Easing up onto his elbow, Keris watched her sleep, unwilling to wake her. Unwilling to sacrifice this moment.
The lamplight cast dancing shadows over her rounded cheekbones, illuminating the freckles
splashed across her skin. Her long lashes moved slightly, as though she were dreaming, though the steady breath through her parted lips told him that whatever visions filled her head, they did not trouble her. His gaze drifted over her dark curls, nearly long enough to brush her shoulders now, then over the long column of her neck to her delicate collarbones. The curve of her breast, and the muscled length of her arm, her fingers loosely interlaced with his.
Why was fate so cruel as to demand he leave her?
A sudden wave of grief passed over him, the intensity so staggering it stole the breath from his lungs. Made his eyes burn so that he had to squeeze them shut. She needed him to do this. Needed him to bring her an army. Needed him to be the king of Maridrina. Yet every part of Keris wished that the only thing she needed from him was himself.
“I love you.”
Her beautiful voice filled his ears, fracturing his heart, and when he opened his eyes, it was to find her looking at him. He wanted to lose himself in her dark gaze, to fall down into the depths and forget everything else, but instead he said, “I need to secure passage north.”
The faint smile that had been on her lips fell away, and she pressed her forehead against his chest.
“Why is it always this way?” Her voice was shaking, as though she were close to tears.
“Star-crossed,” he answered softly, feeling a tear drip down his cheek. He wiped it away before it fell on her shoulder.
“I wish I could travel with you,” she said. “It’s not fair that you have to do this alone.”
Keris shook his head, knowing this was her heart speaking, not her mind. Knowing that as she stepped out of his arms and into her role as empress, logic would prevail. “Petra is poised to attack your people. As the rightful empress, you need to be standing at the head of your army. They need to see you present.”
Keris felt the dampness of tears on his chest as Zarrah said, “I’m afraid. For you. For my people.
For myself.” Lifting her face, she met his gaze. “Promise me that this isn’t the end.”
“I promise,” he said, because life was not possible for him without her. He’d come back to her, knowing that they’d again be pulled apart, that he’d again face this grief. Over and over he’d do it, for as long as they both lived, because even stolen moments in her presence were worth a lifetime of pain. “I will come back to you.”
She pressed her lips to his shoulder, just below the arrow wound, then moved onto her hands and knees, kissing her way down his chest, then his stomach. Though he’d been in her most of the night, his cock still hardened at her touch. Wanting more. Wanting her.
Zarrah looked up at him then, her large brown eyes framed with endless lashes, anything but innocent as she said, “I’m yours.”
He exhaled, relaxing his hold on her, though a groan tore from his lips as she closed her mouth over him. Sucked him deep, her nails trailing over his skin, his heart pounding harder with each passing second. Zarrah knew him in a way no one else ever had, ever would, and part of him would never cease to be amazed that she loved him in spite of it.
instinct told him that it was dawn, and Keris opened his eyes. The lamp on the small table next Her tongue circled his tip, and he drew in a steadying breath because he was losing control.
Though perhaps he was delusional to think he ever had control when in her presence, ever at her mercy. “Zarrah … Zarrah, I’m going to—”
She lifted her face for a heartbeat, meeting his gaze, then lowered it again, and the sight of her full lips around his cock was his undoing.
The violence of his climax made him shout her name, bowing his spine, his fingers tangling in her hair as he spent himself. Falling back against the bed, Keris closed his eyes, dragging in breath after breath as she curled around him, one finger tracing over the muscles of his torso.
Marry me, he silently asked her. Be my wife, the mother of our children. His lips parted, words rising—
over the long column of her neck to her delicate collarbones. The curve of her breast, and the muscled Only for a cough to sound outside the curtain serving as the chamber’s door. From the far side, Daria’s voice said, “One of our spies has arrived with urgent news. The Usurper has made her first move. We need you both, now.”
“Impossible,” Zarrah said. “She can’t yet know that Arakis has turned against her. Would only just lungs. Made his eyes burn so that he had to squeeze them shut. She needed him to do this. Needed him have learned that I escaped the island.”
Keris didn’t answer, his skin crawling with trepidation because if Petra were merely on the march south, Daria would have said so. It was something else.
It was something worse.
Her beautiful voice filled his ears, fracturing his heart, and when he opened his eyes, it was to find They both swiftly washed and dressed, going into the tunnels and making their way to Arjun’s war her looking at him. He wanted to lose himself in her dark gaze, to fall down into the depths and forget room. Whispers echoed, the faces of all those they passed grim. Except it wasn’t Zarrah they looked to.
It was to him.
They reached the war room to find Arjun and Daria speaking with Miri, who must have turned around to ride back almost as soon as she’d returned to Arakis. At the sight of them, Arjun said,
“Thank you for bringing us the news so swiftly. Rest before you return to the city.”
Miri nodded and departed, closing the door behind her.
“Petra has set sail,” he said. “Fifty ships filled with soldiers.”
“We have time to evacuate our people from Arakis,” Zarrah answered. “We can retreat inland and evade her forces until we’re ready.”
Keris heard her, but the words sounded distant, barely registering in his ears, because Arjun hadn’t been addressing his daughter; he’d been addressing Keris. “She didn’t sail south, did she?”
Arjun shook his head.
“She intends to take Nerastis, then?” Please let it be Nerastis, he silently pleaded. Please let this knowing that they’d again be pulled apart, that he’d again face this grief. Over and over he’d do it, for attack fall upon soldiers.
A fool’s hope, because if invasion was her intent, she’d have taken her entire army north.
“It was our spies in Nerastis who sent word,” Arjun answered. “Petra’s fleet attacked your ships there, damaging or sinking all of them. But instead of disembarking, they sailed north.”
Past the army that he’d poised to march to Zarrah’s aid, and this news would have taken days on a fast ship to reach them in Arakis.
The world around Keris swam, a roaring in his ears drowning out all other sounds. There were only a thousand soldiers in Vencia to stand against a number ten times that. A thousand soldiers to He exhaled, relaxing his hold on her, though a groan tore from his lips as she closed her mouth overprotect his family. His people. His kingdom.
Sara.
Staggering to his feet, Keris fought for balance as everything spun. “I need to get north,” he said. “I need a horse. A ship.”