Page 107 of Kiss the Filthiest King

You truly want to get assassinated, don't you?

I grin. They've tried before.

Meanwhile, the crowd roars its approval. I don't delude myself: if I appear weak, if I give in to unseelie demands, this will create a problem. But I don't intend to. I'm going to fight my mate with all my strength, until one of us folds by day, and let him hate-fuck me by night.

I'd say until death do us part, but Thanatos would never.

"You're insane," he whispers when he gets to me.

"And you're high king."

I make him sit first, and climb on his lap. "We'll have to get you a throne."

"I don't know. I quite like yours," he says, pressing me against him. "Fuck, Darina, you realize we're always going to be at odds now. If we have the same authority, and represent each side."

I roll my eyes. "What else is new?"

When I proposed the change to Loch, I expected him to shoot down the idea immediately, but he assured me it was the best decision. "You've never agreed to unseelie demands outright. Your seelie is showing. Might as well make it official, before one of your mate's lords figures it out and murders you."

While I'm harder to kill now, I'd rather not have to watch my back every day again. Playing the part of the prey isn't much fun.

Well, except when Ryther chases.

47

WHAT HAPPILY EVER AFTER LOOKS LIKE

Ryther

"Ithink you've acquired a taste for danger, High Queen." I shake my head, and slide the crown on top of it down, to inspect it closer. It's a thing of beauty, but it never would have suited Darina. "This could have gone either way. Do you miss risking your life every time you show your face?"

The gorgeous woman laughs."Oh, please. You know everyone's started to figure out I favor seelie decrees. If we'd carried on the way we were, there would have been another faebane glass with my name on it."

She might have a point. Darina may have started to support the seelie folk in the balance of things to prove she wasn't my puppet, but as time passed, it became more and more obvious that they hold her true favor, and she's right. It's dangerous in itself. But forever changing the ways of this world, creating an equal seat for her mate? That's revolutionary. And the folk don't like change.

"I can't believe Loch went along with this."

"He thought it was a great idea, actually." She smiles smugly. "And it was. If only because I cannot bear to be anything but your equal. Besides, let's face it. You were the high unseelie king long before you wore the crown."

Every day, she surprises me.She's lowered her own power to make me stand beside her.My turn to surprise her.

I've thought about testing a little trick for a while now, always dismissing the idea because I didn't like what it reminded me of. Him. His hands onmy mate.He's lucky I haven't yet found an excuse to murder him.

I kiss my way up her legs, covering every inch of her with my mouth, until she's begging for me, but my touch remains featherlight, reverent.

"Ryther,please."

But I don't give her what she wants yet. "Do you remember that night with your little seelie prince?"

Darina grunts. "You're mad about that again? I don't want Valdred. He can rot for all I care. Only you. Now, pretty please, will you fuck me?"

"Oh, I know my sweet. I realize you have little to no desire for anyone else. But I also remember the look in your eyes when I told you I'd join you that night. It was hunger," I say, smirking. "Because, my mate, your slutty little cunt and ass just loved the idea of being stuffed at the same time, didn't they?"

My fingers slide to the apex of her thighs, one curving inside her ass, the other, in her pussy. She immediately bucks against me, lifting her hips higher.

"Please, I need you inside me now," she implores me.

"But where? Which hole do you want me to fill, I wonder."

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