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He keeps talking. “Though she wasn’t satisfied, she had her moments when she would be bubbly and flirtatious. Usuallywhen she wanted something, but still. I thought we would eventually be happy in our own way. And even though it was forbidden during that reign of the last king and I knew I would lose my place as Warchief, I wanted to Claim her, to make her my one and only. But every time she would reject me. She accused me of wanting to put a leash on her and I could never change her mind.”
That at least I can understand. Claiming seems so . . . final. So unescapable. I can see why it would scare the other woman. But I keep my thoughts to myself.
Verrick pauses and I can tell this next part is the hardest for him to say. “Then . . . one day . . . I woke up, and she was gone. Her jewels were missing and so was her warbeast. She had left me. But that wasn’t the worst . . . my clan treasures were missing too . . . the treasures of my ancestors she had been trying to take in the first place. She had taken them, along with the riches I had given her, and disappeared.”
I gasp, surprised at the betrayal, even though I had been expecting it in the story. The gifts he had given her, I could see, but even the clan treasures? Who had his mate been that she could be so cold?
Verrick’s arm comes around me, pulling me down to his chest. “I didn’t go after her. I just . . . let her go. If she hated being with me so much, I would not stop her. But more than that . . . I was embarrassed. My mate had shamed me in front of my entire clan. I failed to protect that which was most precious to us and put a viper in our midst. I was rightfully challenged for control of the clan, for the title of Warchief, and I considered letting myself be killed rather than live with such humiliation.”
“Oh, Verrick.”
He shakes his head. “Obviously, I decided to meet the challengers and I won. I decided that I had been given a gift in the form of experience. That I had been taught a hard, but necessary lesson: women, especially human women, could not be trusted. I resolved to keep my distance for the rest of my life, to make my duty to my clan my only mate.”
The weight of what he is saying settles on me and I pull back, looking him in the eyes. “And then you met a human woman that wouldn’t stop pursuing you, no matter how much distance you resolved to put between us. Verrick, can you forgive me? I must have reminded you of such a hard time in your life and treated it like a game.”
He pulls me back to him, our naked skin pressing against each other. “Truth be told, you captivated me from the first. You are completely unlike Lucy; thoughtful and cheerful, expecting nothing in return. You flirt because you want me, not something that I can give you. The only thing that is the same between you is the fact that you are both human. That was enough to send me running. Honestly . . . you scared me.”
Verrick pulls me up and takes my lips in a heated kiss. When we part, I am breathless and can see the lust in his eyes. “I am glad you did not let me run from you, temptress. I’ve quite enjoyed being caught in your claws.”
“My claws, eh?” I respond, scratching my blunt nails down his chest. He groans and I see his hardness swell with readiness under the blanket. “Shall we see how sharp my claws can be?”
Verrick laughs quietly and places a kiss on my forehead.
“Later, temptress,” he says against my hair, “You need rest. But tonight, when we are alone, my body is yours for the taking.”
Iamtired. So, obediently, I nod and curl into his side. I’ve always been a fast sleeper, but here in the wee hours, I slide asleep even more effortlessly than usual.
And my dreams have never been sweeter.
Chapter 15
Verrick
Iawaken a scant few hours after falling asleep, but I feel energized. Hopeful. Younger, even. Like the weight of years has fallen off of my shoulders, and it is because of the beauty drooling on my shoulder. She did not have the presence of mind to put on her silken wrap and so her hair has gone a bit wild in her sleep, but it doesn’t matter. She is still the loveliest thing I have ever beheld, and I have seen the queen, who was blessed by fairies with beauty.
I stretch lightly, but the slight movement jostles Pellia, who grumpily burrows back into my side. “Go back to sleep,” she groggily grouches at me, screwing her eyes tight.
“It’s morning. Late, I believe.”
She groans, then suddenly sits up with a gasp. “No! Late morning? I had another meeting with Antony scheduled.” Pellia bolts out of our furs, frenetic with energy, before seeing herself in the mirror and moaning with discouragement.
The human male’s name on her lips sours my good mood. “You take an eager interest in pleasing that male.”
Pellia merely snorts in reply, massaging some of her sweet-smelling cream into her scalp and fixing her braids. “I take an eager interest in not offending anyone with power to make me regret it.”
“If he harmed or bothered you in any way, it would be the last thing he did.” I vow, sitting up and stretching out the kinksin my shoulders.
My lover meets my eyes in the mirror, amusement sparkling in her own as she lines them with kohl and applies a golden powder. “That is very sweet of you to say, but all I need to do to manage Antony is meet with him on time and flatter him a little to his face. He’s always been easy to deal with.”
“So you know him well, then?”
“Very well,” she replies, walking nude across the tent to get a new dress from her trunks. The beautiful regent bends over and I am treated to an excellent view. Too excellent. I clear my throat lightly and push down on my unruly cock that has woken up again.
“How do you know him?”
“That is a tale for another time,” she says, pulling on a shift and shimmying into another gown. It’s a beautiful forest green that reminds me of the trees back home, near my clan lands. I am suddenly hit with a longing to bring Pellia to see them.
Like magic, in just a few moments, Pellia is ready to leave, having transformed from rumpled sleeper to radiant regent in the blink of an eye.
