silence for a second. No wonder their feud ran so deep. But who was I to judge? They were Fae, territorial and ruthless. Any excuse to fight made them happy.
“The former king of Winter and Summer raped my sister before tearing her apart,” Rydstrom said, his sapphire eyes burning with old hatred.
I couldn’t blame him for that rage. I’d tear anyone apart if they laid a hand on my family.
“Did Baron and Rowan know why you killed their father?” I asked quietly.
“I never saw any reason to explain myself,” Rydstrom said coldly. “They aren’t my match in war.”
When it came to arrogance, no one could beat a Fae. But for once I couldn’t scoff, because I knew the pain of losing someone I loved. And the agony of Rydstrom’s loss had never gone away, never healed despite the passage of time.
I rose from the chair and stepped closer. His eyes tracked my movement, and his shoulders relaxed slightly when I brushed my fingers on his muscled forearm. “I’m sorry, Ryds.”
“I’ll be more than happy to remove both Baron and Rowan from your path,” Rydstrom said viciously as he stood. “It’s probably time to do so.”
“No, no, no!” I jerked my hand away, my fingers tingling from touching his skin. “You aren’t going to remove anyone without my approval. I’m not going over all the security details again. And if you boys fight each other, my family and I will end up being collateral damage. So quit the pissing contest and try to get along until this shit storm of bounty hunting is over.”
He narrowed his eyes at me, his shadow hissing and rippling at his feet, and I suddenly realized that no one had dared to talk to him that way. I took one step back and stopped, lifting my chin. I wasn’t going to back down, especially when my family’s and my life were in jeopardy.
“You might be their king, but you aren’t my king,” I said firmly. “I’m a woman of independent mind and I don’t bow to anyone. I don’t want the three of you to fight over me. I’m not some kind of juicy bone. I’m my own person and always will be. If you want my friendship, then you’ll respect me and my wish.”
“Friendship?” he asked, frowning deeply at me as if he’d never heard the word before.
I gazed up at him. “Yeah, friendship. An amiable state of mutual trust and support between equals. Have you never had a friend before?”
He stalked closer, heat swirling in his sapphire eyes. “Amiable.”
I narrowed my eyes, about to tell him off for repeating my words. But before I could, he grabbed my waist and crushed me against his chest, then dipped his head and slanted his mouth over mine.
Pleasure raced through me with a pungent bite. His scent of night sky and cinders filled my nostrils, and then I forgot the world all around me.
The kiss was midnight fire and full of desire.
I’d never been kissed like that, though I’d claimed hundreds of kisses from many lovers. But this kiss didn’t belong to the mortal world. It didn’t just make my toes curl, my breasts tender, and my pussy clench. It made my whole body want to burn with pure flame until I had nothing left.
Wrapping my arms around his neck, I kissed him back with a fierce hunger I didn’t realize had been in me all along, dormant and waiting for the right person to strike the match.
Heat flowed in me, gathering in my groin. A primal, feral need to claim and be claimed roared through me, like a new, wild Evelina yearned to be born. As hunger and lust beat in my every fiber, I felt the emerging of fangs as if I had them, too.
No human could possess such an intense feeling and pleasure that burned like a small sun. The boundaries of my senses leapt to a much wider radius than before as the limit of my shell lifted, like that fine moment when my shadow fire had roared alive and blasted out of me to attack the Demonca.
I climbed onto Rydstrom, craving him, wanting him, needing to make him mine and fuck him. This was insanity. This was mad fire. This would lead to destruction.
But I no longer cared.
The Night King lifted me, and my legs immediately clamped around his hard, narrow waist. One large hand held my bottom, the other fisting my lush golden hair.
At his dominating urge, I opened my lips.