Page 55 of To Wake a Kingdom

“Hi,” I said, lying on my side, hands pillowed under my head.

He reached out to touch my cheek with a frown. “Your face.” His expression darkened. “Who did that to you? Did Mare do that?”

I hesitated, knowing the answer would set him off.

“Tell me.” His voice was soft, but there was a command in it.

“Yes,” I said as thunder flashed in his eyes. “But she’s gone.” I placed a hand on his chest, knowing he was about to get up and, sure enough, he tried. As soon as he sat up, he let out a sharp grunt and I gently, but firmly, shoved him back down. “You aren’t going anywhere.” I leaned over him. “Stay here and rest. You lost a lot of blood.”

“I will fucking kill her. I will rip her limb from limb and make her watch. I will—”

“Yes, I know. You will do all that. But first, shut up and lie down.” I smoothed a strand of hair away from his face.

“Did you just tell me to shut up?”

My casual shrug was rewarded with a dazzling smile. How could he still look so good after nearly dying?

“How do you feel?” I asked, experiencing a strange little twist in my heart at seeing him alive and awake. I never wanted to relive anything like that again.

“Like I was stabbed.”

I rolled my eyes before I gave him a serious look. “I was so worried.”

“A little wound can’t kill me, Princess. Good to know you’d miss me, though.”

I snorted. “I didn’t say that.”

He smiled again, and his eyes fluttered closed. “I feel like shit.”

Running the back of my hand down his face, his bit of stubble was rough against my hand. “That feels nice, though,” he said with a sigh. His eyes still closed, I continued to touch him, admiring the thick fringe of lashes forming shadowed crescents at the tips of his cheeks. I explored his face with my fingers, tracing the bridge of his nose and the curve of his lips. Pale from his injury, he was still the most beautiful man I’d ever seen.

After this incident, Mare’s threat had drawn closer—I could feel it perched on my shoulder like a gargoyle sharpening its claws. I needed to tell him everything, but there were thirteen days left until Mare returned one last time, and he wouldn’t be able to help me. I knew, with the certainty that the sun would rise each day, he would take it upon himself to solve this riddle that had no solution. That he would tear apart the world to find it, only to come up empty-handed. I couldn’t let him do that. He’d already brushed too close to death because of me.

He let out a soft sigh of contentment as I continued my exploration, trailing my fingers along the line of his jaw and down the curve of his throat before placing my hand flat on his chest, where his heart beat a steady, comforting rhythm. I’d lost two more days here at his side, but nothing could have kept me away.

My thoughts wandered, for the thousandth time, to the moment in the hall. His lips on my skin and the things he’d said. I couldn’t stop fantasizing about what might have happened next.

“What are you thinking about?” He’d opened his eyes and was looking up at me, his expression clear and unguarded. “I hope you were daydreaming about something tall, dark, and fascinating.”

Good gods, was I that obvious?

“I, uh…” I pretended to pick a piece of lint off my leggings. “That’s none of your business.” I could practically hear the roll of his eyes. My gaze flicked to him, and I grinned. Was there any reason to pretend? He’d cracked open my paper-thin shell, and now there was no going back.

He shifted, leaning up on an elbow as he pushed me flat to the bed. “I was thinking about how we were interrupted the other night.”

“Oh? That?” I waved a hand in the air. “I remembered right this very moment. Haven’t thought about it at all.”

His arm snaked around my waist, and he pulled me toward him, crushing me against his solid chest.

“Liar,” he said, kissing the delicate spot where my shoulder met my collarbone. I shivered from the top of my head to the tips of my toes as he placed more featherlight kisses in a row, stopping at the hollow of my throat. “You smell so good,” he said, inhaling deeply. “Like flowers and mint and furious rage, bundled up in a perfect package.”

I snorted out a laugh and gave him a playful shove on his shoulder.

He buried his face into my neck deeper as he echoed my laughter. “If Mare had killed me, my only regret would have been not being able to do this.”

His mouth brushed mine softly. My lips parted for him as he took my bottom lip between his teeth, tugging on it gently. But it wasn’t enough, and I was done waiting. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him down, crushing my mouth to his. He let out a small grunt of surprise, recovering immediately before he claimed my mouth, angling my head to drive his tongue against mine, seeking and plundering.

Our breaths became a mingled wash of feverish pants and ragged gasps as heat melted every bone in my body. Ronan shifted, rolling on top of me, pinning me down with his delicious weight as his hips settled between my thighs. He tasted like sunshine and lightning—the two halves of his nature coalescing into the flavor of a summer storm.

---