Page 7 of Reigning
Kind of.
“How long have you been here?” I ask the darkness.
And it answers. “The three of us have been under care of the Attikan kingdom for decades. King Chalem was ordered by the Treaty of the Two Kingdoms to execute any mages in his land. He couldn’t do it, though. His mother was a mage, his grandmother was a mage. It’s a long history of magic in his family, and he apparently didn’t have it in him to murder us as The Minden King ordered. But he never treated us the way Ellise does now. We were never prisoners until recently.”
“Have you tried to escape or rise up?” My question is a hiss, a hushed and urgent sound.
It’s never answered, though.
A heavy door bangs shut, and silence falls across the dark. Steps echo firmly on the big bricks of the floor, and my heartbeat shudders.
Did she hear us?
Are we being watched?
White light shines over the damp walls, and then I see him.
Rime walks down the last two steps, and his gaze is held intently on me, coming closer and closer but never taking his eyes off of me.
It’s a dangerous look. A look that suits him, making him seem deadly and sexy all at the same time.
“Oh, the pet is off his leash? Better hope your queen doesn’t find you prowling around on your own or she’ll kennel you.” My taunting words don’t seem to register with him at all.
I never realized how much I loved our back and forth banter until he became a shell of the man I loved.
His jaw remains locked hard in place. But he lowers himself until his knees meet the damp floor and he’s eye level with me.
His hand extends to me, his long fingers reaching between the bars, and all I can think about is if he’ll find a way to hurt me through the prison cell if I put my hand in his.
I do it, though. It’s a stupid thing to do, but I can’t help but slide my fingers against his, and I absolutely love the calmness his body brings to mine. It’s a dangerous trust that I’m giving him. It’s one I’ll never be able to get rid of.
This shifter will always have my trust, and I hate that I can’t take it back.
His quiet gaze trails from my eyes to my lips slowly before warm water trickles over my skin. A towel meets my knuckles, and my attention drops to find him washing my hand between the bars. Back and forth he brushes the wet cloth over my fingers until the dried flakes of blood fall away. His steady hand works up my wrist and arm, taking care to clean every part of me.
The way he does it feels real. The silence that he clings to is just like the silence he always held before. All of this feels the same.
But different.
“Did she ask you to take care of me? To make me feel like you love me?” My chest hurts to push out those questions, but my glaring eyes burn into him as I wait for his answer.
And it never comes.
He doesn’t even look up at me. It’s as if I never said a word.
The towel pulls away. He lifts my fingers to his lips and inhales deeply, his heavy breath fanning over my cool skin in a tingle of sensations.
He’s removed the demon blood that his dragon seemed to hate so much.
He motions for my other hand. A sigh slips from my lungs, and I extend my palm. In pressing quiet, we sit together, just as we have a hundred times before.
“I’m your mate,” I all but coo at the man. “Can you sense that? That I’m yours?”
I pause, and he keeps cleaning. Wow. Really charismatic, this one.
“Out of a world of beautiful women, you picked me. And you forgot me in a single day.Men.”I rest my chin on the heel of my free hand and just rant to him like he’s an innocent bystander in my screwed-up relationship. “I put up with his brooding silence. He kisses two thirds of my other mates. Sinister is one blow job away from leaving me for him, and the asshole forgets me. Hejustforgets me.”
Rime pauses and looks up at me then, and I stop my rambling. Did he understand that?
