AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Your magic is nothing short of incredible. How is your flying?” he asked.
The baker appeared with a tray of steaming buns dripping white frosting over the sides, and my mouth watered as heplaced them between Kazimir and me. “Thank you,” I grinned at him, and the baker flashed me a wink before disappearing behind the counter.
“Flying is much better. The strength training I’ve been doing with Ruslan has helped tremendously.” I plucked a sticky bun from the tray, my fingers immediately coated in gooey frosting, and took a large bite, moaning as the flavors melted over my tongue.
Kazimir’s eyes darkened, sending a shiver down my spine, as he watched me pull the treat away from my lips. “Good,” he mumbled, reaching a finger to stop a line of frosting tumbling down my chin. I froze as he swiped at it, leaving his finger dangling between us with an unasked request. I swallowed down my food, breath catching as I debated my next move.
Do I lick it off and keep this peace between us, or do I show my suspicion of him and risk that sinister aura returning?
I must have hesitated a moment too long because Kazimir brought the finger to his lips, nostrils flaring as he inhaled and sucked the icing from his finger, emerald orbs trained on me. “I still remember how you taste.” His voice grew husky, and I nearly dropped my cinnamon roll as he ensnared me with his words. “The most divine wine I’d ever tasted. I could drink from you for hours.”
My core heated under his unrelenting gaze. “Kazimir, I–”
He shook his head, interrupting me. “Eat. I have things to say.”
Warily, I brought the treat to my lips, taking a smaller bite as I waited for his next words.
He braced his forearms on the table, flexing his fingers before exhaling and shaking his head as if to clear it. “When Ruslan tore you from my arms, I felt like an absolute failure. I’d broken my promise to you, to always keep you safe. My father told me with his dying breath to go to you, my mate. I went outof my mind that night, pushing Fek to his absolute limit as we raced through the woods surrounding Vaenor seeking you. I’d have given my life to see that you were never chained again, and I worried for you every day, because I knew being bound again would end in your death. I vowed to myself,to my father, that I’d save you again. I was too thick-headed to see that we were mates before that night, and I’d give anything to travel back in time and accept our bond before you were kidnapped again.” His throat worked, and he looked at his folded hands before returning his intense gaze to me.
The roll turned to ash in my mouth, and I barely managed to swallow it down around the guilt lodged there. “Kazimir, there’s something you need to know.”
His dark brows pinched together. “What is it?”
“Have you heard the Goddess’s Prophecy?” I reached for a napkin to wipe my fingers, freeing them of frosting.
“I have. The Goddess spoke to us on the day of the funerals at Este Castle.” Kazimir leaned forward, his attention wholly focused on me, and the air dropped a dozen degrees around us.
“The original language of the prophecy called for two mates.”
The words were like a fallen glass between us, shattering the tentative peace we’d formed.
Kazimir growled, a sound so low it was barely audible, but it sent goosebumps across my skin all the same. His fingers dug into the table so hard the wood splintered, and onyx flashed across his eyes. “I will not share you with that motherfucker.”
I shook my head, leaning back to free myself of Kazimir’s space and throwing up an invisible mental shield to block out the rage he emanated. “I must choose one.”
If my first words were like shattered glass, those four were like an explosion. Kazimir shoved to his feet, knocking his chair and the table behind him over with the force of his fury. His fists landed on the table in front of me with a thud that made the trayjump, and he towered over me, mere inches from my face. “Then you will choose me.”
My body tensed as I prepared to fight for my life. I was a survivor, and more than that, I was an insidious bloom, and my thorns were well hidden. I reached out a tentative hand, placing it atop Kazimir’s and siphoning away his anger, so subtly he did not notice. The natural progression of his breathing indicated it was working, until he shook his head then backed away and straightened the mess he’d made. “I’m so sorry, Izidora. I don’t know what came over me. You know I would never hurt you.”
But he had, in fact, hurt me the previous night.
Was it intentional? Or was he so crazed from our separation that he no longer had a grip over his actions? Or was it something else, something connected to this new, sinister oiliness that had arrived with him?
It was time for my questions to be answered.
“I have some things to say of my own,” I pronounced, sitting taller in my seat and puffing out my chest. Kazimir resettled in his chair, lifting a cinnamon roll to his mouth and taking a bite.
“I think you manipulated me to get what you wanted. You planted the idea of taking the throne in my head, telling me that King Zalan would marry me off the second we arrived at Este Castle. You used my feelings for you to get what you wanted, and that is not okay.”
Kazimir only chewed, not denying my accusation. I ground my teeth and continued. “I told you I did not want children, and yet you did not provide me with contraception, or even tell me that was a possibility. Why?”
His eyes widened a fraction before he schooled his face again. I reached a tendril of my magic toward his mind, sneaking through the ropey cage, and was met with a flash of his desire to impregnate me. I recoiled, bile rising in my throat, and fisted my cloak in my hands.
“Are you going to say anything?” I snapped.
He placed his roll on a plate, then wiped his hands before speaking. “My love for you is why I encouraged you to take the throne. Why is that such a bad thing?”
“Because you made me think it was my idea! I couldn’t read, and my only contact with Fae outside of my guards and keepers was you and the Nighthounds. I trusted what you told me, but as it turns out, I shouldn’t have trusted a word you said. Now answer my other question.” How could he not understand what a massive betrayal all of that was? I was ignorant, naive, and relied on everyone to tell me about the world. In fact, my entire world had been them once they rescued me. How was I supposed to know what I didn’t know?
