Total pages in book: 197
Estimated words: 186911 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 935(@200wpm)___ 748(@250wpm)___ 623(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 186911 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 935(@200wpm)___ 748(@250wpm)___ 623(@300wpm)
“How premature.”
I snapped around, scream clogging in my throat.
“A mouse shouldn’t smile before it’s escaped the trap.”
Snow and dirt crunched under Alisdair’s paw— No, foot. He was rapidly changing, the beast clawing back under his skin for the smirking, handsome king to emerge. My horse took off so fast, she kicked up a wave of snow that smacked across my cheek.
My voice was a thin rasp. “How...?”
“Clever,” he hissed. “Oh, so very clever. I confess, I underestimated you. Spreading my mark on every male and man in creation. Using a decoy to carry me in the wrong direction. Masking your scent with that”—his nose wrinkled—“unfortunate smell.”
Alisdair started circling me, standing the hairs on the back of my neck on end. “Everything I was told about you was wrong. And to think, I was going to kill such a magnificent, intelligent creature.” I cried out, flinching away when a clawed finger suddenly stroked my cheek in the dark. “I bow to you, my queen.”
To my shock, he did it—bowing his head in deference to me.
“You are truly formidable. More than worthy of being my mate. My match. But...” He tore his clothes clean from his body. “This was always going to end one way. Come to me.”
“W-wait,” I cried, finding my voice. “Alisdair, please, you have to listen to me. I need to go back to Lyrica. I swear it’s important! You said I didn’t have anything to bargain, but I do— I will. Let me go and I’ll return for the boy with everything you need to get revenge against the king without war and bloodshed.”
He ate the distance between us.
“Or! Or,” I rushed, backing away. “Come with me. After I’ve done what I must, I’ll return and we can go together. There’s a cottage in Sarabai. A treehome in Rajadom. A guest lodging in Quatassa. Any one of those places could hold what you seek—”
Alisdair sliced the buttons of my cloak, letting the wind whip it away.
“—to get your revenge against Salman.”
The front of my bodice was next. Alisdair was a man possessed—slicing a thin, neat line through my clothes, unwrapping his mate.
“Alisdair, this is no trick. You have to trust me, if you do, everything will be put right.” I surged forward, grasping his face in my hands. “It’s not me you want!”
“I’ve told you, my queen...”
He waved his hand, and our surroundings melted away. The snow, the dark, the shifting shadows of the night—all faded.
“You’re all I want.”
I found myself in our bedroom. Seemed there would be no rough tree bark against my back, or snow melting under my feet. Alisdair meant to have me on a bed of silk and cotton.
My lips parted, telling him that I wasn’t Emiana. That we’d both been played for a fool by a selfish and desperate princess, and I had to get back to my family before Emiana’s desperation destroyed more than one life.
I opened my mouth to tell him if he let me, I’d bring him to his true mate—a woman just as ruthless, calculating, and treasonous as him. I opened my mouth, and nothing came out. Not because the curse held my tongue... but because Alisdair did.
He captured my lips in a rough and hungry kiss. Alisdair molded me to him—fitting our bodies together like puzzle pieces.
His hands were everywhere. Caressing my thighs. Tangling in my waves. Memorizing every dip and curve. Slicing up the remains of my clothes.
He nipped my lips, demanding entrance. The rough, forbidden ecstasy of our tongues tangling weakened my knees. I stayed upright only for Alisdair’s grip on my ass—holding me firm to him, wrapping my legs around his waist, moving his hardness between my middle.
Alisdair broke free and threw me. I swallowed a cry, soaring across the sheets and landing on the pillows. Muscles rippled on his back as he stalked toward me—the predator and his prey.
He kissed the inside of my ankle, making me shiver. My skin was alive like it’d never been before. I was acutely aware of the silk tickling my back. The glow of the flickering orblights, casting our shadows over the fireplace. The press of all the things I needed to say, lodging in my throat.
No.
I could say no. I could end this. Deny him the pleasure of ravaging my body like he denied me my freedom. His caged bird didn’t have to sing.
He skated up my thigh, his lips following in his hands’ wake. Little whimpers escaped my mouth under rough, biting kisses.
More markings. More claims of absolute ownership... and only one word to remind him I belonged to no one.
“Say it.” Alisdair shredded my undergarments—a flimsy barrier that was no match for him. “Go on, say it.”
I swallowed hard. He couldn’t know what I was thinking, and yet somehow, he always did.
“Say what?” I rasped.
“You look as though you have something to say, my queen. Do it,” he hissed through gritted teeth, gaze pinning me through. “You have my ear, as you have my bed, as you have my soul. Tell me what troubles a little bird.”