A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire (Blood and Ash 2)

I stepped back from the horse, folding my arms over my waist as I stared at the light blue curtains rippling out from the terrace across the street. “Your people already dislike me because I was the Maiden. And now they’re going to think I’m a Soul Eater. I really don’t think marrying me is going to change that.”

“The people just haven’t seen anything like that before. They need time to grow used to it, and they will accept you,” he said. “I do think you should hold off on using your abilities, though—”

“I’m not going to hide.” I met his stare with an equally hard one. “I’m not going to ignore those in pain—people I can help. I won’t do that.”

“I’m not asking you to hide your abilities.” He drew his arms from the saddle. “All I’m asking is that you hold off until we understand more. Use your abilities when there isn’t a crowd to witness it. That way, we control the narrative.”

My stomach tumbled. “Is there a narrative we need to control?”

“There is always a narrative.” He dragged his hair back from his face with his fingers. The unruly waves immediately toppled over his forehead. “What you did for Beckett was nothing short of amazing,” he bit out, shifting the topic. “I hope you know that.”

My brows inched up my forehead. “You don’t sound like you’re amazed. You sound angry.”

“That’s because the damn Soul Eater thing is overshadowing the fact that you healed broken bones with your touch.” He stepped in closer to me, a predatory intent to his stare. “I don’t think you understand what you did for that boy.”

“I know what I did.” I unfolded my arms. “I…I healed him.”

“You didn’t do only that.” He took another step, his eyes now like chips of amber.

Heart thumping, I backed up against the warm clay and stone of Vonetta’s house. “I didn’t?”

Placing his hands on either side of my head, he leaned in. “If a wolven suffers a broken bone, they must immediately shift to prevent permanent damage to the bone, the nerves, and the soft tissue. They have minutes to shift, and he was already at that point or damn near close to it.”

“Okay?” I whispered, wondering why he still sounded frustrated.

“He would’ve lost his legs, Poppy. You prevented that.”

“Then why do you sound angry with me?” I demanded.

“I’m not,” he growled.

“You sure about that?”

“One hundred percent sure.”

“Are you…hungry again?” I asked, even though his eyes remained normal, and I knew he didn’t need blood yet.

“Not for blood.” He dipped his head then, and all the air fled my lungs. His mouth was a mere inch from mine.

Was he going to kiss me?

People could see us. People could already be watching. But the intensity in his stare told me that wasn’t the point. Whatever he felt wasn’t for show.

“I don’t think you know your own feelings.” I flattened my palms against the warm stone and clay.

“If you open your senses to me right now, you’ll know exactly what I’m feeling. Do it.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Why?” His warm breath danced across my parted lips.

“Because I don’t want to.” A flutter started in my chest.

“Or is it because you don’t want to know that it’s taking everything in me not to ruin yet another pair of your pants by ripping them off and fucking you so hard that days from now, you’ll still be able to feel the extent of my gratitude.”

My eyes never felt bigger. The sharp, swift curl low in my stomach never felt more reckless, more demanding, more alive.

I swallowed—swallowed hard. “That seems like an odd way to thank me.”

He dropped his forehead to mine. “It’s the only way I know how.”

“A simple thank you would suffice.”

“No. It would not.”

I couldn’t think of what to say, even though there was a lot I should. We stood there for several moments, and at any time, if either of us turned our heads just the slightest, our lips would have met. And I…

I thought I would be lost.

Or maybe found.

Casteel shuddered as a sound I was sure a wolven could make rumbled through him. Every muscle in me tensed deliciously, but he stepped back as he took my hand. Without saying another word, he led me to the horse and hoisted me onto the saddle.

Once he settled behind me, he folded his arm around my waist. “As much as I wish we could spend the rest of the day pretending,” he said as his lips brushed along my jaw. “There’s something we must discuss.”

Drawing in a deep, steadying breath, I nodded. “About our future?”

“Can I point out that I like how you say, ‘our future?’”

“I would prefer that you not, but since you already have, I assume that’s a yes?”

“It is.” Casteel guided the older mare down the road. “We must talk about our marriage.”

“What about it?”

“I think you already know, Princess.”

I squinted at the setting sun. From the moment I’d learned that Spessa’s End had been reclaimed, I had a feeling this conversation was coming.

“What I’m about to say will probably concern you. I don’t want it to.”

I tensed. “When you start conversations like that, it will inevitably cause me concern.”

“Understandable, but know that what guides my decisions is an abundance of caution and anticipation of potential issues,” he said.

“Just so you know, this is the most unromantic conversation having to do with marriage that I’ve ever heard.”

“I cannot disagree with that,” he replied, and goosebumps pimpled my skin in response to the seriousness of his tone. “I’d originally planned for us to marry once we reached Saion’s Cove and then travel to Evaemon, the heart of Atlantia.”

“Is that where your parents live?”

“Yes.”

“You planned for us to marry before I met your parents?”

“It would make things far less complicated if we did,” he reasoned.

I may have been sheltered my entire life, but I was no fool. “You want to marry before they have a chance to stop us.”

“They can’t stop us,” he reminded me, shifting Teddy’s reins into my hands. “I don’t need their permission.”

Curling my fingers around the reins, I said, “But you’d want their approval?”

“Of course, I would. Who wouldn’t want their parents’ approval?”

But that wasn’t necessary for us since the marriage was temporary.

“As I’ve said before, I think they will be suspicious of my intentions, especially my mother. She knows I haven’t given up my brother.” He showed me how to guide Teddy so we weren’t going straight through the town center, but on the outskirts. “Both she and my father will seek to find numerous reasons why we should delay the marriage.”

If we couldn’t convince Alastir, I truly had no idea how we would sway his parents. “Once we’re married, then there’s nothing to be delayed.”

“Exactly.” His hand settled back on my hip. “This is another part that I don’t want you to overthink even though I know you probably will.”

“And I will probably have a good reason to do so.”

“That’s debatable, but nonetheless, I feel it would be in our best interests to wed here, in Spessa’s End.”

Although I suspected as much, my heart still skipped several beats. “In your best interests?”

“In our best interests,” he repeated. “Sooner or later, people would’ve learned of your abilities to relieve pain. If not by the arrival of those from New Haven, someone other than Beckett would’ve been injured. I just wasn’t expecting today. And while I don’t believe many will look upon you with fear for long or think of you as a Soul Eater, it would be wise for us to marry before anyone thinks to do something incredibly idiotic.”

Something incredibly idiotic translated into someone attempting to kill me.

“And we have everything here that we need to marry,” Casteel said as we climbed the sloping hill. “Or we will shortly.”

“What are those things that we need?”

“Well, rings, of course.”

I rolled my eyes. “I wasn’t being serious about the ring.”

“I know, but I still plan to gift you the largest diamond you’ve ever seen,” he said, and I could hear the smile in his voice. “But a simple Atlantian band will have to suffice for now.”

There were several more skips in my heart.

“The ceremony can be small. But we will need an officiant,” he continued. “Any head of a bloodline can officiate a marriage.”

“Alastir?”

“No. He does not speak for the wolven, even though he is among the oldest,” Casteel explained. “The wolven who does is named Jasper. And, luckily, he’ll be arriving in Spessa’s End by tomorrow. We can be married by the evening.”

My chest felt tight. In a little over twenty-four hours, we could be married. A rush of confusing emotions as conflicting as the ones the people had felt when I healed Beckett hit me.

I had to focus on the plan and not everything else. My mouth was dry as I asked, “And then we continue to Atlantia?”

“Yes.”

I frowned slightly. “But what is the point? If we marry before we even cross the Skotos Mountains, couldn’t we then send word to Carsodonia?”

“Besides the fact that my mother might legitimately murder me for not taking my new bride home to meet her, our marriage will need to be recognized by the King and Queen. You will need to be crowned.”

“Crowned?” My head jerked to the side.