Page 31 of Queen of the Crimson Throne

“I went back to the witch?—”

“Even when I asked you not to?” The words came out harsher than I intended. “For fucks sake, Luka, I knew you could be reckless but—this—” I shook my head. “This is a whole new level.”

“Can you blame me, though? I did it for you. I needed answers and I got them.”

“At what cost? What was the cost of those answers? Was it the witch who gave you those injuries?”

He rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. “No it wasn’t the witch, I’ll get to that—just let me explain.”

“Fine.” I huffed as I continued to pace.

“Can you stop that?”

“Pacing is the only thing keeping me from strangling you right now.”

“Lennox, please.” Stars above, there they were again. Those words.

“Fine.” I sat myself on one of the chairs in the small sitting area across from the bed.

Luka stood, the toned muscles of his chest moving and flexing as he made his way to the sitting room, sitting in the chair across from me. My fingers itched to run along the defined ridges of his chest. I shook my head, instead focusing on the lines of his tattoo that peaked over his shoulder.

“Can you put a shirt on?”

Luka smirked, the action warming my insides to a dangerous temperature. “Why? Is my lack of a shirt distracting, Sweetheart?”

“Get on with your story, won’t you.”

He sighed. “Even though you told me not to, I returned to the witch Scribe. I knew she had the information I needed, and I was right. She said the Goddess doesn’t have a spellbook, but a journal instead. The spellbook belonged to Hecate. The librarian couldn’t tell me where the journals are located, but she said now that we know what we’re looking for, we can use a spell to locate the journals.”

“And what was the cost of this information?” I wasn’t surprised what the king was looking for wasn’t a spellbook after all, Hecate had told us as much. Although this information was helpful, it couldn’t have been worth whatever Luka had traded for it.

He turned his hand over, revealing a thick black line across his palm. “She linked my life with hers so she can continue to have eternal youth.”

My stomach knotted. “You did what?” No wonder my senses had warned me of the witch. Magic like that was dangerous. Surely she didn’t devote herself to a coven, none of themwould allow such magic.

If Caterina learned of her—I shuttered, turning my attention back to Luka.

“You’re so unbelievably stupid. Magic like that comes at a cost, you better hope it only impacts her and not you.”

Luka shrugged. “It was worth it.”

“Stupid, insufferable, idiot,” I muttered. “But how did you get injured?” I pressed.

“I ran into a creature of some sort.” He shivered, his face paling slightly. “It looked like it was dead, maybe a vampire at some point, but its fangs were unnaturally long, everything about it was wrong.”

“You sure have a knack for getting yourself injured,” I mumbled.

“Only when I know I have you looking out for me, Sweetheart.” He smiled sheepishly as he threw me a wink.

“How come you wouldn’t feed from me?” His face fell. “And why have you been going so long between feedings?”

He remained silent for a long time. “Luka,” I prodded.

“The only blood I’ve been craving is yours.”

So Nico was on to something. “What does that mean?”

He combed his hands through his dark hair. “I don’t know how to explain it. Every time I’ve fed from someone since I fed from you, their blood tastes rancid. I have to choke it down.” He took a deep breath. “I’ve never had this happen before. I’ve tried feeding from multiple different people, and they all taste the same.” My stomach soured at the idea of him feeding from someone who wasn’t Nico or Declan.

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