Page 128 of The Serpent Prince

His green eye flashed with something like pain. “You’re bound to me forever, Imani … You’re mine, and I am yours. I don’t have to hide that truth from you or the world anymore. Everyone knows.”

“You’re wrong. I might have thought I needed the prince, but this king? We could never be anything together,” she spat back. “You threw me away just now, and you’re never getting me back.”

“You needed the prince, eh? Finally, some honesty from you.”

“I won’t deny it. We could have done great things together if we had been more honest. But … this is over. I have my own plans, and they don’t include you anymore.”

Both their secrets had shattered the fragile trust between them.

“My, you have been busy, and keeping bigger secrets than me, no doubt. What have you been working on, little elf?” he taunted her. “Now’s the time for us to practice that honesty you keep mentioning.”

“Why should I, when you plan to keep me locked away while you have trysts with whatever women you can find. I still can’t believe you’ve known we’re heartmates for almost a year,” Imani hissed. Tendrils of shadows haloed her body. They swirled around her, alive, caressing her skin, dissolving into nothing, and reappearing again. They were threatening the Niflheim king to stay away.

His expression softened, and he ignored the shadows. Brushing a strand of hair off her face, he lowered his forehead to touch hers. “We can still be together. It was too dangerous to admit it to you outright, but you’re the only female I’ve ever truly wanted.”

She recoiled at that statement. “I’m not begging for your scraps,” she hissed. “Nor will I ever be with you in chains. Now, I’m leaving. Last chance to back away from me before I make you.”

“What do you have to go home to?” Kiran snapped back. “Hm? Are you going back to Tanyl? I doubt it—you couldn’t stand him now that you’ve had me. Whatever the lies and secrets between us, we are real. Both of us together is the most real thing I’ve ever known.”

“You don’t understand yet, do you?” She pointed the Drasil in his face.

He pulled away and searched her face, a flicker of vulnerability flashing across his. “Help me understand, then. I can’t make you queen, but I wish I could. The shackles were a mistake, but I need you by my side. I will take back the Essenheim Kingdom from Tanyl, and you will get everything you want and more.”

“That is what you don’t understand. It’s not as easy as me just ‘staying by your side’ anymore. Not when you’re king. It changed everything, and I was stupid to think it wouldn’t. We have different ideas for fixing this world that don’t mix, Your Highness.” Pain was carving out her chest, making the path ready for her heart to be ripped out with the decision she would make. Imani was going to lose him, her beautiful, strange-eyed elf.

“You’re staying,” he demanded.

“Once again, I’m not, and you’re an idiot for thinking that.”

“What is waiting for you there? Look at yourself, Imani. You said it yourself that we are similar, probably even more alike than you want to admit.”

“You made us enemies when you tried to shackle me to your side and kept secrets from me.”

He jutted his chin at the doorway, still pulsating and growling behind them. “What’s this if not more secrets and lies from you?”

She backed up, a slow grin forming on her face as she put distance between them. “I’m going to let you in on one of my little secrets, and once I do, you will try to kill me. I thought I could trust you, but now I know you might actually end my life if I leave.”

“I won’t. Not if you’re here by my side.”

“You won’t let me go.”

He leaned forward, the black onyx crown glinting from the fires blazing through the crumbling holes he’d put in the throne room. “No, I won’t.”

“You think you won? You think this is over? Enjoy this moment. I’m just getting started. You came here with a mountain of knowledge about me, but now? You’ve shown me more than I need about you. You won’t get away with shackling me to your side, and next time, I won’t just hate you. I will make you wish you’d killed me today. I will gut you with a smile. I will find out what matters to you and set it on fire.”

She took another step right in front of his face. “Soon, I’ll have you by the balls, and when you’re utterly ruined and begging me to make it stop, when your people are demanding your head, tell them it’s because you thought you could take me on. Tell them it was because you are a fool and underestimated some nobody little elf.” She paused.

“I’m not giving up what I want, either, and I’m going home to get it from Tanyl.” And she would, even if it meant breaking her own heart and blackening any pieces that remained behind. Nothing would stop her.

Though many wish for good, ill is oft the mightier, Ara had said once.

“Going home? Do you want to die, is that it?” He slammed his fist into the throne. “Because you will die if you go back there. Please, listen to reason, Imani. I’m not fucking around anymore.”

“Save the begging for when you see the crown. I do love a good grovel.”

“Crown?”

“You made it no secret that you intend to invade Essenheim and control both kingdoms, to unite them again under one rule. One monarch.”