The King of Hearts - Jovee Winters Page 0,52
me.
She truly feared for me.
And for the first time ever I began to fear too.
If she believed it so deeply, then this must be true. My life was in great peril. Of course, no sane being would keep a woman locked up as he had. Of course, he wouldn’t refuse to tell me or show me who he really was unless he had something to hide.
Gods, I’d been such a dim-witted fool.
“Use it, Psyche,” Adelia hissed, “Please.”
Then she too stood and I knew by her look that I would never see her again in this life. This was goodbye.
My sisters had nothing to gain from lying to me. They had not come asking me for jewels, or wealth, or power. Of course, they were telling the truth.
I did not wipe away the tears as they fell, I simply nodded.
I would not be played for a weak and helpless damsel ever again.
I was lying in bed when I felt his return.
The scent of the sky overwhelmed me. I blinked, feeling sick at my soul. I’d waited hours for his return, my mind flipping between incredulity that I could be so naïve, to denial about my sister’s story. How could such a wicked man be so convincingly in love?
But what did I know of love really?
“You are more lovely than all the stars in the heavens. Then Aphrodite herself,” he whispered, voice roughened by desire.
And though my body trembled, yearned for his touch, my heart ached with a pain that felt like I would die from it.
His hand was on my cheek just a moment later.
“My Psyche, you are unwell. I can feel it in your soul. What is the matter?”
He had such an uncanny ability at understanding my moods. He always had. Further proving my sister’s words true. He had to be a sorcerer of some great power to do so.
I swallowed the thick ball in my throat and shook my head. “I…I feel unwell, Phin.”
The endearment slipped off my tongue so easily and I wanted to weep. I loved him. With every fiber of my being I loved him. I wanted him to take me into his arms, I wanted him to make love to me. Slowly. Tenderly. With the stars above us and nothing but sky beneath us, as he sometimes would do.
I wanted to feel his thick and heavy cock slide deep inside of me and I wanted to feel secure in his arms. Loved.
But I was scared now. Scared of who he really was. Scared because of all the lies, all the secrets.
I could feel the could cold iron beneath my pillow, burning me, mocking me. Could I actually do it?
“Do you love me?” I whispered. The words exploded from deep inside my soul.
I heard his gasp and then… his mouth was on mine. But he wasn’t taking. He was giving. I swear, but I could feel something like the sun sliding down my tongue. I could feel the rush of wind billowing through my body. Touching him was magical. It was… magical… he’d concocted that potion, that terrible potion that’d made me an abomination to all men around me. He’d created a garden full of delights that existed nowhere else on the earth.
He was a sorcerer.
He truly was.
Adelia was right.
“Something has happened,” he whispered urgently. “I feel you moving away from me. In spirit. In mind. Your heart is so far from me.”
Laughter that sounded like sobs spilled from me. “You lied to me, Phineas. We are not wed. I am a fallen woman. You’ve betrayed my trust.”
“No. No.” I felt him move, felt him crawl into bed with me. “We are wed. I promise you.”
“You lie. My sisters told me the truth. That was no priest who joined us, just a charlatan. Only a priest or a god could truly unite us and since Aphrodite did not, there can only be one truth. We are no—”
His finger slid over my mouth. His words were rushed, panicked. “I vow to you by the darkness that binds that we are joined. Man and wife.”
“You are not a god that could do so.” My voice cracked and I couldn’t contain the tears. He’d lied and still he lied.
“Please, please, my Psy—”
“No, do not call me that. Tell me who you are. Tell me the truth, right now, Phineas—” I laughed, the sound was high pitched and even slightly deranged, “of course, that’s not even your true name, is it? I know nothing of you. Nothing. Give me one