Page 100 of The Rebel Seer

Yes, this is a delicate line. “I have to think of my children, Devinshea. Yes, they are my primary concern. I don’t really care about the crown. I loved the man, not the king. Not the high priest.”

He nods as though he expected the answer. “You are so much like her it worries me. It makes me think I’ll disappoint you like I disappointed her.”

“Did she tell you that?” I ask.

“Not in so many words, but how could she not be? I left her alone.”

“You left her with her best friend,” I point out.

“And made it plain that if she were ever to be with him physically, our relationship would be over. I knew she loved him but by the time she was willing to open herself to his love, she was pregnant. I could have stepped back and let them raise the child. If I had done what I needed to do, she would be alive and Deinny would be alive. They would be a family,” he admits.

“You didn’t mean to hurt me. I might have been lonely without you, but if I stayed true to you it was because I loved you. If she was anything like me, she didn’t let fear rule her. She made conscious decisions.” I give him the words because I think he needs to hear them. But there are things he must atone for. “But why kill Deinny?”

“I couldn’t stand the way he looked at me after. After I took my revenge.” His head drops. “We had a fight. I was drunk. I used some potent drugs to try to forget how my brother looked when I ran a sword through his gut before taking off his head. Deinny said some things to me I didn’t want to hear, and I gave the order. I regretted it when I was sober again, but it was done. They all think I feel nothing. They do not know the weight of guilt that presses on me.”

“Devinshea, I am not her. You are trying to recreate a relationship that can’t exist.”

I think I have him for a moment and then his expression clears, and I watch him make the choice to stay mired in this course he chose so long ago. “It can. You will see. I will be better this time. This time I will make things right. I already started by allowing your son to take over my temple. We will have to fix that, but I think it proves I can be a better husband for you. And you will come to enjoy the crown and throne. I think your husbands didn’t do it right. Servant, bring my fiancée another pillow.”

I sigh inwardly because we’d gotten so close.

And then I feel something whiz past me and hear a terrible thud as an arrow launches itself right into the king’s shoulder.

I take a deep breath and pray I survive this battle.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Sasha

Sasha woke to Meadow staring down at him. She studied him with those glorious green eyes, her blonde hair curling around her shoulders. If she was worried about wearing very little clothing, she didn’t show it.

“I thought Earth plane vampires could not be awake during the daylight hours. I have read some books on the subject. Mostly by Vampire plane scholars. They enjoy studying what they like to call their less evolved cousins.”

He frowned and then smiled again because she was here and she was beautiful and he was now utterly, hopelessly addicted to her blood. Companion. She was his companion by all legal rights since he’d convinced her to drink from him as well. Ostara had explained to her host that his blood would strengthen their body. And the bond between them. “They are not wrong. While King Daniel and a class of vampires we call academics have the power to daywalk, I must use magic.” He held up his right hand, showing off the ring. “This allows me to be in the sun, to be awake when I need to be.”

“Or I could do this.” She placed her hand on his chest, and her eyes changed as energy pulsed through him.

Through his chest, his heart. That warm wave seemed to go straight to his cock. It filled with blood and strained against his underwear. He couldn’t help but gasp.

He’d allowed Rhys to share some energy with him when he’d known he couldn’t feed from sex energy. He’d known his wife was somewhere out there and he couldn’t force himself to betray her. Even if she hadn’t known who he was. Vampires fed from blood and sex, and he cut himself off from half his energy, so Rhys had given him just enough to survive.

This was more than survival. This was power. A tidal wave of sex energy flowing through him. Like Devinshea gave Daniel.

He wouldn’t need the ring anymore. Not as long as he had her. He could give it back to the royals and they could give it to one of their warriors. Someone who could work in the shadows and strike when no one would expect.

He groaned and tried so hard to fight back the orgasm that threatened. He had fed from Meadow the night before and given her his blood as well. She’d groaned and moaned in a way that had him panting for her. He’d felt her orgasm, but she’d been weak. She fell asleep in his arms and he carried her to bed, gently undressing her down to her light chemise. He gathered her into his arms and laid in the darkness for the longest time, simply breathing her in.

So he was horny. Super fucking horny, as his American friends would say.

And she was by all accounts a virgin.

She was smiling as she broke contact with him, her eyes back to normal. “Ossie says that should take care of you for a while. I’m afraid she might have had a relationship with a vampire in the past. She enjoyed it. She’s worried, though, because vampires can be possessive of their companions. Is that why you didn’t make love to me last night?”

He turned her way. “My darling, I didn’t make love to you because you were exhausted and running on emotion. I have to give you the choice to be with me, and that means allowing you time to make the decision.”

“So you’re not opposed to caring for both of us?” Meadow asked the question with an air of expectancy.

Oh, he was over that. He didn’t have to think about it. Ostara had already proven herself to him. “Do you love her, Meadow?”

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