Series: Lords of Rathe Series by Meagan Brandy
Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 98580 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 493(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98580 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 493(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
I glare at him, shaking my head but leaning up on my tippy toes to kiss against his lips softly. “If you get me pregnant, Knight,” I bat my lashes up at him sweetly, “I will fuck you up.”
He barks out a laugh at my otherwise human response, waving his hand out lazily. The heaviness of clothes back on my skin makes me more annoyed than I would have hoped, but I love that he didn’t wash himself off me.
“Fuck, this is a disaster...” I whisper, looking down at Rathe as we orbit from up above.
“It’s going to be fine. The people have never liked the Ministry, I merely did something that they’ve all wanted to happen for too long now.”
He hugs me from behind, kissing me on top of my head just as his phone starts ringing in his pocket.
“Well fuck. My brother’s timing is getting worse.”
He answers, hitting speaker. I don’t know why that comforts me. Maybe because it shows that he isn’t hiding any more secrets from me, or maybe it’s just all in my head.
“Yo, we’ve got a problem...” Legend’s voice comes through the phone and the hairs on the back of my neck stand straight. “Get to the grounds. Now.”
Winds wrap around us and before my next blink, our feet hit the pavement.
Knight goes stiff against me, and I look up at him, brows furrowing.
“Knight, what's wro—”
“Hello … bestie.”
Ice prickles against my skin and I suck in a sharp breath. Slowly, my head turns over my shoulder, my blue eyes connecting with a very familiar pair.
“Temperance?”
Twenty-Nine
Knight
Tension wraps around my muscles and my eyes cut to Sin’s.
This is our triplet, the blood we shared a connection like no other with ... once upon a time. Yet she stood there beside the council and drove the dagger into our guts with a smile.
The same smile she wears now as she stands in the heart of Rathe, chin held high … our people kneeling before her with stars in their eyes. To them, their long-lost princess lives. She returns to them.
But they don’t know she betrayed us, and we don’t know why she did or where she’s been. I saw the vision in my father's memories. She lay dead on the floor.
I think back a moment, my brows pull.
No, she lay unconscious. There was no blood to be seen, no wound, just the shaken foundation of the thousand-year-old walls and utter destruction of the room.
Mother had said no one could know, but what did that mean exactly?
“Oh my god...” London whispers, pulling free of my hold. “Temperance!”
She darts forward, arms stretched out, and horror slams into me as I realize what she’s doing.
She doesn’t know because I’ve yet to tell her.
She’s running, rushing to hug the girl who was once her best friend. The girl she thought she’d killed for a time when her manipulated memories shifted.
She's fast, and I was in my head and she’s nearly reached her now.
I jerk at the same time as my brothers, but it’s too late, London has thrown herself into the hands of the enemy.
Before we can snatch her back, Temperance snaps her fingers, smiling over her shoulder and they disappear through a portal.
“No! Fuck!” I roar, whipping around.
The people gasp, whispering, having no idea what is going on.
“Your princess is a traitor to the crown. She helped the council capture your Lords!” Vicente shouts.
“No!” Mother shouts, but Sinner wraps his palm around her mouth yanking her back.
The streets grow loud, shouting and screaming but it’s one person’s I latch onto.
“There! On the terrace!” someone shouts.
I whip around to find London and her at the edge of the Ministry building, the very building I threw her off. Rage beats wildly in my chest.
“My Lord, is that your mate?!” another shouts.
“That is the reject!”
“No!” I boom, and instantly, silence falls. My pulse beats wildly, with anger and fear and pride as I stare up at my white-haired beauty. “She is no reject. She is the future. She is Villaina Lacroix, saved and protected by your fallen King. She saved me and my brothers from the treachery of the council. She is my mate. We call her London... but you will call her Queen. She is more deserving of the title than any before her.”
My eyes slide to my mother’s, and the look she gives me is none I’ve seen.
Later, Mother.
“Our King has chosen his Queen!” a man roars. “Praise Satan!”
Roars and howls fill the air.
“Why are we still down here?” Legend growls.
“Temperance can’t possibly be stronger than London.” Creed watches them closely. “But royal blood does course through her veins.”
Baby...can you hear me?
The bond beats strong in my chest, her acceptance felt and understood though not yet spoken into fruition.
“Yes.” Her whisper rolls across my mind.
Listen to me... it was her. She helped the council.