Page 139 of A Queen's Game
His words froze her in place as regret settled into the pit of her stomach. “That’s why I took it back.” Her voice was only a whisper, unsure if the King could even hear her.
After a moment, he said, “You’re dismissed, Lady Marietta.”
It shook her from her thoughts. Though she already stood to leave, King Wyltam saw it fitting to dismiss her. Irritated, she sighed, earning a chuckle from him.
A storm cloud was a correct depiction of him—dark, beautiful, and unpredictable. The smiles that broke through were lightning in her chest, his laugh a rolling thunder that caused her heart to skip a beat.
As she left the King sitting on the bench, she cursed herself for being so foolish. He was the King. A murderer. He stood for everything she wanted to tear down. She should hate him—should despise his very being.
Yet, she didn’t.
Chapter Fifty-Four
Marietta
Marietta returned to the hallway lined with statues, finding Keyain red-faced and pacing. She hobbled forward, her steps slow. He stopped when he noticed her.
“Where’s Amryth?” she asked, taking another step towards him.
“Don’t walk any farther.” His lumbering form approached. “I dealt with Amryth.” In a fell swoop, Keyain braced Marietta’s back and scooped her up behind her knees.
As expected, the fabric slipped from her legs, their length exposed by the slits in the skirt. “Stop it—put me down,” she snapped. “Amryth did nothing wrong. Let me guess. You took your anger out on her.”
The muscle in Keyain’s jaw flexed as he stared ahead, carrying Marietta down the hall. “She has a duty to protect you.”
“Like she would tell the King to fuck off.” Marietta shook her head, then struggled against Keyain’s grip. “Let me down right now.”
“You can’t walk.”
“I can walk just fine!”
“If you’re injured enough that the King—” He snapped his mouth shut, taking a deep breath. Marietta marveled at how his teeth hadn’t cracked.
He carried Marietta to an exit, stepping into the Central Garden. The afternoon’s heat hit like a wall, jarring from the chilled interior of the palace; yet the temperature didn’t slow Keyain’s pace as he trekked onto the garden’s paths.
“Keyain,” she warned, wiggling her body.
He gripped tighter.
“I swear to gods if you don’t let me down right this instant—”
Keyain paused on the path, the rapid rise and fall of his chest pressing into her side as he stared out into the garden, unwilling to make eye contact. “He went too far.”
“For the love of all the deities, there was nothing malicious about King Wyltam’s actions.” She struggled once more but Keyain’s grip held.
“Not once did he touch Elyse.” He swallowed hard. And though he blinked them away, tears swelled in his eyes. “You are my wife but he touches you as if you weren’t married.” His gaze shifted to Marietta, the pain clear across his features. “And he has done it twice to you, knowing that I haven’t had you in years. Knowing—”
His voice heightened as he stopped himself, swallowing back his emotion. “I lost you. You were the gaping wound in my chest, and he knows this. Now that you’re here, he can’t give us a moment of peace.” A single tear slid down his cheek.
If the King knew that, then their deal was all the more cruel. Marietta brushed the tear away, her hand tentative. For a moment, a sliver of sympathy slithered out, watching the hardened man she knew beginning to break.
She had wanted this—wanted it to be so much worse—but to witness such raw emotion was more than she expected. Keyain was controlling, raging to a fault, but he cared for Marietta.He wanted to protect her and wholeheartedly believed that he was doing as such. Her hand cupped his cheek. “I know,” she whispered, “but I’m here now, aren’t I? I’m right here.”
It happened in slow motion. Keyain turned his eyes to Marietta as she leaned into his face, her lips brushing gently on his. She held them there for only a breath, but it seemed like a lifetime. A kiss they hadn’t shared in nearly a decade.
The tension in his face eased, his shoulders relaxing. Keyain stared at Marietta with parted lips and widened eyes. She knew that look. Hope. It was a damning feeling.
Keyain set Marietta on the ground. She turned to him, wrapping her arms around his middle as Keyain enclosed her with his arms. She dared to look up into Keyain’s face, still slacked with awe.
