The male bastard had broken into Akari’s room—hell, maybe even her bathroom—and she had ripped his heart from his chest.
Good fucking riddance.
But after the weeks we’d spent getting to know each other, I knew the only people she had ever killed were three of the guards holding her prisoner, all of whom had tortured her on multiple occasions.
She and her friends had been escaping, then, so it had been a survival situation.
The way she sat frozen in that corner made me wonder whether or not this had been one too.
Even if it hadn’t, I would’ve fucking ended that fae’s life had I found him in her bathroom. Either way, he would’ve been dead and gone.
I stepped over the bastard and carefully picked my female up off the ground, murmuring, “It’s me,” as I did so.
Her face met my neck, and I expected to feel wet tears there, but her eyes were dry.
I didn’t ask her what had happened—I knew her well enough to know that she’d tell me when she felt like she could.
I didn’t ask her how long she’d been back, or why she hadn’t knocked on my door, either.
Those things weren’t important in that moment.
What was important in that moment, was that I was going to take care of her.
That she was alive.
And that she was safe in my arms.
After I took care of her, I’d figure out what exactly had happened in that bathroom, and I’d fucking kill whoever was responsible.
Akari’s body was light in my arms, despite the sexy, growing curves she was beginning to possess.
My heart ached with its rapid pounding, and the moon was falling from the sky, but I didn’t give a single fuck about that.
My female was at risk.
Fuck the kingdom; she was what I cared about.
“The moon, Espen,” she whispered to me, her voice so soft I barely heard the words.
“It’ll be rising within an hour or two anyway,” I said gruffly, opening the door to my room. My magic was already tensed and ready, my fist glowing brighter than anything in the damned kingdom as I stalked through the entire space, checking to see if there were any other intruders waiting.
If there were, they would die.
I’d fucking melt their brains.
When I was satisfied that my portion of the castle was safe, I locked the door behind us and then carefully carried my female into the bathroom. There weren’t many fae with bathtubs, but I’d taken over my parents’ old rooms a decade after losing them, and my mom had loved baths, so I had one.
It was still hard to think of her that way—as my mother, but also as someone with likes and dislikes.
She was cruel, and certainly undeserving of my love, but she was still just as much a person as I was.
I didn’t mourn her loss, though. I never had, and I never would. To do so would be to admit to my father that he was right about her being a good but flawed woman, and I was still certain that her abuse had disqualified her from the title of “good”.
She was a person, but she was still an abusive bitch.
It was a strange line to balance on, though; the line between a fae being a shitty person, yet still being aperson. I had never claimed to understand it fully, nor would I ever.
“You said the court would be in danger if you released the moon,” Akari whispered, her voice even softer than the last time. I could feel my power waning, and I knew hers was probably doing the same.