Lea

“Were you born with all your organs intact?” he responds. I can’t see his face, so I have no way of knowing where he’s going with this question. “Yes …” I say cautiously. “Good,” he responds, “then I expect you to use the one beneath your skull.”

Sometimes people sneak up on you and suddenly you don’t know how you ever lived without them.

“We’re so quick to dismiss the sentiment as weak, but hearts beat for love, don’t they? A life without purpose may be no life, but a life without love is nothing but an existence.”

We hunt the flame, the light in the darkness, the good this world deserves.

“I have no desire to kill innocents. I want to help the people of Solis—free them from the Blood Crown. That is what we wanted to do,” I told her. “But they killed my brother and took the one person who means the world to me. I will do anything to get him back. No matter how badly it stains my soul.”

He bit down on his lower lip, but the corners of his mouth curved up. Not one but two stupid dimples appeared. “You’re so annoying,” I muttered. “Endearingly annoying,” he corrected, and his father sighed. “More like it’s a good thing you’re pretty,” I grumbled under my breath.

“It is a great honor that I introduce He who is born of the First Kingdom, created from the blood and ash of those who fell before him, the second son of the former King Valyn and Queen Eloana—Casteel Hawkthrone Da’Neer, the King of Blood and Ash.” My breath caught at the title that belonged to the Ascended— to the Blood Crown. Casteel stiffened beside me, but the crowd erupted in shouts and cheers, roaring applause that echoed throughout the valleys and the streets like thunder. Willa held up her fist, and silence fell. “He is joined by She who carries the blood of the King of Gods, the Liessa, and the true heir of Atlantia—Penellaphe Balfour Da’Neer, the Queen of Flesh and Fire.”

“We aren’t pretending to be in love to accomplish our goals, Your Majesty. I do love your son, and I know he loves me. When I said that he was the first thing I’d ever chosen for myself, that wasn’t a lie. He is…” I smiled through the knot of emotion swelling in my throat. “He is my everything, and I would do anything for him. I don’t know when it changed for us exactly, but we were both falling for each other long before I knew that Hawke wasn’t his first name. None of that changes how we got here—the lies or the betrayals. But we are here now, and that’s what matters.”

“I don’t know what you might think of me or what Alastir shared with you, but I didn’t choose to be the Maiden or to wear the veil. I didn’t choose to be a descendant of some deity or come back here and break bonds or usurp any bloodlines. The only thing I have ever chosen is your son.”

Sometimes, I wondered if he knew where my thoughts had gone, which made me think of something else. “Do you have a changeling in your bloodline, Cas?” “Not sure, but I can tell you something’s changing in my pants right now,” he murmured.

Zeth, a man I know to be a criminal, has treated me with more respect than my own father, a man of the church.

“You’re afraid you’ll feel trapped and unable to escape. You’ll be frightened, because you think I’m going to treat you the way Raphael wants to treat you. To hurt you. To take something from you that you don’t willingly want to give.” She looks away. Again I reach up, but this time it’s to gently turn her face back to me. “I’m not Raphael. I don’t like to hurt women. I would never, never force you to do something you didn’t want to. We’re going to push your limits, perhaps, but having those limits is okay. If you honestly don’t want to try something, then all you need to do is say so and that’s it.” A slow smile gradually forms on her face. “So… we’re going to have a safe word?” I laugh. “Sugar, ‘no’ is the only word you ever need to say. ‘No’ should never not be enough.”

“If you think that what I did was a shock, then you need to understand that I will do anything and everything for my wife.” Casteel’s gaze latched on to his father’s. “No risk is too great, nor is anything too sacred. Because she is my everything. There is nothing greater than her, and I do mean nothing.”

“I…I tried to eat Kieran.” “He won’t hold it against you.” “I tried to eat Kieran while I was naked.” “That’s probably why he won’t hold it against you.”

“You are the foundation that helps me stand. You are my walls and my roof. My shelter. You are my home.” His lashes swept up, the amber of his eyes churning wildly. “As you are mine, Poppy.”

I would kill any and all who stood between Casteel and me because we deserved to be together. We deserved a future, a chance to explore each other’s secrets. To love one another. We deserved to simply…live. I would do anything to ensure that.

He had been many things to me. A stranger in a dimly lit room who’d been my first kiss. A guard who had sworn to lay down his life for mine. A friend who had looked beyond the veil of the Maiden to truly see me underneath, who’d handed me a sword to protect myself instead of forcing me into a gilded cage. A legend cloaked in darkness and nightmares that had plotted to betray me. A Prince of a kingdom believed to have been lost to time and war, who had suffered unimaginable horrors and yet managed to find the pieces of who he used to be. A brother who would do anything, commit any deed to save his family. His people. A man who bared his soul and stripped open his heart to me—and only me. My first. My guard. My friend. My betrayer. My partner. My husband. My heartmate. My everything.