Page 58 of The Nightmare Queen

He places both his hands on the edge of the chaise caging my head in when he leans down.“Mm. Merely observing, Your Highness.”These proximity run-ins with him are becoming more and more frequent.“We need to talk.”

I raise my brows, “about?”

“Vellar.”

My interest piques. “Oh?”

He stalls for a moment, pulling his lip between his teeth and chewing on it. “There is going to need to be a plan.” He says.

“A plan for?” I ask.

He taps the rune on my wrist "These.”

“Care to elaborate?” I press.

He huffs, lifting his chin up so that I’m staring at the stubble on the underneath of his jawline. “We have red angry runes on our wrists. At some point someone is going to notice.”

He doesn’t give me anymore than that, forcing me to chime in. “Oh-kay…so we need a plan for what? To explain it?” His head bobs up and down. “We can’t just tell them to fuck off and mind their own business?”

Rorin tilts his face back down, his expression disapproving as he says, “no.”

Damn, I think. “Alright…any suggestions?”

He tilts his gaze back up. “One. But you’ll hate it.” When I don’t answer, he takes that as his cue to keep rambling. “We’ll have to be convincing, they’re not easy to conceal, and if questions are raised…well it’s just better if we stick closely to one another. And that closeness will most likely raise other questions—” Alarm bells start going off in my head as he explains this plan.

“Don’t you dare suggest wesleeptogether, princeling. Please tell me you aren’t suggesting that?!” I shriek.

He shakes his head giving me a moment of relief, “well no notliterally.But I think it may be in our best interests to make them think we entered into an agreement as a result of…passion.”

Disgust churns in my stomach. “A result ofpassion?You’re right. I hate this idea.” He mumbles something along the lines of “I knew you would.”But I can’t be bothered with the snide comment as I’m still stuck on the suggestion that we did this based on our being romantically involved. “I don’t make decisions based on…passions.”

“You do too. Just a different kind of passion. If anyone asks about the runes we can spin a story of us falling for each other. That we faced death during our travels and in the heat of the aftermath we made promises to one another. Or after I almost lost you when on the battlefield we decided to commit then, as a means of reassurance to one another.”

He sounds completely ridiculous. If his parents believe it, they’re denser than I assumed.Oh gods, what if my own men start to believe it.“Will it keep them from retaliating for you bringing me into your kingdom? Into your battle?”

“No, but it may delay them long enough for me to get you back on Obsidian soil.”

I look at his face.His stupid chiseled face, that has his stupid smug smirk on it.“I hate the idea and I hate you for suggesting it.” He stares down at me, waiting for a yes or a no. “Fine.” I state pushing out from underneath him.

“You concede so easily?” His tone surprised. “You realize this will mean a bit of acting on both our parts. They’ll need to be convinced that we are mad for one another.” I grunt in understanding.Obviously.

“Bleeding fucking gods.” I groan. He takes a seat on the table in front of me, resting his forearms on the tops of his thighs.

He looks at me intently, his face growing serious. “I have to ask. What made you so…”

“Charming, exciting, alluring…” I suggest.

Rorin’s brow pulls tight, “no.”Oh.I think. “Pitiless. Merciless. Heartless. I saw her life too, through your mind. You did a shit job at keeping me out.” His words wash over me like cold water it's such a drastic change of the subject.

“Did you want me to have mercy on the woman?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “I didn’tsay that.”

“Then what are you saying?”

Rorin doesn’t answer me, so I choose to invade his space this time. I move off the couch to stand in front of him. His face is at chest level for me with our height difference. “This is what you asked for.” I murmur, dragging a finger against his pulse. “If you wanted merciful, if you wanted compassionate, or even a peaceful way to handle things you would’ve never knocked on my door.”

He swallows thickly, his throat bobbing with the movement. “So you tortured her for being affiliated? For being a potential threat? Or because she came after you?” He looks at me earnestly his rough hand coming up to his throat and wrapping around my fingers.

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