Cold Queen - K Webster Page 0,48
his head my way. “If she were mine, she’d be laid up in a tent resting as she grows bigger with her pregnancy.”
Ryke’s warmth envelops me from behind and he kisses the top of my head. Heat travels to my stomach where he touches our own little who’s growing inside. “Imagine if I’d told my queen she had to stay locked away in a castle while I did everything for her.”
Danser groans. “Valari is not my queen. She’s not anything to me.”
“She’s your fellow soldier in the Bloodstone army,” I remind him, loving the way he rolls his eyes in a blatant disrespectful way. If I learned anything from Ryke, it’s that I love a challenge from those closest to me. It makes things more interesting. Entertaining.
“Only a soldier because you commanded it so.” Danser’s voice drips in sarcasm. “My queen.”
Ryke chuckles and then sets Danser’s boots on fire. Danser scowls as he stomps out the blaze in the snow.
“A couple of children,” Danser grumbles as he storms off. “I serve a couple of children.”
As soon as he’s gone, I look up through the trees at Castle Highland. Another day’s worth of travel and we’ll be there.
“They’ll be safe here while we forge ahead?” I ask, turning to look at Ryke.
“They’ll have to be. We can’t storm a castle full of The Untouchables with a bunch of fussy children in tow. I’ve already instructed some of the older men to stay back and care for them. The younger, stronger ones we’ll need.” His eyes drop to my stomach and worry clouds his amber eyes.
“Are you going to ask me to stay back?” I challenge, lifting my chin.
His lips curl up on one side in a devilishly handsome way. “I wouldn’t dream of it, Punisher.”
Ryke
Our plan is one of surprise. They have to know we’re coming, but they’re expecting an extravagant attack. To storm the front gate. They aren’t expecting for us to climb in the windows and slay them while they sleep. I glance over at Elzira, who stands near a window. The moonlight shines down on her and I take a moment to admire her beauty.
At one time, her eyes were sunken in and her bones protruded. Her lips and fingers and skin were blue. Even her hair was turning blue. My cruel queen was dying at the hands of others. Now, she is strong and her body has filled out, especially since she carries our child. Her once icy-blond-and-blue-streaked hair has changed. Dark strands of black are mixed in with the blond. At first, I was worried something terrible was happening to her, but Mazon assured me it’s because fire courses through her veins. Our firstborn is a fire maker.
I storm over to my bride and kiss her hard enough to steal her breath. She threads her fingers in my hair, giving me a soft look that’s usually reserved for me when we’re alone and I have her thighs wrapped around my head.
“What is it?” she whispers.
“If I die today,” I rumble. “Know that every second with you was the ultimate gift.”
“Whoever kills you will have to meet my wrath.” Her plump lips curl into a smile. “Death by decapitation seems too easy. Perhaps this time I’ll freeze them from the inside out.”
I nip at her fat lip. “It gets me hard when you tell me how you’ll get your vengeance over my death, Punisher.”
“You always were a twisted one,” she teases. Then, her expression grows somber. “And what about me? What will you do to the one who kills your queen and your unborn child?”
Heat blazes through me, my eyes searing into hers. “I’ll burn the whole damn world to the ground. If you can’t exist in my world, then no one else is allowed to.”
My cruel queen smiles. “Our love is destructive.”
“Only for those who attempt to step between it.”
I’m about to throw responsibility into the wind and take my queen right now, but Danser hisses at me that we must make our move now. I hoist Elzira up and push her through the window, before quietly following her inside. At the base of the castle, it’s empty. The room is silent other than an incinerator in the corner that glows red from the square opening. It’ll only be a matter of time before whoever mans the incinerator returns.
When I turn around, twenty men, including Danser and Valari, have slid into the room with us. Valari walks over to me and points at a pile of