جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 390

Evander I have the urge to yank Kenna into a sitting room, or a closet, or a fucking darkened hallway the second my feet hit the ground in Moonrise. I can’t, though. Not when our mothers are barreling toward us, and their faces are drawn with so much worry that it could easily break my heart, if I still had a heart to break. I let go of Kenna’s hand and feel the absence of her touch like another blade in my side.But my mom throws herself against me and sobs. I slowly wrap my arms around her, resting my chin on the top of her head. The throne room takes shape all around me–the soft cream curtains, the murals on the walls and the ceiling, the windows overlooking the lake.

EvanderI’d walk off a cliff if there was one nearby. I’m sure if I ran deep enough into what was once called the Deadlands–the old home of creatures like rogues–I’d find the swift death I’m looking for. Instead, I’m drunk in an inn somewhere in the Roguelands… but not nearly drunk enough to wash the taste of every word I said to Kenna out of my mouth.The inn is full of warriors from all three major kingdoms. The Tarsian warriors are notable by their sandy colored leathers and desert sun-tanned skin. It’s interesting to watch them confer with the Rogueland warriors, of course. The allyship between the Tarsian and the Roguelands is precarious, based wholly on how Alpha King Ryatt and Alpha King Jaxon feel about each other at the moment. Queen Ella split Eastonia in two during the first years of her reign, giving Jaxon full authority of the lands past the river that once walled the Roguelands off from the lost city of Rifthold. I’ve heard Alpha Jaxon likes to hold the fact Alpha K

Evander  I think I might want to kill Sydney. For someone so stoic and all business, he’s also extremely sarcastic and has found every opportunity to push my buttons the last twenty-four hours or so. Thank the gods we can’t mind-link because I’m sure he’d be rattling off insults and jests in my ear every waking hour we spend traveling back to Moonrise. We’re close to the sacred valley now. Close enough I can sense the wards Ryatt put up around the city to keep it hidden. I pull on a shirt as I look out over the mountainous horizon. Summer is in full swing, and the rolling mountains are nothing but emerald green trees. There’s a lake in the distance that sparkles like diamonds over a sheet of the purest turquoise, but no sprawling, golden city in sight. “We’re here,” I grumble, stooping to tie my boots. Sydn

Kenna Evander looks down at me and goes perfectly still. “What was that?” I whisper. It could easily have been the fireworks the elder council in the coven ordered for the festivities. Another Earth rattling boom shakes the underground temple to the point dust and bits of rocks tumble from the ceiling. I don’t even have a second to take a breath before Evander rolls off me, pulls me to my feet, and grabs his shirt. He yanks it over my head and deftly buttons it, but his body is so still, and his head is cocked to the side as he listens to whatever is happening beyond the sanctuary of the cave. His mark on my shoulder burns, and blood seeps into the white fabric of his shirt, which is large enough that it brushes over the top of my knees as he steps away and quickly puts on his pants. “Where is your cloak?”“Evander, what is going on? It’s just the fireworks&ndash

KennaI arch my back and brush my mouth over Evander’s jaw. His proximity is overwhelming to every single sense, and I drown in him. He lowers himself to cover me wholly with his body, pushing the sheets down to the end of the bed with his feet. This feels different than it did in the cave. Despite our obvious desire for each other that has spanned weeks at this point, we were performing the ritual together. It was something we had to do.But this… this is just for us. Because we want to. Because, despite everything that happened last night and what’s happening now, we need this from each other. His touch is the perfect distraction. His hand roaming down my side is enough for my mind to go blissfully blank. Every other feeling is set aside for now, and that’s okay. For a few moments, we can just be mates. Soon, I’m sure every waking minute of my life will be consumed by worry for my parents and my kingdom. Falling back into the spiral of anxiety and grief, I clutch his face and dr