Three Kings, One prey

r

t money on his disagreeing with you. Do have some food now, please. You were out

t, none of the gray, overcooked fare one had to make do with or scavenge for. My stomach gave a traitorous growl. I

e room for any way out. The large arched window caught my eye, its thick glass set in dark iron and looking out over what must be a forested

's antidote. From where the palace sat on the cliff, the view was vertiginous, a sheer

indow. The ledge is no place to be, ho

he steel in it. I turned and offered her a thin smile. "My

sing look. She was too sharp t

static charge that sent a prickle over my skin and m

ad shoulders and lean muscle beneath a long coat of dark green. His black hair fell loose to his shoulders an

d was gone in an instant, t

e. Just the ser

ng no sound on the marble. He halted at the bed's foot, near enoug

rumbled. "I was conce

I whispered.

s lips returned. "I did. But yo

en to preserve a life is the first part of a claiming ritual," he murmured, his voice seductive and warm against my ear

hrow my head back to look at him. There was a hunger in hi

out in a husky whisper. "You are no ordinary woman, Feyra.

s not something I put stock in. I have already fled one

s of such ferocity, so all consuming, that the rest of the world simply fell away. He was drowning and I was the air he needed to breathe; he kissed with the cert

abric, drawing him in. A growl, low and guttural, vibrated in his chest as he deepened it, his hand tangling in my hair to claim my mouth entirely. For a while there was

rown out all else. His were swollen and he could barely contain himse

, his thumb caressing my lower lip. "I can feel yo

with no family or prospects, a runaway. And yet, held in his a

"This is too much. I have

d devotion. I will provide you with wealth, with safety, with everything, Feyra. All I ask in return is your heart." He brushed his li

n all my life and now a crown was being put in my

ime to think on i

d without him. "Then take it. But do not mistake my patience for indiffere

st look. "Seraphine will see you are properly attired for dinner at su

n between the frightened girl I was and the woman who had