Page 7 of Fearless

I’m toying with her, trying to ignore the bitter taste each word leaves in my mouth. I refuse to let this be her fate, and yet, fear twines around me, tightening my chest even as I tease her. Because if she truly becomes Kitt’s, I will spend the rest of my life mourning her.

So I distract. Deflect. Desire her more than ever in case this is the last time I get to.

I can hear the weak smile beginning to creep into her voice. “You’re not supposed to touch me at all.”

“But you could command me to,” I drawl. “Then I’d simply be following an order.”

Her laugh is breathy, and I memorize the sound.

Her arms twine around my neck, and I wonder if she will hold him like this.

Her nose nudges mine, and I silently beg that she will never flick another’s.

Her lips have only just brushed mine when the door flies open.

CHAPTER 3Paedyn

“That was not what it looked like.”

A soft sigh. A nod that bobs the messy bun atop her head. “Like I said, I don’t know what it looked like, because I didn’t see a thing.”

“Ellie,” I blurt, exasperated. “You know damn well what you saw.”

She tucks a strand of loose hair behind her ear, as if that could distract from the smile lifting her lips. “I was just there to grab a broom, and that is exactly what I did.” As if to emphasize her innocence, she lifts said broom and continues down the hall while I trudge behind.

I’m thankful for the brisk pace she sets that blurs the faces we pass and cools the flush painting my cheeks. My mind refuses to do anything but replay the moment that door swung open to reveal the Enforcer and his future queen tangled in the dark. We’d sprung apart, but not before recognition widened Ellie’s brown eyes.

And yet, a smile tempts the corner of my mouth. I stifle it with a hand before it has the chance to spread. Because the longer I mull overthe mortifying moment, the funnier I find it. In fact, my entire life is in shambles and all I can do is stare at the jagged pieces in my palm and laugh. I don’t dare look in a mirror because what stares back is a mosaic of every mistake, every tragedy traced into my skin, and the looming shadow of each one to come.

Powerless. Fatherless. Adena-less. These were the things I was already struggling to survive. And yet, it’s the ring on my finger that may be the death of me.

A choking laugh slips from beneath my palm, loud enough to have Ellie throwing a worried glance over her shoulder. I follow her blindly through the castle I only ever thought to be a prisoner within. My fingers fiddle with the intricate band now binding me to another. It glints in the light, harmless like a word not yet sharpened by a lashing tongue.

Of all the places I imagined sitting, a throne was the last of them. A dungeon, yes. At the edge of a blade, certainly.

Because Ordinaries don’t rule. They cower.

The seriousness of my current situation seems to crash into me once again as we round another corner. Servants stare; Imperials leer; laughter dissolves in my throat. Happiness flees in the face of my future.

Because I am the very object of weakness. I am loathed by all of Ilya. And if I am to be put on a pedestal, even to save their kingdom, they will gladly push me off.

Ellie stops suddenly before a door, and I nearly skewer myself on the broom handle she holds. Forcing my mind to wander back to the present, I follow her into the pristine room.

It takes all of two steps to realize that this is most definitely not the chamber I stayed in during the Trials. No, sprawled before me is the sort of decadence I’ve only dreamed of.

My feet fumble atop the plush floors, eyes wide as they skim over the largest bedroom I’ve ever seen. Intricate molding climbs up the far wallto surround each arched window lining it. Warm light pours in as the sun stretches across the green carpet, as though reaching for me.

The bed itself takes up most of the wall to my right, its floral quilt shadowed by the sheer canopy hanging above it. A desk, vanity, wardrobe, and rug all decorate the space, each one a soft white and far larger than I’d imagine they could be.

My eyes slowly slide back to Ellie. “What room is this, and why am I dirtying it?”

She presses her lips into a thin smile. “It’s the queen’s quarters, of course. Well, the new ones. The memory of her late majesty, Queen Iris, still lives in the previous rooms.” Her words have my stomach dropping, skin paling. “This is where you’ll be living. I hope everything is… satisfactory?”

“Satis—” I take a deep breath before I’ve even finished echoing her word in confusion. “Ellie, it has not been long enough for you to forget that I find everything about this castle to be far above my regular standards.”

The smile she gives me is far slyer than I thought her capable. “Yes, I do recall you informing me how you’d crawled out of garbage the day we first met.”

Swallowing my sudden sadness at her words, I manage a small smile.

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