Page 87 of The Beast King's Bride

“I was not.” Hoarse. Raw. “I made the deal with the worst monster. The Empress… They say she isn’t of this world, or yours. She wants to take over every world, and every court. She wants to rule all of us.”

I shiver. “Making that deal was a mistake. But leaving your kingdom in the hands of other monsters—your family—didn’t feel like an option either and the main thing is Talen…” I boldly reach for his hand again and he lets me take it. “You didn’t know. You didn’t know what a snake the Empress is. You thought you were doing a deal for the good of everyone.”

“You forget I wanted her in my bed.”

“Well, there’s no accounting for taste.”

His mouth wavers between a snarl and a grin. “She had a glamour on then. Even so, I was an idiot.”

I don’t deny that. “It happens even to the best people.”

His grin wins out, but then it falters. “I’m too emotional. My family was right. What I feel governs me.”

“Stop that. Emotions aren’t beastly. Emotions matter. It’s what makes us humans what we are, and if the Fae ever wanted to be more like us, then you are the closest there is. Talen…” I tug on his hand and he turns to face me fully, bright spots of color on those high cheekbones, his eyes… They’re shining with pain and anger and need, a war going on inside them.

He reaches for me with his free hand, finds his fingers covered in blood, lets it drop again. “You don’t need to console me. It doesn’t matter.”

“But it matters to me.”

You matter to me. Why is it that I still can’t say it?

“I thought you were gone already,” he admits softly. “I didn’t want to ask and find out. When I told you that you were free to go… I was sure you would leap on the opportunity.” He frowns. “Why are you still here?”

So that was why he didn’t send for me. “I decided to stay a little longer. Until the full moon, as we agreed.”

Strangely, the light in his eyes dims more. He pulls away, huffs, rubs at his eyes. “This is… Will you have dinner with me?”

I blink. “Right now?”

“Why not?”

“We had to break down your door to see if you were alive and now you want to have dinner?”

“Whatever it takes to keep you here longer. I like spending time with you,” he says quietly and then grimaces as if he hadn’t meant to say that.

“I will stay. No need for pretexts and excuses.”

“Ash…” But then he stiffens. “No, we cannot. Damn, you should go. The moon must be rising. I will transform.”

“I’m not afraid.”

“How can you not be afraid of me? I can tear you to pieces, in animal form or not. I am that beast.”

“I know you won’t hurt me.”

“Now who is the idiot?” he mutters but there is no venom or heat in his voice, only wry, dark amusement.

“I trust you. Emotions or not, beastly form or not, your mind and your heart are your own, and I have never seen you harm anyone who didn’t attack your own people. I know you, Talen. In such a short time, you have shown me who you are.”

“Damn, I cannot take this anymore.” In two strides, he’s in front of me, his hands on my cheeks. “I need you. Need to touch you, feel you, I cannot… cannot stop myself. I have tried not to touch you, not to want you. I’m told love does not work that way, but I want you and miss you and why is it wrong?”

“It’s not wrong,” I say, my voice breaking, “because I want it, too.”

With a deep growl, he lifts me in his arms. I hold on to his neck as he carries me across the room and sets me down on top of the desk, not caring if rolls of papers and quills scatter on the floor.

We’re face to face now, our eyes at the same level. His are dark, so dark—but not with pain this time, I realize. It’s desire that fills them, a hot darkness, an urgency I understand because I feel an answering heat spreading through me. The yearning to see and taste every part of him, to give him pleasure, to be joined with him—it’s all I can think of.

I put my hands on the lace of his black shirt, pulling them free, my gaze darting between his mouth and the expanse of his muscular chest being exposed inch by inch.

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