Page 102 of A Throne of Blood & Vengeance

Alaric stared at me. “I’ve been going out of my mind with jealousy over that fucking connection you have with those three assholes.”

“Draven’s not an asshol?—”

“I know what he said to Kieran, so yes, Dravenisan asshole.” Alaric glared. “But I’m willing to make allowances since you two seem to like him.”

“How gracious of you.”

“And Vail is your problem, but just say the word, and we’ll happily kill him for you.” He maneuvered his hold until he secured both of my wrists in one hand so his other could go back gripping my ass. “I know I should say something clever and charming to assure you that you’re making the right decision in forming the mate bond with me.”

A flicker of uncertainty flashed in those beautifully mesmerizing eyes of his. After everything we’d been through, some part of him still thought I wouldn’t choose him in the end.

“I don’t need you to be charming, Alaric,” I said honestly. “I just need you to be mine.”

He leaned in until our foreheads touched. “Yours,” he breathed across my lips. “Always.”

“I love you, Alaric.” I brushed my lips against his.

“I love you too, Sam.” He kissed me again, this one tender and sweet, and yet it still left us breathless when we broke apart a moment later.

When he looked at me, his eyes were almost solid turquoise. I saw the moment he felt it, the panic that bled into his features as he tried to claw his bloodlust back. His hand dropped from my wrist, and he started to pull out of me to set me down but froze when I cupped his face in my hands.

“You’re fine, my love.” I kissed the corners of his mouth. “Your bloodlust has been rising this whole time, but nothing bad has happened. You won’t turn Strigoi, I promise.”

He swallowed. “We can’t know for sure. I could hurt you or?—”

I cut him off with a kiss before nipping his bottom lip. “You won’t. Trust me.” I leaned back enough so that I could slide my hand through the opening of his shirt and lay my palm flat over his heart. “Trust us.”

A new bond burned and sizzled to life. I couldn’t explain how I knew it would happen—only that I did with absolute certainty.

Alaric’s eyes widened. “I canfeelyou.”

“Show me.” I shifted my hips slightly where we were still joined. “Fuck me, Alaric. Make your mate scream.”

“As my queen demands.” He grinned and stepped back from the wall, taking me with him, his cock still buried inside me. “But we’re going down to the hot springs.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

Draven

Kieran followedme down the hallway, away from the room we’d left Rynn and Roth sleeping in. Cali had cracked open one golden eye at us but then drifted back into her healing slumber. Rynn and Samara had been the ones to remove the hairs the trapper spider had shot into her wings, and it hadn’t been pretty. The hairs were covered in hundreds of little barbs that did just as much damage coming out as they did going in.

Blood magic didn’t work on Furies, just as their shadow magic didn’t work directly on us, so we couldn’t aid her healing. She’d heal fast though, all Furies did, and sleeping it off would help.

Alaric had murmured something about checking on Samara, who was also still sleeping, but based on the pointed look he gave me, I knew he was giving me and Kieran some alone time.

Out of all of Samara’s friends and lovers, he was the one I had the most difficulty reading. He and Roth were both equally standoffish, but Roth would just let things go for the most part. If it wasn’t a book or Samara, they didn’t seem to have the energy to care about it for long. Except for their family. For all their blustering, it was clear how much Roth loved their unhinged brothers and parents.

But at best, Alaric gave me cool looks. Most of the time though, he just acted like he was on the verge of tearing my throat out. I deliberately ignored his antics because I didn’t really give a shit; all I needed was Samara and Kieran, and I had them both—and I’d never let them go again. Also, I was fairly certain I knew why Alaric treated me the way he did.

The grumpy asshole might be shit at choosing his words, but he loved Samara and Kieran was his best friend. He was protective of them both, and I’d hurt Kieran. Badly.

Kier might have already forgiven me for the things I’d said to break things off with him a year ago, but Alaric hadn’t. It honestly made me respect him more, and I was thankful Kier had someone like that in his life.

Fortunately for me, I wasn’t Vail. I knew how to apologize and right previous wrongs, which is something I’d be proving to Kier—and by extension, Alaric—for the rest of my life.

And that’s exactly why I was leading Kier to the room at the very back of this floor, away from everyone else. I wanted to make sure we had privacy for this conversation, and for all the niceties of the living quarters here, I hadn’t noticed any silencing glyphs.

Over the past few days, I’d been able to draw enough information out of Roth to get an idea of how things had been while Samara and I had been imprisoned. How Kieran had exhausted every single one of his contacts and grown more distant and snappish as they’d failed to provide anything useful. I knew how Kieran thought. He must have believed he was letting us down because my beloved courtier always felt he had something to prove, like he wasn’t worthy of being loved.

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