Kier
"Why don't you ever fucking listen?! If he'd aimed for your heart, you'd be dead!"
The blade hadn't sunk in too deep in her shoulder before I got Lloyd off her, and now, against the many guards holding him down, he struggles still to return to her, howling in pain, anger and frustration. He's almost rabid, and I've only ever seen this happen once when a man's mind was broken after watching his mate die.
Nadine's death must have done this, coupled with the torture. I've never seen anything like this. The sheer cruelty and brutality of it.
Jessamine shoves my hand off her bleeding shoulder, fire blazing in her eyes that glare at me. "Well, maybe if you'd told me Lloyd was here and explained the situation to me, none of this would have happened!"
I am so tired of women. All the women in my life are insane. My mate more than most. I run my fingers through my hair, trying to calm my heart. Seeing that dagger so close to her heart, I've never known fear so vast, so crippling. By some odd miracle, Lloyd's wrist had snapped, and the dagger had ripped into her shoulder instead. I don't think it's a miracle. I think Lloyd's still in there and stopped himself at the last second. "I was going to tell you," I say. "I didn't want you to worry--"
"You didn't want me to worry about the only person who's ever cared and stood by me in this place?" She points at Lloyd. "That person who now hates me and wants me dead?! How bright!"
My patience snaps like a severed cord. "Are you calling me stupid?"
Her teeth snaps in my face. "If the shoe fucking fits!"
My answering snarl bounces off the wall. Yeah, I'm done. I lunge for her, scarcely avoiding her fist jamming into my jaw, and my fingers close around her hips. She screams in outrage when I jerk her off the floor and throw her over my shoulder. It's always the tiny ones with the mountain-sized temper. She's threatening to kill me again. No surprise there. It's all she does lately. I've begun to translate it to, I can't live without you, Kier. It makes it so much easier that way.
"She's the first he's spoken to. Or initiated contact with," Dale says, heaving a breath as he joins me outside. There are bloody scratches lining his arm and face, and he's sporting a bust lip. The door shuts, dampening the sound of Lloyd's roars. "I didn't think Atticus would kill Nadine." Randale's eyes are dark with the same grief that twists my insides. "She willingly followed him to the borders. She loved him. She was a kind woman."
Jessamine's no longer squirming, and I feel her guilt heavy through the bond. In trying to save Lloyd, she cost him his sister's life. I understand she was only trying to help, and I could never fault her for that. It's my fault she couldn't trust me enough to share her plans with me. She didn't think I'd trust her. In one way or another, everything that's happened is all a result of my incapabilities, and I can't help feeling the weight of it on my shoulders.
"He'll pay," is all I can offer us both. "I'll be riding out with the princess and I'd like for it to remain a private affair. Though, it'd be unwise to leave without guards in this state of...unrest."
Randale cocks a brow, the grief immediately replaced with amusement. "That's an interesting way of asking me to be a third wheel on your date, Kier."
"Not a date," I groan, arm tightening around Jessamine's calf as I descend the stairs, earning the stares of many, both curious and damning. "We all need to blow off steam."
"Who'll look after--"
I wave dismissively. "We'll be gone for a couple of hours. Don't be a hussy. If it bothers you so, you may let Gerald know he's in charge until we return. Have Mikkel assist." Right now, Randale is right about the only man I can trust with my safety and Jessamine’s, and I need him on watch while Jessamine and I are…occupied. He doesn’t protest—he never does—taking a different hallway that leads to crammed hall brimming with guards.
“Where are we going?” Jessamine asks, picking lint off my jacket. “Best to set me down and cease making a spectacle. I won’t run.”
“Say please.”
She huffs an annoyed breath and goes back to ruining my coat. “So, you’re going to have sex with me while Randale keeps watch? I have heard that men have a tad bit of exhibitionists in them, and while I’ve never had to chance to explore my most innate desires, I suppose we could put on a show for your Beta.”
I stiffen. I know she’s trying to annoy me. I know it, and it does nothing to halt the displeased growl in my throat. I am thrown back in time, months ago, in the training yard. Images flash through my mind, invoking fire. I see her straddling Randale again, her lips only inches away from his. My jaw clenches painfully, but I force myself to banish the memory. “Glad to see how eager you are. No damning me to hell today, I take.”
Her fingers grip the back of my pants and something about the way she squeezes my ass makes my cock tighten. “No need to. I’m your personal hell.”
A deep laugh slips from me, the first I’ve had in a time. My personal hell. I suppose that’s enough of a description of my situation right now. There’s nothing I want more than to take her to my chambers and have her eat her words, punish her for them. But more pressing than putting a baby in her is the war, and I’m unsure if I want her vulnerable in a time like that. I’m at my wits end, weighing the risks and how far I’m willing to take them.
I round the corner and walk head first into the red-eyed clown. My smile falls, replaced with a sneer. He mirrors my expression, somehow managing to make it even worse. “Now, that is no way to treat a woman.”
Jessamine stills for a moment, and then she pulls herself up as far as she can. “Darr? I thought you said he was—"
“Gone?” Alpha Darrock smirks. “Your father has been informed of your well-being, but I am not, under any circumstances, leaving you behind with these savages who are one war away from returning to the earth, bathing and eating dirt.”
My frown deepens. “You’re supposed to be at the garrison, overseeing the preparations.”
He lifts one high shoulder and lets it fall nonchalantly. “I am an Alpha. I do not busy myself with such things. That you do goes to explain how little you know of your place in your kingdom.” He inclines his head to the soldiers walking past. “They live to serve you, not the other way around.”
Too many retorts dance on the tip of my lips, but I don’t speak them. He’s not worth it. I continue on my way, but he steps in my path. “Put her down.”
I grin, reaching up to smack Jessamine’s ass. She yelps, but even he can hear the undertone of heat in her voice. “Why? She enjoys these games we play.” I run a lazy finger up her thigh, and I hear her breath hitch. Darrock does, too, if the silver flashing in his eyes is any indication. I smile, recalling the burn of his blade as he stabbed me that night, and I don’t let up, caressing Jessamine until she sighs softly—a moan. “Don’t you, love?”
Her finger digs into my back, and I know the only reason she isn’t whacking me in the head is because she’s too embarrassed to. Embarrassed at the scent of her arousal wafting in the air. I meet Darrock’s gaze and I don’t doubt that the male wishes me dead. “Remember what you said to me to me that night?”
Remember the pain, King Kier. It will feel much worse on our first night together.
I need not say more. He inches forward but stops mid stride, like he’s thought better of it. I’m near the entrance when he asks, “Where are you taking her?”
“Out.”
“I’m coming with you.”
My brows rise and I turn to him. “You will not.”
“I'm coming. You're not leaving with her to kill her off somewhere no one might find the body," Darrock growls.
Rolling my eyes is unintentional. “We both know that she’s safest with me, but if you must, I won’t stop you. Though, I’d advise you got rid of any ideas to stab me in the back. It won’t end well for you.”