Page 75 of The Beast King's Bride

His snarl turns into a grin. He wipes his bloody hand on his coat. “There’s no buying her,” he mutters. “And I play by the rules.”

“If you didn’t, the deal would be annulled,” she says, “and all your lives forfeit.”

“I know,” the king says.

Ice trickles down my back. That had been close and I hadn’t even known.

“Is the interrogation over?” I reach for Talen again and he snags an arm around my waist, hauling me to his side. I sigh in relief at the feel of his strong body against mine.

It feels like years since he held me like this. My muscles start to relax, relief going through me as his scent sinks into me with gentle hooks, anchoring me even in the presence of the terrible, black-clawed, cunning Empress of Faerieland.

“You care for him?” she asks quietly, the words sibilant hisses and I should have expected her to test my loyalty to him further, that she might ask such a question.

So it’s a surprise for me, too, when I say, “Yes.”

A shudder goes through the king, a sharp intake of breath, an involuntary tug on my arm.

“Ash, love,” he whispers and my eyes burn from wanting him to call me this way so much and afraid to believe he means it.

With a sharp cry, she turns and spreads her arms, shadows unfolding and wreathing the ballroom from side to side, like giant wings, made of dark clouds and eddies sucking all light. The guests scream and run away, piling against the walls and in the corners.

“Hold,” he whispers and I realize I might have bolted too if Talen hadn’t been holding me so tightly against his side. If he won’t show fear, I think, then neither will I, and if I have to lean against him because my knees feel like water, then that’s what I’ll do.

He doesn’t think that the Empress will kill us all and reduce the palace to dust—probably because of the rules of this game they are playing—so I have to trust that.

Trust that I stopped her from harming them.

That the wounds in Talen’s neck will heal.

That we will get out of this alive.

Eventually, the shadow wings fade and she lowers her arms. Her pale hair still floats around her like a cloud as she turns back around, her all-black eyes glittering with anger.

“You seem to be winning this round, Talensar,” she hisses. “All very romantic and cozy. So happy for you.”

He gives a slight bow from the shoulders and I see the gleam of a smile on his face. “Your Eminence.”

We won this round. I find myself smiling, too, tucked into his side, his muscular arm snug around my waist, his hand splayed over my middle—possessive and also gentle. The perfect hold. Or maybe not, not enough. I want him to put his hands on my skin, to grip me harder, bite me and kiss me, bruise me and keep me, make me his…

“This is goodbye for now,” she says. “Until your time is up. You either lift the curse or you become mine to reap, king.”

Alarm blares through me. Become hers? I thought the curse was about the land, that the problem was the Decay, the crops failing, the people leaving. I thought it affected his powers, put those horns on him, but… What is she talking about?

“But you, little bird,” she glances at me with such venom in her eyes that I flinch, “you know all about the curse, right? He told you everything.” She turns as if to leave and my knees go weak with relief. Then she stops and lifts a hand. “Oh, one last thing.”

“Your Eminence,” Talen says, “surely by now you have satisfied your curiosity—”

She turns around and smiles, a cold uptilting of her lips. I never thought smiles could look so cruel. “Tell me, birdie. I assume you have accepted his other form?”

“Other form?” I mutter. I don’t know what she means. I glance at Talen and catch a glimpse of panic in his blue eyes before the stony mask slides back on, erasing all emotion.

“Hasn’t he told you about it?”

I can’t lie and the word slips out. “No.”

“Oh, you didn’t know. How interesting.” Her smile turns delighted. “You know she has to know everything, king. You cannot cheat the curse.”

“No,” he says, jaw clenching, “please—”

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