Page 105 of Shadow Kissed

“Ooh! A respectable double two and a three, seven points!” Tyria says, gathering up the dice and handing them to Raegal.

He holds the dice to his lips and kisses them with a mocking smirk before he releases them, and they bounce across the wooden table.

A two

A three

A four

“Nine points!” Tyria announces and our table break into applause and commiserate me. Raegal moves back in his seat and with a lopsided grin he points at his lap.

“I’m waiting,” he croons and waits with that cock-sure smirk on his face.

Gritting my teeth, I stand to my feet and drop myself down on his lap rather unceremoniously and he grimaces. He soon gets me back though, placing his hands on my hips and tugging me further into his lap.

“Comfortable?”

I breathe through my nose and glare at him. “I’m glad you’re enjoying this.”

He releases a dark chuckle. “Oh, I am indeed. Now, I’d like some nuts, please.” He gestures at the small bowl on our table. I’m half tempted to pick the bowl up and drop them over his head. I glower at him as I reach across the table and grab a handful of nuts. I move them to his mouth, and he leans back and shakes his head. “One at a time, terror. I don’t want to choke after all.”

“Yes, that would be a terrible shame,” I reply dryly, with a false smile. I hold out a single nut and as he leans forward to take it, I snatch it back away from him and he quirks a brow, his grey eyes fixed on me.

“Play nice, Eretreya. No one likes a sore loser.”

I furrow my brow. “I’ll make you sore if you don’t take the damned nut.”

Slowly, he leans forward and seals his mouth around my fingers, and slowly sucks the nut into his mouth. I follow the movement with far too much interest and shake my head to knock some sense into me.

“Delicious,” he says, licking his lips and giving me a knowing smile.

I huff, and folding my arms across my chest, face away from him. Our table occupants are oblivious to our little display as Tyria is challenging Jasiel to an arm wrestle. This should be interesting.

Ispend the rest of the evening sitting on his gods forsaken lap. The heat of his body surrounding me and his scent enveloping me and making it hard for me to concentrate on any of the conversation and frivolity going on around us. Every time I feel his breath on my neck and face I shiver, and every time he adjusts his position, his thighs press against my bottom. I felt torn between slapping him across the face for purposefullyattempting to torment and distract me and being half tempted to wrap my arms around his neck and ask him to take me somewhere we can be alone.

Just before midnight, Jasiel and Raegal escort us back to the mansion. We ask to walk back so we can take in the valley's beauty under the blanket of the stars. The krim has left me feeling merry and relaxed. When I fall into bed and he joins me shortly after, I don’t protest when Raegal pulls my body against his and I fall into a peaceful slumber.

40

REYA

“If you strike right here, with a sharp jab, it should pierce his heart, and then you twist sharply to embed it.”

I’m at the rebels’ hideout and Corlan has me in front of a dummy of a man made of straw. He hands me the crystal stake, and I get used to the feel in my hands, turning my wrists this way and that

“Okay, have a go,” he suggests, stepping back to give me some space. I am aware of Arkynn and Izan’s watching eyes behind me.

“Forget it’s a person, Reya”, I whisper to myself. This man stands for everything you hate. He stands between you and your freedom. Of a life of your own choosing.

With a cry, I lift the stake and drive it into the chest of the dummy. Remembering Corlan’s instructions, I twist it and drive it deeper.

“Perfect,” he praises, giving me a brief applause. “Just don’t hesitate Reya. As soon as he is in front of you, make your move.”

I nod my head. I can do this. I can take a life. How bad can it be?

I remove the stake from where it’s impaled in the straw man’s heart, and I have another go. No one will have a clue. No one will expect a petite Shadow Kissed female to be the one to try and kill the heir to the realm. His guards will be watching for threats elsewhere in the crowd. I remove the stake, and I hand it over to Izan, who places it carefully away. It is getting late, and I need to be getting back before Raegal arrives.

For the past two nights, the nightmares have returned. Each time they are the same, thousands of voices whispering to me and overwhelming my senses. Last night, the mutts’ howls persisted into the early hours, reminding us of the lurking danger outside the valley. I found myself last night waking to their howls last night, and I went out onto the balcony. Closing my eyes, I felt like I was there with them. In my nightmare, I’d walked down the mansion stairs and out into the valley, pushing open those intimidating stone doors with just my hands and walking right out to where they waited. One large mutt had stalked towards me, and I recognised it as the one from the night Raegal found me in the forest. It dipped its head and when I reached the creature; I stroked him, and he purred like a cat. The mutt nudged my hand with his head and ran his side against my leg before he’d turned and walked towards the forest. He looked back over his shoulder and waited until I fell in step behind him. I watched in awe as all the other mutts fell into line behind me. They didn’t inflict any harm upon me, and, in my dreams, I didn’t have any fear or concern towards them. If anything, I’d experienced a sense of protection. Despite the urge inside me to go to the mutts, Raegal’s nightly presence in my bed, cloaking me in shadows, made it impossible. It was so hard to explain, but it was like something was unfurling inside of me.

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