28. Keira
A ldrin deposits me unceremoniously on the edge of the stone-paved island, where it juts out over the gently flowing river just outside of the temple.
“Sit. I’ll be right back.” He turns and walks away without another word.
I stare at his receding form with indignation. I was not expecting this when he whispered dirty words in my ear and put his hands all over me. I shuffle on the hard surface, agitation as well as hot desire coursing through me.
Aldrin returns moments later with his arms full and a huge grin on his face.
He dumps a spread of strange-looking fruits between us, along with broad green leaves that look like they belong on a banana tree.
He pulls out his knife and cuts into the fruit, arranging it into a platter on the huge leaves.
“What are you doing?” I finally snap. I need him to plunge those fingers inside me, not within the pulpy core of that pale pink fruit, between the segments that are too similar to folds, as he pulls it apart. It looks a lot like a mandarin.
He pauses, eyebrows rising high. “Cutting fruit.”
“Cutting fruit?” I repeat. “Why?” I can’t help that my voice has turned a little shrill. It is his fault, really, getting me all hot and flustered, then just stopping.
He lets out a long breath, then picks up a round woody ball. “I’m trying to woo you, Keira. To make tonight memorable.”
“Woo me? You don’t need to woo me! I’m ready to go. I want what you promised me.”
“Patience. This may be one of the last chances we get for a few romantic moments shared between just the two of us. Tomorrow, I will leave the City of Vertical Gardens and reclaim our armies. I had already contacted Ezekiel and his clan of dragons to meet us at our first offensive. Everything we have endured in this realm so far has just been a prelude for what is to come.”
Romance. He wants romance. I can cool my blood enough to do that.
“Fine,” I mutter.
A huge, beautiful smile fills his face as he passes me the orb he has been working on.
The fruit has a fibrous burgundy shell with hairs inches long coating it, and he has sliced a portion off the top to reveal a clear liquid within.
Some kind of milk or juice. The sweet scent that rolls off it is tantalizing.
He watches me closely as I take a sip from it, and laughs as my eyes roll back in my head, my senses lighting up. I immediately take another long gulp.
“Go slow on that one. The juice within is naturally fermented.”
“Is that your idea of wooing me? Getting me drunk so you can have your way with me?” I mock chide, poking him in the chest.
His eyes slowly roam over me. “We both know I will have my way with you tonight, regardless.”
My stomach tumbles and chills run down my spine.
I toss back the rest of the strangely floral alcohol, discard the husk, then crawl up Aldrin’s body.
Within a heartbeat, I am straddling his lap, running my hands under his tunic and across the hard planes of his abdominal muscles, pressing my breasts into his chest.
Aldrin throws up his arms. “Not while I have a knife in my hand!”
I pry the small blade from his fingers and flick it away from us, biting his ear. “How about now?”
“Romance, remember? I…I want to just talk for a bit while we can. There are things we need to discuss before I disappear again.”
The vulnerability in his voice is enough to douse my desire…marginally. He runs his hands up the bare flesh of my thighs, making me ache all over again, then lifts me from him.
“You’re really not helping, Aldrin.”
“Everything is about to get more intense. Titania’s mistreatment of you and the violence in the city,” he says, not looking at me as he lays out slices of a spiky red fruit that is soft and pulpy, then scatters yellow berries and green nuts across the platter.
He adds multiple cheeses and two varieties of crackers from his bag.
“We need to rip the Spring Court open and tear the corruption from its flesh before we can begin to heal it.”
There is sadness in his eyes as they flick up to mine. He leans in close and tucks a lock of my hair behind my ear. He doesn’t remove his hand from my cheek.
“I need you to be strong for me, Keira, but more importantly, I need you to be honest, because you have positioned yourself right in the heart of this maelstrom with your bargain. If it gets too much, you must tell me, because I will drop everything to get you out. Nothing, nothing , is more important than your wellbeing. I will not allow this war to break you.” His fingers stroke the side of my face as he looks at me with desperation.
“You cannot just waltz into the palace and kill Titania,” I say.
“I can and I will,” he grumbles. We both know that if he could get me out permanently, he would have done it by now.
I take a steadying breath. “I can handle whatever she throws at me. The bargain must put limits on her as well. We will not lose the throne because her brutality outweighs ours. There is more at stake here than just our right to rule. Her refusal to acknowledge the corruption will destroy us all.”
Aldrin’s eyes search my face for any hint of distress.
For signs that I cannot do what he is asking.
I give him a small smile instead. He takes a cracker from the platter, places a slice of creamy cheese on it, then tops it with a piece of red fruit, placing the entire thing in my mouth.
The pairing is rich and sweet, and slightly salty.
“If it gets too much, I will have the Assassins of Belladonna transport us into every shadow within the palace and we will slaughter them all,” he growls.“Titania. Torin. Her inner circle and every soldier who commits atrocities under her name.”
I laugh bitterly. “Titania is scared of shadows now. Every inch of the palace is lit up like daytime with fire orbs. Even the storage closets and unused staircases. The only reason you could visit my bedchamber is because none of our enemies know I have the magic to manipulate them. I can’t extinguish enough fire orbs to let in an army. The palace is too well guarded.”
“Then we will invade through the secret tunnels. The same ones you use to escape the palace.” Rage pinches his brow and scrunches his features, and still he is the most beautiful man I have ever beheld.
“We would be at a severe disadvantage.” I take a berry and pop it into his mouth.
“An invading force can only climb those narrow stairs one abreast. Titania has tripled her forces within the palace. There are too many—they will pick your soldiers off as they enter one at a time. Even if it is possible, I will not allow you to send the majority of our people to their death to get me out. The bargain won’t even allow it. ”
“The bargain won’t have an effect if I kill Titania first,” he vows.
“The High Chancellor sleeps in a vault. One built completely of stone that the Wisteria of Mythanar cannot penetrate. She does most of her business in it. There are so many guards around her at all times, I fear we would be killed before we got close enough to her.”
“Drake is always at her side—” Aldrin tries.
I cut him off. “And Drake would be dead moments after killing her. He is not a sacrifice I am willing to make.”
My mate stares at me, his eyes a little wild. “Your wellbeing is not a sacrifice I am willing to make. I will not allow emotional scars to be inflicted upon you that you have to struggle with for the rest of your life.”
A tear drops down my cheek and he quickly wipes it away with calloused fingers.
“We will not make a martyr of her. We will not sneak into the palace like rebels or assassins in the night and kill her before we expose her crimes. It could ruin our legitimacy, and we have put so much work into winning over the people. Proving to them that we are better. That cult-like following of hers needs to be broken first. They still blindly believe her lies because they benefit from them.”
Aldrin shakes his head. This is not what he wants to hear, but he knows the truth of it. “No. Not if it risks you. We can?—”
“What is the point in killing her, if it just causes the people to rise up and rip us apart?” I ask. “There is no saving this court if we die alongside her. We win the people first to neutralize the threat they pose. Many are not on our side. Somehow, she is still far too popular.”
“I do not like it when you are out of my reach.” Aldrin sits back as though struck. “I don’t even feel worthy of the crown, not when my neglect is the reason things have gotten so bad under her reign.”
“You didn’t know,” I plead with him. “Not even Cyprien knew the extent of what was happening here, and he held a position in her court and the Senate for years while you were in exile. Titania didn’t truly show her hand until she set the assassins on you, and assumed all opposition was as good as dead. ”
“I should have known. It is my job as king to know, exiled or not.” Sadness rolls off him in waves, tightening his shoulders and making them hunch inward. Self-resentment twists his stomach, creating the same mirrored sensation within mine, bleeding down the bond.
I want to fix it. Gods, I want to fix it.
There are no words that can take these most destructive, irrational fears away.I have tried countless times.
I lean forward and kiss him gently on the lips, flooding him with the love brimming in my heart for him.
My immense respect and awe at his ability to keep fighting, no matter the obstacles thrown at him or the impossible odds.
I send warmth through the bond between us and sense his soul basking in it, the iciness of his shame and doubt melting away.