Page 65 of The Royal Curse

I licked my lips, trying to get my mouth and my throat to function. Gods, I had to tell him that he shouldn’t be angry with me and that I’d done the best I could, and berate him for being so fucking stupid, and tell him how much I loved him and that I’d rather have been dead than lose him.

Instead, all that came out, in a hoarse little whisper, was, “Why aren’t you in bed with me?”

Andreas’s eyes widened. “Why—what—I didn’t want to presume,” he said. “You weren’t awake to tell me you wanted me.” Before I could reply, he’d stood up, flipped back my blankets, and climbed in beside me fully clothed, the bed jouncing under us.

He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me against his chest, his warmth and scent enveloping me and sending a shiver of pure pleasure down my spine. I melted, my eyes practically rolling back in my head.

“How do you feel?” he asked abruptly. “Because that half-pint mage said he didn’t think there was anything physically wrong with you, just severe magical exhaustion. Was he right?”

“I think so,” I said. “Unless something happened to me while I was unconscious. I had some bruises. But I feel like they’ve healed.” And now that I thought about it…had that been a side effect of my magic being amplified by Andreas? “I think maybe—”

Andreas cut me off with a ferocious kiss that stole my breath and left my lips stinging when he lifted his head again, his eyes blazing. “The only thing that happened to you while you were unconscious was you,” he snarled. “You nearly died! You tried to kill yourself saving my life, you—you—I’m going to wring your neck!”

Oh, gods. Right. I had done that, hadn’t I? And Andreas, who’d sworn to protect me, who’d been willing to die for me, who’d almost died again in the process of rescuing me, probably hadn’t been very happy to…what, wake and find me nearly dead myself by his side?

That hadn’t even crossed my mind while I’d been doing it, that he’d probably rather die than have me sacrifice myself for him. Even if his feelings for me didn’t extend that far, his dedication to his duty certainly did.

I swallowed hard, my eyes widening as I took in the hard set of his jaw. That expression never boded well.

“Wringing my neck would be counterproductive, wouldn’t it?” I quavered. “And genuinely treasonous, and I think we’ve established there are better ways to commit—”

Andreas’s mouth descended on mine again, hot and demanding, his tongue sliding between my lips and teasing me open, showing me what he meant to do to me. One arm slid under my waist, and a moment later he’d rolled us, me on my back with Andreas pushing my thighs open with his knees.

“Andreas,” I gasped, tearing my mouth away long enough for one word before he was back to kissing me. I tried again. “Let me finish a—” He bit my lower lip, and the sting of it arrowed straight down to my hardening cock. I arched up, moaning, and he bit me again, lapping at the indent he’d made with his tongue. “A sentence!”

He lifted his head and stared down at me, eyes wild and face flushed. “You said you preferred this kind of treason. I’m either going to throttle an apology out of you or fuck an apology out of you, but it’s one or the other.”

Oh, gods, he couldn’t be serious. I opened my mouth to argue, but whatever I would’ve said withered on my tongue. A muscle ticked in the angle of his jaw, and his eyes had gone flinty.

Andreas had never been more serious in his life.

My heart thudded painfully and my cock was rock-hard. Everything else below my navel had gone all hot and molten.

Apparently parts of me didn’t mind being threatened when the threats came with Andreas between my legs, looming over me and glaring down at me as if he meant to put them into action instantly.

Silence fell for a long moment.

“Niko,” he said at last. “I was delirious. And then I was unconscious. And then I felt you, somehow. In my mind—in me. It was, gods, I can’t even describe it. You were so beautiful. Ennolu himself couldn’t be that beautiful. And then you went dim, and you screamed, and I woke up with a start, covered in sweat, with you collapsed on my chest. My wound was healed to a little cut, no infection at all. And you wouldn’t wake up. I thought you were dead.”

His voice broke, and he turned his face away, a tremor going through his arms and his broad shoulders.

“Andreas, look at me.” He shook his head. I could only see his heavily stubbled jaw, the corner of one eye. A drop of moisture clung to the tips of his eyelashes.

Oh, gods. He was crying. For me. My stoic, calm, in-control Andreas had tears in his eyes. Tenderness welled up in me so suddenly and irresistibly that I went lightheaded.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” I said, voice thick. He was too strong for me to pull down if he didn’t want to be pulled, but I wrapped my arms around his body and tugged anyway, lifting myself up so I could kiss his cheek, press my lips to his neck, mouth along his Adam’s apple. “I’ll never do it again. I promise, I’ll never—frighten you like that again. I’m sorry. You have my word.”

He shook in my arms, and his breath hitched.

Obviously he needed more from me. “I promise that if I have the choice, next time I’ll let you die,” I said, and maybe, just maybe, a touch of asperity had leaked into my tone. No matter how guilty I felt, I was still angry too. “I’ll say, well, too bad, and walk away and have a cup of tea.”

He huffed out a breath and finally turned his head, and I dropped down onto the bed again to look up at him, tracing my hands up his back and then down his arms, fingertips sliding over muscles as hard as boulders. Red-rimmed eyes gave him away, but he’d composed his expression again except for the faintest quirk at the corner of his mouth.

“Do I detect a hint of sarcasm, Your Highness?”

I blinked at him and fluttered my lashes. “Isn’t that what you wanted me to say?”

“Sarcasm aside, you should. If there is a next time. Better me than you.” Andreas cocked his head, examining me. “But I could’ve sworn—” He bit his lower lip, worrying at it, a wrinkle between his brows, everything about him uncharacteristically hesitant. “Never mind. I was imagining it.”

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