemplating a hot bath, but he needed to have a conversation with Kailia first. One he wished he were far more rested for, but fate was rarely on his side.
“That is not dinner attire,” Kailia said when he emerged into the bedchamber.
“We will not be at dinner tonight,” he answered, leaning against the doorjamb. “We need to figure all this out.”
Surprise flitted across her features. “You are staying here for the rest of the day.”
“I am,” he affirmed.
“With me?”
A small smile tugged at his lips. “If that is amenable to you.”
“It is, but you are always…gone,” she finished.
“I have responsibilities, yes, but I also know this was a transition for you. I was trying to give you space to adjust, but it’s causing some tension throughout the kingdom. Not to mention inside the castle and these rooms,” he added.
“I don’t know how there can be tension in these rooms when you’re never here,” she scoffed.
He pushed off the doorway, not stopping until he was right in front of her. Her head tipped back, exposing her slender throat, and his finger itched to slide along it. Feel her soft skin. That pulse fluttering beneath his touch.
“You keep saying things like that. I’m starting to think you miss me, tiny fiend,” he said, his tone low and a touch raspy.
“No.”
“No?” he asked, letting his magic out to trace the path he desperately wanted to. He heard the gasp she tried to swallow. This was a dangerous game to be playing when he was too exhausted to properly control his power.
“I simply don’t like not knowing my role. I need a purpose. Something to focus on,” she replied, the words a little breathy. “Ever since you brought me here, I feel as if I do not have one. I told you this when we discussed my role being in title only.”
“And what additional roles would you like?”
“Considering you never allow me with you, I don’t know the options,” she retorted. “But surely there are things I could handle so you can sleep more than once a moon cycle.”
“I sleep more than that,” he said defensively, rearing back some.
“You are a liar, king,” she replied, crossing her arms, then uncrossing them and shaking out her hands.
“You tell me a truth, and I’ll tell you one,” he proposed.
She eyed him, his darkness still lingering, and she slowly lifted a hand. He thought she was going to touch him, and he leaned a little closer, anticipating it. Craving it. But instead, she drew a single finger through his magic.
“Tell me a truth about these shadows,” she said.
“They’re not shadows,” he answered.
“What?”
“That was a truth,” he replied. “Your turn. Tell me a truth about your past.”
She paused, her head tilting a fraction while she continued to toy with his magic. “I didn’t see the sun for the first time until I was nearly twenty years.”
He recoiled fully, staring at her. “What?”
Surprised, she went still, her brows pinching together. “You asked for a truth.”
“I did, but…” He fell silent, unsure of what to even say to any of this.
He wanted to pull her into his chest and hold her.
Protect her from whatever had kept her locked away for twenty godsdamn years.
If he’d been curious about her past before, he was desperate for it now.
That seemed to be what she elicited from him the most: desperate need.
For information.
For understanding.
For her.
And therein lay the entire godsdamn problem.
But…
“Another truth exchange?” he asked.
She eyed him for a moment, but then slowly nodded.
“How long have you been in Avonleya?”
“Less than a year,” she answered.
He nodded. He’d suspected as much. Not on the first ship, but on one of the two after. “How’d you know your ship would get through the Wards?”
“I didn’t,” she said. “It wasn’t the first time I’d tried. I was a stowaway on the ships anyway. When they didn’t make it, I used my power to return to the continent.”
“How many times did you try? And why were you so determined?
She smiled, a small thing that told him she was enjoying this little game. “I believe it’s your turn to give me a truth,” she said.
“Fair enough,” he acquiesced.
“Where do you go at night?”
“I already told you. I have another study.”
“But where is it? And what do you do there?”
He slid his hands into his pockets, debating. He could tell her, and she’d still never find it without him. There were too many glamours and Wards around it.
“Beneath the castle,” he answered. “There is a network of catacombs. I have a study there. And what I do down there is work.”
“On what?”
“I think that’s enough truths for today,” he said. “But I would enjoy your company on the balcony. Beneath the sun.”
“Only if you tell me that Razik will still be my guard,” she said, lifting her chin.
He was too exhausted to argue about the male right now, but even if that weren’t the case, it wouldn’t have mattered. “Just…no more tavern brawls, please.”
She was fighting a small smile when he extended a hand to her, and she slowly slipped the tips of her fingers into his palm. “I make no promises, husband.”