The Reluctant King (The Star-Crossed Series) (41 page)

“A cheeseburger?” I clarified trying my hardest not to laugh.

“Only when I’m in America,” she whispered, her eyes filling with more tears as if she were truly ashamed.

“Have you had one since you’ve been here?” I asked in a solemn voice.

She shook her head negatively, her chin trembling with the effort not to spill her tears. “No, I’ve been trying to be good.”

“So that’s it? That’s your entire list of faults?” I asked, finding it hard to raise my voice above a hoarse whisper.

She shook her head again and admitted, “It’s just the tip of the iceberg.”

“I see. Well here’s the tip of my iceberg. I am a monster before my coffee in the morning, a complete monster. In fact I loathe mornings, but if I can sleep until six I usually consider that sleeping in. When things don’t go my way my first instinct is to whine about it. Eventually I find a solution, but always I complain first. I am terrible with names, I think parties and social functions are a giant waste of my time and I have a really hard time listening to advice. I have been a horrible King up until about three weeks ago and before that I might have been the biggest idiot on the planet for not treating the future love of my life with the respect she deserved.”

Amelia looked up at me, our eyes locking with a finality that relaxed my chest constraints. “Avalon, I am the exact kind of person you are trying to protect the Kingdom from. Why would you want me to be your Queen?”

“Amelia,” I said her name reverently, worshipping the sound of it on my lips. “Honestly, I’m relieved you sneak cheeseburgers and whine about taxi prices. You may be those things but you are also so much more. You are generous and loving, you are compassionate and honest. I wanted to free the Kingdom from oppression, not from you, not from the most beautiful person I have ever met. You are not only worthy to be Queen, you leave me wanting as your husband. You are a far better person than I ever hope to be and I would not only be honored to be your husband, but eternally overjoyed. I love you, with all that I am, with all that I ever hope to be. You are the reason I want to be King, the reason I know that I can be King and without you in my life the Kingdom will lose out on the greatness I could be.” I gave her a wicked smile, but hoped she knew how serious I was. “You will be a phenomenal Queen. Please trust me. Please, love me.”

“Avalon,” she sniffled. My heart paused in my chest, my blood frozen with anticipation. I needed

her to say yes to me more than I needed to breathe. “I think I was in love with you before I ever met you.”

And then she threw herself into my arms and my soul sighed with relief and amazement. “You did?”

“I’ve only ever loved you,” she whispered against my chest. “I fell in love with you in the Citadel, the night Lucan died. And even at Eden’s wedding I only continued to fall. I tried to protect myself; I tried to keep my heart and feelings to myself. Never, in a million years did I think you would feel this way for me, that you would choose me to be your wife and your Queen. And it may be selfish, it’s probably the worst thing for the Kingdom, but I can’t help it… I love you, Avalon.”

I looked down, into her sincere eyes and drank in this moment, committing it to my eternal memory. I brought my face to hers slowly, relishing every moment now that I was complete, now that I had the love of this woman I was finally the man I was supposed to be.

I kissed her gently, slowly, reveling in the feel of her soft lips against mine, worshipping the taste of her mouth, of her tongue. I pulled her as close to me as I could and wrapped her entirely in my magic. Our magics flashed around us in a spark of color, mine blue, hers the softest shade of gray. She was perfection and she was finally mine.

I paused our kiss before I could forget the most important part of our talk. She looked up at me with trust and love and all I could do was breathe. There was nothing else to do but breathe.

I took the box out of my pocket and fell to one knee. The position felt both vulnerable and natural at the same time. A new ripple of fear slithered down my spine, but I pushed forward with renewed determination.

“Amelia, will you marry me? Will you be my Queen?” I asked simply since it seemed everything else had been said.

She was surprised, probably shocked that I had come prepared with a ring and everything. I just smiled up at her, silently asking her to trust me again. She didn’t say anything but nodded her agreement, more tears slipping from her eyes.

I had never felt this happy before, never this much of a man. I slid the ring onto her finger and was not surprised that it fit her perfectly. She looked down at it, seeming to literally shine with happiness, her inner light glowing brilliantly from within her.

I stood up and pulled her to me again. “It’s not a diamond,” she whispered in awe.

“No,” I chuckled. “It’s not a diamond.”

Chapter Thirty-Six

              The room was full of every kind of Immortal. They were dancing, and eating and laughing and most of all drinking. The club was decorated in colorful tapestries that hung on the wall, with low benches covered in exotic patterned pillows. A dance floor had been placed in the center of the space, covered in tight red silk and sprinkled with orange flower petals. Hookah’s had been placed around the room, the air filling with the spiced scent of tobacco.

              This was a celebration.

              Lilly and Talbott were the centerpiece of it all. They were glowing with happiness, never out of each other’s reach. Talbott seemed thrilled to show off his bride to be, and with Talbott nearby constantly, Lilly even seemed comfortable as the center of attention.

              The night was perfect, made only more so by my own bride-to-be who was currently dancing with her father. We announced our engagement to only our closest friends and family last night, Sylvia, Eden and Kiran, Lilly and Talbott, Sebastian and Gabriel. I called Jericho this morning to share the news with him but he was distracted by some problems the recovering humans were causing.

              He sounded stressed out and pissy. And not two minutes after I told him I was engaged he hung up on me. Bastard.

              We had also broken the news to Amelia’s parents last night when we picked them up from the airport. I retroactively asked Jean for his daughter’s hand in marriage. He consented but I suspected only because it was obvious Amelia wanted to marry me. The jury was still out on his exact feelings about our relationship.

              I’m sure it didn’t help that he didn’t even know we were dating before we were engaged.

              But none of that mattered because we
were
engaged.

              Amelia
wanted
to be my wife.

              “You look happy, brother,” Kiran commented, sidling up next to me.

              We stood on the throne platform overlooking the party. Our friends were gathered, dignitaries that needed to see a wedding like this and people I had never seen before were here to celebrate the first public marriage between a Titan and a Shape-Shifter since before Derrick was King. This was a momentous occasion.

              “I am happy,” I replied casually, but the truth of the words rang deep and loud inside my chest.

              “When will you announce your engagement?” Kiran smiled at me like he knew a secret; probably he was thinking over what I was in for as a married man.

              “Not for a while yet. I want to get through this Terletov thing and give Lilly as much attention as she deserves,” I explained.

              “She’s probably hoping you’ll take some of the spotlight away from her,” Kiran laughed.

              He was probably right.

              “I’ll never let her get away with that,” I joked and then further answered his question. “We are thinking the All Saint’s Festival, a year from now.” Amelia and Eden started to make their way over to us and for some reason them together while Kiran and I waited for them felt like the most perfect moment, it felt like our family was complete. Eden and I had more than just each other.

              “Will you be heading back to the Citadel with us on Monday?” I asked Kiran. “I need to make sure everything will be ready for the Festival.”

              “Yes, I think so. Sylvia has agreed to come back with us, which has put Eden at ease,” Kiran answered. “Thank you for that by the way.”

              “It was just a suggestion,” I replied humbly.

              Eden and Amelia were sidetracked by a very pissed-off Seraphina. I tried to hold back a smile, but Seraphina had this way of making it look like her head could actually detach from her body and spin around in a complete circle when she got mad. Her long blonde hair flipped around her face and her hands held their deadly pose on her small waist.

              Oh boy.

              “Seraphina and Sebastian are no longer together,” Kiran answered my unvoiced questions. “Seems, they were too different after all.”

              “She doesn’t look happy,” I mumbled.

              “She is rarely happy,” Kiran muttered back.

              “Sebastian better watch out,” I warned and Kiran nodded stoically beside me while we watched Seraphina dramatically flail in what could only be a reenactment of their breakup to her wide-eyed friends.

              “Do you think-“ Kiran started but Gabriel interrupted our thoughts, appearing out of nowhere.

              His tanned, Hispanic skin was pale and ghostly, his orange eyes on fire with rage, burning brightly against the pallid color of his skin.

              “What is it,” I demanded, taking in his aggressive stance immediately and noticing a cellphone in his hand, gripped so firmly his knuckles had stretched tight across the black smart phone.

              “Silas,” Gabriel growled. “They were attacked near the colony. They took,” his voice faltered and his eyes darted around the room desperately searching. “They took Silas. They took him alive.”

              Under other circumstances “alive” would have been a good report, or at least encouraging. But we all understood the dire consequences of being a prisoner of Terletov’s. What it could mean for Terletov to capture Silas, one of the oldest and most prominent Shape-Shifters I could only guess. He was an advisor, a good friend and a mentor. My belly burned with anguish and the desperate need for retribution. I needed to find Silas alive and unharmed or my crown would mean nothing to me; I would take my revenge slowly and properly.

              My hands clenched into fists at my side and I prepared to end this party now. We had to move. My mind started tying up every lose end here, who would be responsible to clear out the club, clean it up, see the more prominent dignitaries back to their hotels, get Amelia and Eden to safety. I assembled a team of the present Titans to go with me and handpicked my own men. This all happened in four point two seconds and then my magic flared with warning and the Titans surrounding the room for protection took a collective step forward.

              Immediately I lost the sense of goodness and hope that had only seconds ago filled my blood. A deathly cold haze settled inside my veins instead. A startling snap of an ominous premonition flashed in my vision and before I could put the pieces together it was too late.

              The upstairs door crashed open, the heavy wood splintering into miniscule slivers as it shattered in the door frame. Before I could even utter an order the stairs filled with dangerous Immortal men. They paired off down the long staircase and spread out into the suddenly quiet room.

              There were initial screams and panic, but by the time Terletov’s men filtered through the room my people were silent. Everyone in the room had, at best, just recently been informed of the unhinged psycho that is Dmitri Terletov; now they faced his men in the flesh while we wore our best party attire; they wore black fatigues and pointed those damned guns in our faces. We held champagne glasses and wore expensive jewelry.

              Simmering rage and vengeance exploded into a hot boil just under my skin. My magic buzzed around me in feral aggression. I was no longer amused, this would end tonight.

              I found Amelia immediately; she stood face to face with an Immortal wielding a gun. Eden was tucked protectively behind her and I wanted to growl in frustration. Amelia did not belong here with these men, nor should she be trying to protect my sister who was perfectly capable of defending herself.

              But then there was the baby to think about.

              I seethed in frustration. I shouldn’t have to think about which scenario was better. I shouldn’t have to weigh my options and decide if the blue smoke could heal an unborn baby if something was to go wrong. But Amelia could not be the one to protect Eden either. She could not.

              This was just all around bad news.

              I braced myself for the men to open fire, but when nothing happened I grew restless. I wanted to move to Amelia, to get her out of here as fast as I could. But I couldn’t leave my people…. And the longer we stood in silence the worse the situation seemed to grow.

              My bad feeling only intensified as the Immortal attackers stayed eerily still, watching their prisoners like hungry animals. Their eyes gleamed with a perverse pleasure that twisted the moral part of my soul and made me ill.

              And then he entered the room.

              I felt the magic first.
His magic
. Only I couldn’t call it his, because it wasn’t. Whatever surrounded him was unnatural and stolen, that much I was sure. He appeared at the top of the stairs, standing proud and confident. He slithered down the stairs as if he were floating, his abnormal magic detached around him, infecting the air with the repulsive disease he carried. I had only ever seen him through Eden’s own memories, but I knew him at once.

              He felt just like the Immortals that died at the castle. Except here he stood…. strong, tall, confident. Nothing made sense anymore when it came to him. How did he get that magic? And how was he functioning without his own magic?