Masked Prince - Nikolai Andrew Page 0,59
the choice wouldn’t be up to her. “Your enemy has breached the gates. If they get their hands on you, I’ll be powerless to stop them. You know what’ll happen. There’s probably a hundred barrels of tar near boiling, every goddamned one of them with your name on it.”
She hesitated, her mouth tight. I knew she was going to pick death; I fucking knew it. It was the easiest way out. But before she could say the word, the head of her guards—the one she’d been screwing for so long—threw down his sword.
“Mercy,” he said, dropping to his knees in front of me, with hands raised. “We both beg for mercy, your grace. Please, show us mercy.”
Patara wasn’t used to being spoken for, and she didn’t like it one little fucking bit.
“You cowardly piece of shit!” She roared at him, spit flying.
“Mercy it is,” I said, pulling Iris close. She looked up at me, relief in her beautiful eyes. As I looked at her, I knew it was knowing her that had given me any mercy at all in that moment. She’d seen enough, suffered enough, and I would never have let her see me take out my vengeance in such a brutal and cold-blooded way.
I pressed a long kiss to her forehead and breathed out all the tension that had gripped me since Patara had shown her face. My Iris was alive. My Iris was safe. I had my reason to live again.
“Take the queen to the dungeons,” I said, and my guards snatched her up off the ground. “Make sure she’s unharmed. And weld the gate shut.”
As my men went about securing the queen’s hands behind her back, Iris looked up at me.
“There are people down there in her dungeons. They need to be freed.”
Fuck, she was so beautiful. I hadn’t even let myself realize how much I needed her. But I wasn’t whole without her. Not even fucking close. I swept her hair off of her cheek, brushing the curve of her neck with my fingertips. “You tell them.”
She searched my face. “I couldn’t. I don’t…I’m not…”
“Tell them,” I told her, lifting my eyebrow, warning her, teasing her: Don’t make me tell you again.
“I’m no princess,” she said, shaking her head, looking embarrassed. “I can’t give orders to your guards.”
“You’re no princess, that’s for damned sure,” I told her. She looked absolutely fucking puzzled, but I didn’t leave her in the dark for long. “Pretty soon, you’ll be my wife, and that makes you the future queen. So you might as well get used to giving orders, baby. Starting now.”
Iris blinked several times, in disbelief. “Me?” she asked, looking at me like I must be joking. “Your wife?”
I was a lot of things right then—relieved, in love, fucking aching to be inside her. But one thing I wasn’t was joking.
“He’s about to put that crown on me,” I said, looking back at my father, who was looking as healthy and happy as I’d seen him in ages. “And when he does, it’s up to me who I marry. Got it?”
She bit her lip and a red blush flooded her cheeks. “Yes, my King,” she whispered.
Never had a title sounded sexier on anybody’s lips. “Fuck yes,” I growled into her ear.
Iris turned to my guards, still locked in my embrace, and said, “Please, free all the prisoners that Lady Patara has in the dungeons. And take special care of the old smuggler. I’d like to know where he goes to recover.”
“Yes, my lady,” answered my men. And off they went, with Patara kicking and shrieking like the banshee that she was.
Once the crowd let go of its bloodlust and we restored order to the castle, Iris and I took our place at the coronation stone. When my father placed the crown on me, declaring me King, the crowds exploded in cheers.
Iris tightened her grip on my hand, glancing up at me, lifting her chin. She was proud, but I was even prouder to have her by my side. It was fucking bizarre to think that I was the one they were cheering for, but there it was. With her hand in mine, we knelt together before my father, as I swore to protect the kingdom and everyone in it.
“Especially you,” I promised her, as we bowed before my father, the crowd roaring its approval. “More than anybody else, I promise to protect you. My life is yours. I am yours. Forever.”
Chapter 20
Iris
Randal’s father turned to me outside the