He gave his head a shake. “Nothing. Absolutely nothing.”
I heard the door shut as Owen joined us.
“What happened?” he asked, obviously picking up on the same feeling I had gotten.
“Nothing,” Krew repeated as he finished the last of his whiskey.
“Krew,” I begged. “What is it?”
“You can feel my emotions, read them,” he offered.
My forehead creased. There was a tinge of anger and something like helplessness. But he was also proud. Also... adoration. But none of that should have made him like I was seeing before me. I cocked my head. “You feel angry about something. Yet also adore me?”
Krew put the glass down, gripping it loosely. “I was worried about you, so I read your emotions the entire time you were there.” He paused. “I felt your dislike. I felt your anger. I felt your grief.” Another pause. “And then I felt your compassion. Compassion for a man who was responsible for taking your father from you.”
I looked to Owen who looked just as confused as me.
“I have never been more proud to call you my wife. That you felt that much grief, yet still somehow found it in you to worry about him. If it was me, I likely would have already killed him. Or left him.” Krew shook his head, his eyes piercing into mine as I felt down the bond exactly how strongly he felt about me. “You are the best of us, Jorah. You. And I am struggling right now not to go rip my father off that throne and place you on it.”
My breath caught. “Oh.”
“So, I think I am going to disappear,” Owen offered as he spun and gave me a knowing look.
As soon as the door clicked shut, I held my hands out in an exaggerated shrug. “It’s not as if I offered him total forgiveness. I only offered him what I could.”
Krew was shaking his head and then he was there before me. He used his magic to move himself faster, and it was a bit jarring how quickly he could cross a room like that.
“You,” he said, wrapping a hand around my neck underneath my hair. “Youare a queen. And when I fell for you, I was too busy selfishly thinking of my own wants to really see it. It was remiss of me to not see from the very beginning. I think I refused to even consider it for such a long time. And now that I have, I am...hungryfor the throne in a way I haven’t ever been. I want it. For you.”
I knew exactly how he felt because I felt that way too, but about him. I shook my head. “No. We cannot go there. This is the one dream we don’t get to dream, Krew, because it isn’t even up to us or our own efforts. And even if it is Keir, we cannot be mad. He will do Wylan well.”
“Yes, but you will do Wylan better,” Krew argued as he moved in closer.
“We cannot get our hopes stuck on this,” I whispered. “It’ll be too hard when we watch Keir and Gwen or Keir and Delaney take the throne.”
He bowed his head down to brush a kiss on my neck. “Doesn’t change the fact that you are a queen.” He trailed kisses across my collarbone. “If not of all of Wylan,mine.”
It was the middle of the day and I was half starved. There were a thousand things we needed to figure out and do as we made a new plan for taking down his father. But with the odds mounting against us and the clock continuing to tick, I couldn’t think of anything I would rather do than steal away these few moments with my dark prince.
CHAPTER40
This day would be pure agony.
We were going to Nerede, personally returning Flora and my mother back for a while. Hopefully, it would be the last time she’d have to leave Kavan Keep before making it her permanent home. Not that she was complaining about life in Nerede, I just selfishly wanted her with me.
Theodore had been gone for a week. They would have already held his funeral pyre. I felt guilt for not being there, just as I felt guilt over the need for a funeral to begin with.
But it was time I faced my people. Even if doing so meant I was staring at my failures.
Krew kissed my head as he walked by where I was sliding on my shoes. “Stop fretting, love. They know it was not your fault.”
I gave him a defeated shrug. Now if only I could convince myself.
“Do you know what they whisper about most with Theodore’s unfortunate passing?” Krew said as he threw on his tailcoat.
“What?”
“They do not mention the fact that all of us tried to prevent it from happening, though that part is in the story that has been whispered around Wylan.”
