Crown of Blood and Ruin: A romantic fairy tale fantasy (The Broken Kingdoms #3)(6)

Did Stave and those like him realize their king was half Timoran?
A grin spread over my lips, and I sank into the water.
I must’ve dozed a bit for I didn’t hear the door at the front creak open. I didn’t hear the scrape of boots over the floorboards. My heart leapt to my throat when hands dipped beneath the surface of the water, curling around my legs.
At the rumble of his laugh against my skin, I leaned back, wholly relaxed.
“Didn’t mean to frighten you,” Valen whispered against the slope of my shoulder. He left soft kisses across my skin, up my neck, to the curve of my ear. The rough calluses of his hand caressed my middle under the water as his other palm pushed aside my damp hair.
“You’re back.” I sighed, cupping one hand behind his head. “Please, frighten all you like if you keep doing this.”
I leveraged onto my knees, and my chest squeezed at the sight of him. His midnight hair was tied off his face. Dark eyes gleamed with a bit of green and gold up close. My fingertips left damp tracks down the edge of his jaw. I touched the tips of his ears, his lips, simply memorizing him again and again.
Valen curled his arms around my naked body, pulling me against his chest. He drew his lips close to mine, pausing just close enough to cause a bit of madness. “I missed you.”
“I hardly noticed your absence.”
He narrowed his eyes and let out a little growl. I shrieked and laughed when Valen scooped beneath my thighs, urging my legs around his waist, as water dripped over the floor. In his arms I was safe, even after he dropped me onto our bed.
With a dark heat in his eyes, the Night Prince prowled over the furs, his body making a cage over mine. “If I am so forgettable, allow me to remedy this, my love.”
I trapped his face between my palms, each breath deepening, each touch a flame. “It might take a great deal of time, My King. Possibly all night.”
He smiled, melting my heart to his all over again, then claimed my mouth. Deep, needy. Perfect.

Chapter three

Night Prince

Elise drew small circles over my chest. Her skin against mine had become a comfort against the pressures of life, and I could not get enough of it. My fingers dragged through her hair; our legs tangled. These moments were too few.
“How many came with you?” she whispered.
“Over fifty. Some are from the Eastern kingdom. Was all well in our absence?”
She hesitated long enough I didn’t entirely trust what she said.
“Yes. It was fine.”
“Was it?”
Elise laced her fingers over my heart and propped her chin on top, grinning. “Yes. Halvar trains us and most days I can’t decide if I love him for it or hate him.”
I laughed, holding her body tighter against me. “He’s like his father. Dagar trained me to fight, and I remember wanting to run the man through some days, while still craving his praise. I respected him above nearly everyone.”
She smiled, but it didn’t last. With the tips of her fingers, Elise brushed my hair off my brow. “I worried for you. We expected you home three nights ago.”
I gathered her over me, drawing her in so I could press my lips to hers. I kissed her sweet and deep. When I pulled back, our foreheads dropped together. “I didn’t think it would take so long. The scout delivered the message, didn’t he?”
“He did.” Elise coiled some of my hair around her finger. “And it is the only reason I did not lay siege to the land searching for you. Still, I worried.”
“I think it is more that you missed me.”
She smirked and settled her head against my shoulder. “Possibly. But only because it’s colder when I don’t have your body here to curl against. No other reason.”
I speckled her in kisses until she laughed and tightened her hold around my waist.
“Valen,” she whispered. “I miss you every moment you’re away.”
“And I, you.”
I cupped her cheek, leaned in to pick up where we left off hours ago, but stopped at the clatter of the door.
“King Valen.” Ari’s voice rang out through the longhouse.
I groaned and flopped onto my back. “No one pestered him this much when he wore the crown. He does this on purpose.”
“I do,” Ari answered, though he was at least fifty paces from our bedroom doorway. “It brings me such joy to pester you. Penance for all the grumbling and pouting done as the Blood Wraith, My King.”
Elise snickered and pressed a kiss to my shoulder. “You are king during a war. There is never time for rest.”
I rolled from beneath the furs and slid into a clean pair of trousers. As I adjusted my belt, I faced her. “Believe me when I say it pains me to leave you.”
Not bothering with a tunic yet, I crept back to the bed.
Elise locked her arms around my neck, kissing the hinge of my jaw. “Such is the life as consort to a king. I’m sure there will be many times I will get used to the back of your head. But it shall make the front that much sweeter.”
Consort.
We’d not spoken much about what the crown meant. There was nothing wrong with consorts, at least not in the Ettan court. Tor was a consort and held an honored position. My grandfather had been the queen’s consort. It was a place of prestige, commitment, a place of love and adoration. But I wanted Elise as more.
I wanted her as my queen.
Vows, to Elise, once meant the end of her freedom. They’d been forced upon her when we met, and the bastard, Jarl Magnus, had forced her to take vows with him at Ravenspire not long ago. She held a distaste for them, and the notion she might hate to take vows, even with me, soured my insides.