“If?” His smirk intensified. “You act as though there’s a choice in the matter.”
“There’s a choice if I remove you,” I threatened, not at all amused by his tricks and games and riddles. He was just as bad as Shade. No, he was worse. A lone wolf used to doing whatever the hell he wanted, however he wanted. I started to take another step, but Aflora slipped off the bed to stand between us, her palm against my chest.
“Can we all try to focus, please?” she asked, her voice regal in its softness. My gaze immediately dropped to the lines of power writhing over her arms, my heart leaping into my throat.
She was right.
There were more important items to focus on right now.
I cupped her jaw, my Warrior Blood gift flourishing beneath my skin with the dark desire to guard her. “We’ll figure this out, pixie flower. I vow it.”
She nodded, but her hesitation remained. She wasn’t sure she wanted this.
However, I agreed with Kols’s statement—she was made for this.
Zakkai moved into her back, his power an irritating wave of warmth that I could feel pulsing around and through Aflora.
Kols slid off the bed then, joining us, our bodies forming a protective circle around our Aflora. Her shoulders relaxed slightly as she breathed in our scents, her resolve somewhat thickening.
I glanced at Kols, his gaze reflecting what I already knew. There would be more trials, all of them equally dangerous and difficult.
While Kols had his entire life to prepare for them, Aflora only spent a few months at the Academy. Her knowledge was inferior, her skills rudimentary. Kols had also benefited from his father being the one to outline the trials.
However, Constantine was in charge now.
And there was no telling what he would do, or how he would frame Aflora’s future.
Preparing her would be the hardest tasks of our lives. But I silently vowed in that moment to do whatever was necessary to guard her and help her ascend.
I’d die for her.
Kols echoed the sentiment, both of us promising her eternal loyalty.
She would be our royal.
Our future Midnight Fae Queen.