Fate of a Royal (Lords of Rathe, #1)(82)

Like a deranged animal being starved of his favorite meal, his cheeks are sharper than usual with a tint of pink, and the bloodstains all over his chest lead a trail up his neck and to his face. No wounds, from what I can see.

“Your heart beats.” His tone is scratchy, the sheer awe in it tugging something deep inside me. “You’re…the fates got it right. You were made to be mine.”

“Knight.” I choke on his name, and he shoots up from the bed and is in front of me in a flash. He braids his hands into my hair ever so gently, and I lean up to look at him from below. “I don’t understand.”

The urgency I craved to be home, to the comfort of Ben, has dwindled out like a candle on its final little burn of wick. I shiver in Knight’s hold but lean closer into him, needing his touch on me. Like it’s the only thing I ever want again.

I don’t want to go anywhere; I want to stay right here. I need to.

Please don’t make me leave.

“Are you hungry?” he asks lazily.

My stomach rumbles and I blink up at him. “Yes. Weird.”

He chuckles but tucks me beneath his arm and directs me to the door. “Actually, hunger is the least weird thing that’s happened and about to happen to you, baby, but let’s get you fed.”

I let him walk me down the long hallway, bypassing the family portraits. I never asked him how many siblings he has. I mean, the room belonged to someone, or so the maid insinuated, but chances are she was telling the truth. There were personal items scattered throughout. Yet another thing I didn’t ask myself upon waking here.

We hit the bottom of the stairs and he leads me down to where I can hear laughter and chatting. Shit. My feet stop and he pauses, turning back to look at me.

“What’s the matter?”

Bats fly around my belly as I think about going in there and seeing everyone. “Your brother and mother don’t necessarily like me, Knight.” I don’t mention his father, unsure I want to know what to expect from the head of the Deveraux house.

“Psshh…” He waves me off. “They don’t like anyone. It’s nothing personal.” A sense of calm washes over me like I’ve just taken a hit of weed and I find his eyes on mine. “I promise. I would never put you in danger of someone else. Only me.” All of the panic I felt moments ago is replaced by one bit of certainty that I still don’t understand.

I trust him. The why isn’t even a question my mind will allow. I just…do.

Tucking myself back beneath his heavy arm, I let him walk me farther down the hall. When we round the corner, I wish I hadn’t come down here. Shit. Everyone is here.

His mother’s back is turned to me at this end of the table, his father directly opposite. His father is clearly where they all get their size from. I’ve never seen muscles—hell—even limbs as large as I do right now. He shifts an arm, and all of the veins swollen beneath his flesh ripple up his neck as his eyes snap up to mine. He has deep black eyes, dark hair, and pale skin. Fear stirs beneath my skin when he settles on me, and for the sixteenth time since waking, I’m once again wondering why the fuck I’m so quick to trust the man at my side.

He’s a powerful being of some sort, and I’m just London.

I don’t look around the table at the brothers because I can’t take my eyes off his father. I almost don’t want to in case he kills me before I can blink.

“Interesting,” he murmurs, leaning back in his chair. His eyes fly between Knight and me before he gestures to the table. “Sit. I’m sure we can get someone to bring you something you eat, London.”

His mother’s back stills, but Knight is already directing us both around the table, pulling out a chair beside Legend and gesturing for me to sit.

I don’t ask how he knows my name. He probably knows everything about me.

I slowly lower myself down as Knight takes the other side. Creed is directly opposite me, with Sinner beside him. It isn’t Knight’s hostile mother or shady father that has the hairs on the back of my neck standing up.

It’s Creed, the moment his eyes meet mine.

At first, they’re the normal hard I’m used to when pointed at me, but then they change. Darken and narrow. His muscles grow stiff and I watch his knuckles grow white around his fork.

His lip curls up in disgust, and he doesn’t hide it. I’m desperate to ask what the fuck I did to him to warrant such a fucking cold-ass reception. This isn’t new. He has always hated me, but it’s somehow intensified as time has gone on. Tonight? That shit is overflowing.

My fingertips tingle in a way they never have before, almost as if in preparation of a fight I could never win, so I hide them beneath the table, locking them together.

“Creed,” Knight snaps, but he doesn’t break. “Brother or not, I’ll kill you if you come near her.”

In my peripheral, their mother’s chest rises at Knight’s statement, but I don’t look her way, and I don’t need to know she doesn’t like the shift in Knight’s loyalty.

Honestly, I’m not so sure I understand it, but I don’t doubt his threat. I feel its certainty deep in my bones, like a wicked whisper across my soul, petting and soothing my beating heart.

Creed slowly backs up, stabbing his fork into the slab of meat on his plate as he brings it up to his mouth. His fangs slide out as he bites into the animal and chews slowly, blood dripping down the corner of his mouth.