Lucien
She’s been asleep for three days.
Her wounds are mostly healed, though Alan seems to believe it a miracle that she didn’t die from the fall. Multiple broken bones, a shattered spine and ruptured spleen. But sohow, she’d healed in the three days she’d slept. Swiftly.
You think if I slapped her across the cheek, she might wake up?
I wasn’t worried. Not nearly. She always has been like a roach, and though I had been the one who called off the Selection at the sight of her falling from the cliff, claiming the deaths of nine as reason enough to barge in and grab the woman myself, that didn’t an I was worried for her.
Her importance to was dependent on what she could do for . Did she have any idea how infuriating it was to make a King wait? I’ve been waiting seventy two goddamned hours, while she has her fucking beauty sleep. I had three etings to attend, the Bane on the outskirts to visit, and a prince riding for my doors. And here I was, stuck with her.
My feet taps impatiently on the tiled floors. "Is this normal?"
The physician nods. "It might take longer. Her body needs ti. That she’s already healed is a testant to her strength--"
Irritated, I wave the old man away. "Yes, yes. She’s strong. She’s fucking amazing. Shut the door behind you, will you?"
His head bows and he scurries out the door. I might have laughed at it if I wasn’t in such a mood.
"Glaring at her isn’t going to make her wake any sooner," Eva murmurs, plucking at her nails. I can’t tell if she was hanging around Valka because I compelled her to, or because she has taken a liking to her--which doesn’t happen very often.
I flash my fangs at her. "Want to give it a try instead?"
Evadne rolls her eyes. "Gods, you’re so childish. Don’t you have places to be? Xel is standing outside, you know, with your entire schedule. It’s four pages long."
I push off the wall. "Why are you even here? I relieved you of your duties hours ago."
Her blue eyes twinkle with mischief. "Worried that I might try seduce her?" She begins making smooching noises and I grimace, disgusted. "You ever wonder why you have the won but can’t keep them? Because nobody likes a rude, grumpy, old bastard."
A sudden sharp breath from Valka has both our heads snapping towards her. Her blonde brows furrow, sweat shinning silver on her skin.
Her lashes flutter, amber eyes glazed over as she clutches the sheets, caught in what seems like a nightmare. "Luke "
Eva’s brows arch at that and she rises, straightening her dress. She casts Valka a worried look before heading for the door. "I’ll grant you so privacy." A beat. "Don’t do anything stupid. I owe her my life. And you know how much it ans to that I repay my debts."
I barely notice her step out as Valka pivots again, gripping the sheets hard enough to rip it. Her lips move, muttering words I cannot hear and against my better judgent, I lean over her bedside and lower my ear to her mouth to listen closely.
"Make it stop," she sobs. "Please."
And then, she grabs my collar with such vicious strength, I stagger forward, nearly knocking into her.
Heart thudding one beat faster than before, I turn my face to hers. And find her eyes open. They’re heavily glazed, her pupils blown wide.
She smiles. It’s the first ti she’s ever smiled at like that. In a way that didn’t breathe and promise death, and for the first ti, I notice. I notice the length of her lashes and how they fan against her cheek. The size of her nose, like a button. Her lips, the bottom fuller than the top. Kissable. Full of color. Her cheeks, rosy and pinkened. The golden halo of her hair scattered about the pillows, the small sweat on her skin slling like rich oils of jasmine.
I notice. I’ve always noticed, but this is different.
I hated Valka Ironfang from the second I t her. But I’d always thought there was a dark beauty about her. The kind that makes you lose focus and get lost in it. It didn’t help when I thought she was a man. And it sure as hell didn’t help now that her chest is pressed against mine and she is looking at like that.
Eye-fucking .
"Valka," I groan, when her hand moves from my collar to my neck, fingers threading softly, adeptly, like she’s done this a thousand tis. Unwanted, unbearable and disgusting heat sears under my skin. I start to pull away, but her thumb glides down my jaw and proceeds to run a smooth line over my lips. Carefully, almost possessively.
My breathing becos a bit jagged. Gods, but I despised the woman for making feel so damned... nervous. Like a bairn who was kissing a girl for the first ti.
"Gods, I’ve missed you," she murmurs, her voice more feminine than I’ve ever heard it.
She is hallucinating, I think, but a claw juts from her thumb, splitting my lip until I taste my own blood. "My prince," she murmurs.
I wrap a hand around her wrist to tear it off my face, but her grip suddenly tightens, a smile that isn’t at all like Valka blooming on her lips. "You do not recognize , still." She tsks once. "Sha. I do not have much ti here. But I shall have this."
Faster than I can detect--which is very fast, considering nothing ever slips past , she leans up and slants her hot mouth over mine. I pull back hard, because I am not a man who yields to being handled, but I am surprised, pleasantly, when strong calves wrap around my torso, taking by surprise as she uses my weight against and flips over.
My back crashes into the bed, jostling its fra. Valka settles on my groin, eyes burning hot as flas. "Don’t fight ." She leans forward, small fingers resting against my neck. "You want this. You have always wanted ."
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