Ruins of Chaos (Legacy of the Nine Realms #3) - Amelia Hutchins Page 0,67

kiss me and seal the deal. You better make it believable, and I better feel your soul touching mine when I taste your lips.”

“I’m not finished negotiating with you.” His mouth opened and closed before he smiled, sitting back, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Let’s hear it, Aria.” Knox pushed his glass in front of me, smiling, running his thumb over his lip as I followed the path. I accepted the whisky, sipping it while watching him over the rim. I set the glass down, sucking my lip between my teeth, causing his eyes to lower.

“I’m not sleeping with you,” I announced, and his hand dropped from his mouth. “Not because I don’t want to, but because mentally, I haven’t healed, Knox. I am strong and lethal, but I’m only twenty-five years old and nearly been raped twice since coming here.” I reached up, wiping a tear, looking away from the pain that filled his eyes. Exhaling slowly, I struggled to contain the pain the words caused.

“I will help you, but not if innocent lives are in the way. I’m not willing to carry that blood on my soul. I’ll never stop trying to escape because I’m not a fucking pet that you can cage. If you intend to mark me, I have to agree before you do it,” I continued, noting the way his eyes narrowed at my last condition. “I’m not saying it won’t happen. I just have to be ready for you to do that to me again.”

“Because it’s so fucking vile?” Knox snorted, grabbing the bottle of whiskey to down it while staring at me.

“No, Knox. Because it’s a significant thing for me to allow you to mark me,” I whispered as he paused with the bottle halfway back to the table. “To you, it may be a mark of ownership or alpha badassery to claim my body. To me, it seemed deeper and more meaningful. It meant something to me to allow your mark on my flesh. I liked it there, knowing it was yours, but you changed that. Removing it felt wrong, but leaving it there wasn’t right either. Not after what you did to me, thinking the worst of me and what you thought I could do,” I said carefully, lowering my eyes from his. “I felt as if I was ripping out a part of my soul when I removed it from my shoulder.” My hands fidgeted in front of me as he exhaled.

“It meant more to me, too,” Knox admitted after a moment had passed in silence.

“Deal?” I lifted my tear-filled eyes to hold his from the admission that his mark had meant more than just an ownership tag. I hadn’t expected him to say it, and his words sent warmth flooding through me.

“I’m not done,” he said with a playful smile on his lips.

I snorted, scrunching my nose while I held his gaze. “What else could you possibly want from me?”

“Beltane is approaching. I want you to be my partner throughout the festivities. I want one night where you lower your shields and give yourself to me. I want the real, unguarded, unprotected version of Aria Primrose Hecate. No walls between us for twenty-four hours. Just you and me, with no impending war, no future, and no past between us,” he whispered, his eyes holding something I hadn’t ever seen—fear of rejection.

“You don’t get turned down often being King, do you?” I asked, and he covered his mouth before retrieving the other glass, filling them both.

“I’ve never been told no in my entire life until I met you, Aria.” His eyes held mine, watching me chew my lip silently.

“Really? That explains so much,” I laughed soundlessly.

His lips twitched, and his head shook as he placed my glass in front of me. “I’m the King, and no one says no to a king or a future king.” He held out his hand, and I stared at it for a moment.

“I’m considering it still. I have conditions.”

“You’re a better negotiator than Killian. Maybe you should do his damn job.”

“One day with no walls, no ghosts, and since it is Beltane and things—happen during Beltane,” his smile turn wolfish while his eyes sparkled with laughter, “if we end up in bed together, it has to be my choice. I have to be ready for it, mentally and physically.” I stood, slowly moving to where Knox sat, straddling his lap. I lifted my arms, resting them around his neck as my fingers pushed through