Page 30 of Hopeless Kingdom
My teeth sink into my cheek as I try to phrase this the best way possible.
“There’s a plant called Silphium. Can you find a way to get it for me?” I don’t expand on the request but I do finally look up at him.
This is the second time I’ve had sex in a two week time period. I need that plant. As much as the king likes me, I don’t think he’d be pleased to see his honorable Eminence walking around the castle hormonal and pregnant.
Daxdyn shifts beneath the blankets but my attention is held on the look that’s consuming Darrio. His lips part but he doesn’t immediately speak. He blinks a few times while he looks at me and it almost looks like it hurts him to say what he’s thinking.
“Kara, fire fae … the men … they can’t …” He pauses one more time as he leans in close to me. “Fire fae can’t reproduce.” My stomach sinks as I study the line creasing his brow, the cracking sound of his confession. “My body heat burns too high.”
“Oh,” I say in an empty voice.
If I didn’t know any better, I’d think the ever-aggressive fae is holding nothing but sadness in his downcast eyes.
“How old are you, Darrio?” I ask, sitting up on my knees, closing the space between us. His eyes slowly travel south and his tongue rolls against his lips before he meets my gaze again. My palms run through his beard, clasping his face in my hands. His palm skims over my knuckles.
“Almost two hundred.”
“Two hundred?” I ask quietly.
Again, Daxdyn, shifts from behind me like the third wheel in this strange relationship.
“Give or take a decade, yeah.”
I nod as I study his features.
He’s two hundred years old and he’ll never have kids. You probably have plenty of time to think about life when you’ve seen two hundred years pass you by.
“I have to go,” he says again but in an empty voice this time.
“Okay.” I nod and my lips gently press against his. Sweetly, he kisses me back, one hand held on mine and the other pushing low down my back.
“Stop worrying about me,” he mumbles against my lips before pulling away. “And for gods’ sake, put your pants on.”
I smirk at his words.
He looks to his twin as he crosses the room. Sadness so deep it feels endless is held in his stormy eyes. His jaw tightens with a tic as he seems to recompose himself. Swiftly he pulls on his shirt before grabbing my jeans from off the floor and tosses them to me on the bed but he only half looks my way. One hand shoves through his long hair, pushing back what he might be feeling just as he opens the door to the stage that’s becoming his new life.
When he closes the door behind him, I realize it’s just Dax and I.
The cool sheets shift beneath me as I wiggle down until I’m pressed against his back. My arms wrap around his body. I once thought his body was solid muscle and pure strength. He doesn’t feel that way right now. He feels like a shadow of the alluring fae I first met.
“You can go, Kara. You don’t have to worry about me.” He doesn’t acknowledge the way I’m tangled around him. It’s like my nearly naked body isn’t there at all.
Gods above, let me help him. How do I help him?
“I’m not going anywhere.” My voice whispers across his neck.
I don’t know why, but I just can’t help it; I press my lips there, to the shallow curve of his neck. Light stubble scrapes my lips. The start of a beard shadows his jawline and he slowly turns to me.
My heart stumbles when I see his gray eyes dilate. It’s an angst-filled look that shines in his beautiful eyes and I can’t seem to look away.
Soft lips skim lightly over mine, and a feeling that I’ve held deep within myself ignites with pent up vengeance. Once, twice, three times he presses his lips to mine, building that wanting feeling with every brush of his lips. I’m leaning into him, my blonde hair veiling our faces.
When he pulls back, a breath shakes out of him as he looks at me with life beaming within his features.
My lips part as I stare at him. Dax and I are friends. Weird, weird friends.
Right now we don’t feel like friends.
