Glint (The Plated Prisoner 2)
The ice from her gaze goes right through my heart.
I don’t know what she sees in my expression, but it makes the grin of smug vindication spread on her face. Satisfied, Malina straightens up and turns away, walking with the click, click of her heels, while I’m left stuck in grim jealousy that I can’t let show.
Don’t cry. Don’t you dare cry.
When the dining room door closes, Midas immediately reaches over, his bent finger tapping the bottom of my chin. “Auren.”
My eyes lift to his, his expression apologetic yet stern, soft lips pressed together.
“You can’t react to her,” he tells me.
A well in my eyes fills up, like water in a bucket, threatening to spill over. “I know.”
“Oh, Precious,” he murmurs, gaze caressing my face. “You know you have my heart. I need an heir, that’s all.”
I may not be a queen, I may not be his wife, but I have his heart.
It’s enough. It has to be. Yet this keeps happening, this gutted feeling, over and over again.
I liked it better when Malina ignored me. I think she thought he’d tire of me at first. Maybe now, she’s come to realize that he never will.
When a tear slips down my cheek, Midas brushes it away with his thumb, and I lean into his touch.
“Come here.” He scoots back, and that’s all the invitation I need. I slip into his lap, and his arms come around to hold me as the servants scurry away. “You’re still adjusting,” he says, his hand brushing my braided hair off my shoulder.
“I guess so.”
“It’ll get easier with time,” he assures me.
I sniff, pulling myself together. “Yeah.”
His chin rests securely on the top of my head, his thighs beneath me, holding me up. “We both knew what was going to happen when we decided to come here to Highbell.”
“I just...I didn’t know it was going to be this hard,” I admit in a soft voice. I didn’t know it was going to hurt this much.
A comforting stroke skims down my back. “Marrying Malina was necessary. Not only because it secured the futu
re of Sixth Kingdom, but also because it’s secured a future for you,” he says, the timbre of his voice rumbling evenly against my ear pressed to his chest.
He’s right, of course.
His hand moves, again tapping my chin so I’ll look at him. “You’re safe and protected here, Auren, and that’s what matters the most to me. You know that, right? I won’t ever let the world hurt you again.”
I nod, my eyes dropping to his lips. I want to kiss his cheek, to replace the one his wife left there, but that feels juvenile, so I don’t.
“I am safe, thanks to you,” I tell him with a small smile.
The skin of his eyes crinkles in the corners as he smiles back. I love that smile. It makes my heart squeeze inside my chest, like the feel of someone taking your hand. “And you always will be, here with me,” he promises. “Are you still hungry?”
I shake my head in answer. What little I managed to eat has gone sour in my stomach.
“Alright, how about I walk you upstairs and I’ll send for some food to be brought up a little bit later?”
“Yes, please.”
He places a kiss on my forehead and helps me stand, his hand going to my back again as he walks me out of the dining room.
I’m quiet while he leads me up floor after floor of the castle. I’ve grown used to taking the trek by now, so my legs don’t ache as much from all the steps, yet my spirit seems to drag its feet.