Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 116396 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 582(@200wpm)___ 466(@250wpm)___ 388(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116396 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 582(@200wpm)___ 466(@250wpm)___ 388(@300wpm)
“A life without Necrosis…” Ian surveyed HeartHolme as we passed, looking at the buildings and the church in the center. “Hard to imagine.”
“It’s how life should have always been.”
“You got the Teeth to fight for us? How did you manage that?”
“You can get a lot of shit done with two dragons.” Saved hours of time normally spent on diplomacy.
He chuckled. “Yeah, I bet. What’d you do to Klaus?”
“What makes you think I did anything?”
Ian looked at me, the corner of his mouth up in a smirk. “Come on, Huntley. Did you rip out his entrails and feed them to Storm? Or did you carve out his eyes and force him to eat them?”
I looked forward. “Just a good ol’-fashioned beheading.”
“Really? After what he did to Ivory?”
“I didn’t have the time to torture him.”
“So, now what?” he asked. “What will become of the Teeth?”
“In exchange for their help, I granted them a truce.”
Ian didn’t say anything, but his look said it all.
“Without Necrosis as their ally, they’re the minority. If they stick to their lands, they should be no trouble to the Runes or anyone else.”
“Uh, they still gotta eat people.”
“They can eat animals.”
“Seriously, why don’t you kill them all?”
“Because I’m a just king.”
“What if they attack us?” Ian said.
“So, what if they do?” I asked. “What’s that going to accomplish?”
Ian turned quiet when he knew I was right.
“And let’s not forget—I’m their king now.”
“I guess.”
“I still have to fight a war in the north. Might need them anyway.”
He released a heavy sigh. “Forgot about that…”
“The last frontier.”
“You have no idea what you’re up against.”
“Be that as it may, I made a promise. I’m a man of my word.”
“Right,” Ian said. “I don’t remember you keeping your word when you butchered Ivory’s father.”
I shot him a glare.
“Not that I give a damn.”
“I would have lost these battles if it weren’t for Pyre and Storm. I must honor my debt.”
“But what do we know about the north?” Ian asked. “Literally nothing. You’re going into it blind.”
“Be that as it may.”
“It would be really shitty to make it this far only to be killed—”
“Let us celebrate our victory and rest. We can discuss this later.”
Ian shut his mouth and looked ahead.
Our paths divided, and I entered the home where my wife was waiting for me. I walked up the stairs and found her asleep in bed, the fireplace now cold. I put on a few more logs and got the fire going again before I undressed and slid into the sheets beside her.
Her eyes immediately opened to look at me, and her hand reached for my chest. She grabbed on to me and pulled her body across the mattress until she was right at my side, her head on my shoulder. “Is she awake?”
“No.”
She pressed a kiss to my shoulder. “Give it time.”
I could feel her skin against mine, feel her completely naked figure as it pressed against me. It was an invitation, though one that I didn’t have to acknowledge if I chose not to. But no matter my sorrow, her naked skin against mine was like a log to the fire. It burned me alive, formed an inferno in my belly.
I rolled on top of her, my thick thighs separating hers, feeling her warm sex right against my hardness. I didn’t even know when the arousal had emerged. Must have been the moment I stepped into the room with her. My arm slipped under her lower back, and I lifted her hips so I could slide inside her.
Her eyes rolled back in her head momentarily, as always.
For a moment, there was no stress on my shoulders. It was just me and Ivory, the other half of my soul. It was hard to believe there was a time when I didn’t love her, when she meant nothing to me, when she was just good in the sack. Now my heart beat for hers and only hers, even before she was my wife.
I’d die a million times for her.
She rocked with me, nails against my back, lips feeling mine. “I love you…”
I wrapped her legs around my waist and smothered her neck with kisses. My hips continued to thrust as I sank deep inside. The passion was as hot as the fire in the hearth behind us. “I love you too, baby.”
THIRTY-TWO
Elora
It was the first time I’d seen Queen Rolfe look weak.
Her skin was so pale, it seemed as if she’d been dead for hours. Even with the fire in the room, there was a chill that came from her cold bones. With her hands neatly folded on her chest, she looked ready to be buried in the cemetery alongside her fellow Runes.
I’d had a few hours of sleep, but that moment still felt as if it had just happened. Haldir chasing me down with a sword aimed at my neck. Queen Rolfe coming out of nowhere and saving my life. She held her own as long as she could—until she fell.