Happily Ever Crowned Read online

  I was almost proud of her for that. It showed strength on her part for not shattering beneath his ministrations.

  Unless, of course, he’d destroyed her mind.

  In which case, we had a serious problem.

  I spread her thighs and grimaced at the destruction, shaking my head. “I’m going to enjoy killing that bastard.”

  Still no sign of life from the woman I knew possessed more vivacious energy than anyone in the Underworld. I cupped her cheek, tracing my thumb over her bottom lip.

  “By the time I’m finished, you’ll be as good as new, sweet star.”

  I removed my clothes, folding them and placing them on the opposite counter. Then I threw her poor excuse of a wardrobe into the bin. She’d never have to look at those offending blood-soaked fabrics again.

  Guiding her back into my arms, I carried her to the large oval-shaped bathtub and climbed inside, situating her on my lap. Sponges sat waiting for me on the solid stone rim, as did a variety of healing ointments. I used them carefully, massaging the essences into her skin while encouraging the magical properties of the ingredients to take root.

  Come back to me, little bird, I whispered. Please.

  Nothing.

  But I didn’t expect it to work right away.

  No, healing like this would take time.

  So I gave her as much of it as she required, bathing her continuously, draining the bathtub, filling it with warm water again, and repeating the motions over and over. All the while, I hummed, urging her body to recover, begging her mind to hear mine, and watching as her wounds slowly began to mend into smooth, satiny skin beneath my touch. While intimate, it was also clinical, the famous Noxia remedies working wonders for her essence.

  You’re safe, I whispered, hearing nothing in response.

  The sun disappeared, denoting the midnight hour, the only indication of how many hours had passed us by.

  But I refused to stop until I had her back.

  I should have killed him, I thought, not for the first time.

  Allowing her to go through this under the guise of not being ready no longer felt adequate. Surely I could kill Necros if I caught him off guard. Yes, he still possessed some supernatural energy—as he’d demonstrated on Gareth the other day—but I was the Shadow King.

  I sighed. It would be a fair fight. I knew that. But what if I lost?

  Lux was adamant that I needed Valora to defeat Necros. The prophecy says, I parroted, thinking of her teaching tone.

  What if you’re wrong? I wondered. What if I can do this on my own?

  Do what? a soft voice whispered.

  It took me a moment to realize the source. I tugged Valora’s head back to find her gorgeous eyes focused and very much alive. “How long have you been awake?” I demanded, alarmed that I hadn’t felt her stir.

  “Since you refilled the bathtub,” she replied, the strength in her voice proving her words. No raspy quality like she’d just woken up, but the tone of a woman mostly healed. “I don’t know how long ago that was, but it’s getting cold again.”

  I reached around her to pull the drain, then held her as the water began to gurgle in its descent.

  How do you feel? I asked, drawing my thumb up and down her now-smooth arm.

  Hungry, she replied. And cold.

  As soon as the last of the water disappeared, I refilled the tub with warmer water than before, which caused her to sigh back against me.

  If she noticed we were both naked, she didn’t react.

  Instead, she seemed almost content.

  Until some thought reached her mind and she jolted, jumping straight out of the tub and out the bathroom door.

  “Valora!” I called, chasing after her as she bolted toward the exit of the room. She frantically tried to unfasten the bolts, her movements and eyes wild. “You’re safe, Valora. You’re safe. Calm down. I’m not going—”

  “Zaya!” she yelled, her nails breaking as she futilely tried to fight the locks on the door.

  Oh. Understanding smacked me in the face.

  No, that was her fist.

  She fought me in earnest, demanding I open the door, then turned and bolted toward the corner chair in search of what she knew was a secret passageway behind it.

  I caught her by the hips and yanked her backward. If she ran now, we’d both be fucked. Because Necros would know immediately that I’d healed her even though she clearly had a long way to go.

  I allowed her to scream as I pulled her toward the bed, knowing that if anyone heard her, they would just assume I was doing my job.

  “Let go of me!” she demanded as I pinned her to the mattress, my lips falling to her ear as she fought for dear life beneath me.

  “Zaya is safe,” I whispered.

  She didn’t hear me, too caught up in her need to fight and flee.

  The water clinging to our skin had us slipping against each other, which placed my hardening cock at a very precarious point of her as I pinned her yet again with my hips.

  “Valora,” I growled, needing her to focus.

  But she was wild in her need. Her limbs wrapped around my waist, her heels trying to kick me in one of the worst places.

  Then fire flickered across her skin, only to die on a harsh scream.

  She couldn’t access her energy.

  But she wanted to.

  She saw me as the enemy and I couldn’t blame her, but I needed her to fucking hear me.

  Zaya is safe! I roared into her mind. I sent her to Noxia. All right? She’s fine.

  Valora’s fight slowed, my words finally breaking through.

  “I intercepted her the other night.” The words were a breath against her ear. “I gave her some of my blood to heal her enough to walk. And then I gave her to Grigory, who assured me he would nurse her back to health.” He wasn’t thrilled about it, seeing the halfling demon as well beneath his station, but one look at the woman’s face had him rethinking his position.

  Valora had gone completely still. “Prince Grigory?”

  “Yes.” I loosened my hold on her wrists, lifting onto my elbows on either side of her face.

  She stared up at me with an odd mix of wonder and distrust. “Prove it.” The dare in her tone had me narrowing my eyes.

  “You don’t believe me?” After bathing her for hours? Healing her back to health? Giving her access to all the information she needed to destroy this kingdom?

  “No.” A flat response.

  I nodded. “I see.” Well, that was one way to kill my erection.

  I rolled off her and walked over to the painting hiding the old passageways and pushed it aside.

  “Where are you going?” Valora demanded, not following me.

  I didn’t reply, already inside and searching for the bag I’d hidden nearby. The communication device I needed sat in an exterior pocket, making it easy to find, and by the time I returned, it was to find Valora sitting up in the middle of the bed with her brown locks tousled over one shoulder.

  A beautiful sight.

  Naked.

  Wet.

  Angry.

  Mmm. Too bad we couldn’t channel that emotion into something more worthwhile.

  I tossed her a shirt from my wardrobe. “Put it on.” Harsh words because I hated saying them, but I wasn’t about to let Grigory see her naked. I dialed the code I knew would force his response and waited for the device to ring.

  Humans called them phones.

  But in the Underworld, our tech was a little more advanced.

  Grigory’s face appeared above the console, a pillow outlining his head. “What’s wrong?”

  A feminine voice complained as my friend shifted, clearly having been in bed entertaining.

  “I need you to put Zaya on,” I said flatly.

  “What?” He shook a manicured hand off his shoulder. “Hold on.” The scenery changed as he shifted from the bed, the angle telling me he was putting on a pair of drawers.

  A female whine had him growling an apol
ogy. “Go play. I’ll be back.”

  Ah, he had more than one woman in bed.

  Typical Grigory.

  “What did you tell me to do?” he asked, the dark tones of his bedroom flashing as he exited the room and entered a familiar corridor.

  “You heard me. Zaya.”

  “You dialed the urgency code to talk to a woman?” he demanded. “No, wait, for a woman.”

  I didn’t reply. Because nothing I could say would resolve the severe lines in his expression.

  “Fuck, Adrik.” He muttered a slew of ancient words, most of them curses, as he moved through the familiar halls of the palace. My gut ached at the sight. Home.

  How long had it been? Only ten or eleven days? Fuck, it felt like a lifetime ago. And while I didn’t regret my mission, I did miss my life.

  Valora met my gaze, her ire lessening by the second as a new emotion brewed in the azure depths of her eyes. She still had a long road to recovery, as was evidenced by the lack of a glimmer in her pupils. If I didn’t know better, I’d say Necros stole more of her power.

  But he would have flaunted it earlier if that were the case.

  A pounding sounded, Grigory being as delicate as always. “Zaya!”

  “Go away!” a sharp voice replied.

  Valora was on her feet in an instant, grabbing the device from my hand. “Put her on.”

  Grigory did a double take at his screen. “Lucifer’s nutsack,” he muttered, pounding again. “I have a call for you, damn it!”

  “Tell her it’s Valora.”

  “Yes, let me broadcast that the motherfucking Queen of Caluçon is on the console,” Grigory drawled. “That won’t attract attention at all.”

  “Stop being a dick,” I told him.

  “I’ll stop being a dick when you stop thinking with yours,” he retorted, banging a third time. “If you don’t open this damn—”

  The door flew open with a livid-looking little pixie on the other side. “You’ll what?”

  For a woman who’d just been nearly raped to death, she seemed to be up and moving just fine. “Your charm is clearly rubbing off on her, Grigory,” I said, surprised.

  “Valora?” she whispered, seizing the device.

  “Oh, Lucifer, you’re all right.” Valora pressed her free palm to her heart, her eyes glistening at the edges. “I thought… I thought Necros…”

  Zaya’s face clouded over, her body swaying over the monitor, ending in Grigory cursing. He caught the little halfling with one arm and looked at the phone. “Yeah, thanks for that, Your Highness.” His gaze flicked toward mine. “Next time you use the urgency code? Make it a real emergency, jackass.”

  The device went silent.

  Valora whimpered, nearly dropping the very expensive piece of tech. I plucked it from her fingertips and stored it temporarily in one of my drawers, then faced her. “Satisfied?”

  “She’s alive.”

  “And safe,” I added, folding my arms.

  She nodded slowly. “And her parents?”

  Ah, that I couldn’t stop. “They were killed at the borders on Necros’s orders.”

  Valora cleared her throat, her gaze falling to the ground. “Because I’d called them here.”

  “Which was a logical decision on your part. Necros killed them because he’s a cruel bastard. That’s on him. Not you.”

  “But they wouldn’t—”

  “Don’t go down that path, Valora. Don’t blame yourself for what-ifs or potential outcomes. You called them to retrieve their daughter after he had her violently raped to the point of near death. Then he killed them because he could. All of that is his fault. Not yours.”

  She said nothing for so long that I worried I’d lost her again, that she’d fallen into a pit of self-despair I’d have to pull her out of, but when her gaze met mine, all I found was rage.

  And something else.

  Something… heated.

  “You saved Zaya’s life.” Not a question now, just a statement. “Why?”

  “For you.” I wouldn’t lie to her. If I hadn’t seen how much she cared for the girl, I wouldn’t have interfered. But I knew Zaya meant something to her, and I refused to allow Necros to take anything else from her.

  Valora took a step forward.

  Then another.

  Until her breasts pressed against my folded arms through the thin shirt she wore. “I’m going to kiss you now,” she declared, shocking the hell out of me.

  But not nearly as much as when she gripped my elbows to go up onto her toes and pressed her mouth to mine.

  Necros was the only man I’d ever kissed, and he never reciprocated.

  I expected Adrik to be the same, only his lips softened beneath mine, accepting and returning the motion as I clung to his arms for balance.

  My heart skipped a beat, my stomach tightening as foreign sensations warmed my bloodstream.

  This was my first real kiss.

  And I wanted more.

  I’d meant this to be a gesture of gratitude, a way of thanking him for helping the only real friend I’d ever known. But with each tender brush of my lips against his, my desire for something dark unfolded.

  My fingers danced up his hard biceps to his shoulders, gripping him tightly as I tried to kiss him harder.

  But his forearms remained crossed.

  His body stiff.

  Yet his lips parted for mine.

  The conflicting signals left me growling against him, confused. Was he denying my exploration or accepting it?

  I pulled back, meeting his obsidian gaze. His dilated pupils unveiled his interest while his expression remained studiously blank. “Am I…?” I trailed off, swallowing. “Is this all right? Because I want to do that again.”

  He dipped his head, the manner oddly subservient. “You can do whatever you want, Valora,” he replied, his voice deeper than before. “Whatever you need.”

  His words tightened my core, causing me to desire things I shouldn’t.

  Like exploring every inch of him with my tongue.

  Because he was still very naked.

  And aroused, I realized, my gaze falling to his groin. I’d felt him against me a few times, knew he was well-endowed, but seeing it stirred something new to the surface. A longing I never would have anticipated.

  Adrik didn’t try to cover himself, his arms still folded, his eyes on me.

  He’s giving me control.

  No man had ever allowed that. Not that my experience was vast, but Necros had trained me to expect dominance in the bedroom. He always chose what we did, how we did it, with no care as to what I desired. And the last week—or however long it’d been—hadn’t been much different.

  I honestly couldn’t remember most of it, having found a place to hide inside my mind while Necros defiled me in unspeakable ways.

  The last thing I remembered was him telling me the cruelty his men had planned for Zaya, how it would be a dream compared to what he intended to do to me. Despair had driven me to the edge of my thoughts, where I buried myself in agony and retreated from the world. Then I’d awoken in Adrik’s arms feeling oddly safe, and incredibly numb. It had taken me far too long to understand what had happened. To recall Zaya.

  But Adrik had already saved her. For me.

  I knew he wanted to use me, had heard it in his mind while lounging in the bath. He’d left himself wide open in his efforts to connect with me, and I’d swum through his thoughts with abandon.

  He’d never lied to me.

  He wanted to kill Necros, to punish him for what he’d done to the Shadow Kingdom, and he needed my power to do it. The Queen of Noxia told him that, but he’d been questioning whether or not she was right before. Wondering if he could take Necros down now, to stop him from harming me for another second.

  No one had considered me in such a way, desiring to protect me. I wasn’t sure how to interpret that.

  And now, with Zaya… I swallowed. My mind was a mess, my body still bruised, while my heart beat wildly
against my ribs. Emotions were a fickle notion. They drove others to do absurd things, and right now, mine desired for me to kiss Adrik again.

  So I did.

  This time with my palm wrapped securely around the back of his neck. I used my other hand for balance as I remained on my toes, my breasts pressed into those still-folded arms.

  My tongue parted his lips. Exploring. Tasting. And he responded in kind, his touch soft and hesitant against my own as I indulged in my first proper embrace.

  His arms eventually fell, his hands loose at his sides as if debating whether or not to touch me. I took the option away by pressing my chest to his, wrapping my arms around his neck, and driving our kiss to the next level.

  He groaned, his arousal hot and heavy against my flat belly, as he finally pressed a palm to my lower back. Necros would be harsh, ripping at the shirt covering my torso. But Adrik wasn’t. He merely held me close while I devoured his mouth.

  I learned how to nip, lick, and kiss, using his tongue and lips as my guide. Each stroke set my blood on fire, until I felt I might burst. So hot. So intense. So right.

  “More,” I whispered, my voice unrecognizable to my own ears.

  “Take whatever you need,” he breathed, his fingers flexing against my spine.

  My thighs clenched at the permission in those words and the very real yearning underlining his tone.

  This was wrong.

  I shouldn’t want any of this.

  But I’d also never been given such an opportunity.

  And I wanted to feel. To be in charge. To make decisions for myself. To experience pleasure on my own terms. To make a man bow to me for once.

  I started backward toward the bed, my hands on his biceps, tugging him with me.

  “Lie down,” I said, my tone a husky feminine sound that somehow intensified the moment even more.

  Adrik slid onto the comforter, his strong body taking up a good portion of the mattress as he relaxed onto his back with his hands tucked behind his head.

  Another concession.

  He wouldn’t touch me unless I asked. Wouldn’t kiss me unless I kissed him. Wouldn’t push me to do anything I didn’t want while allowing me to do whatever I desired to him in return.