Fantasy of Fire (The Tainted Accords #3)(98)

“And what do you feel, Lina?” he presses, tightening his hold.

I turn my eyes to my lap. “I’ve learned I shouldn’t take another moment for granted.” I take a deep breath and let my mask slip. I let him see everything.

“I feel the same, Jovan. I … love you too.”

I glance up shyly, hearing his sharp intake. His beaming grin is boyish—it’s radiant. He feels that same weightlessness as I do. His face is a reflection on my own.

He leans in to kiss me, stealing all thought and air from me. I take just as much as I give and it’s not enough. Never enough. We kiss as if we will never see each other again, or maybe it’s because we gained another moment when all seemed lost. Maybe Jovan knows our days are numbered. I need him, and he needs me.

A pained squeak escapes me as my lips crack. Jovan releases me, pressing his forehead on top on my head with a groan.

“I’m sorry. I forgot myself,” he pants. “That kiss was…”

I lick my lips, numbed to the pain. “Yes,” I whisper. “It was.” I bump his head off mine to gain access to his lips once more.

Eventually he pulls back.

“Do not tempt me, my love. Sadra will kill me with her bare hands if I tax your strength,” he jokes, but I see true concern in his eyes. My stomach flips at his casual use of ‘my love.’ If I had the power to hold on to this moment forever, to stay in his arms and forget the worlds around me, I would. Right now I can pretend we have a future together.

“What are you thinking?” he asks. I rub my ear against his chest to rid myself of the tickle of his breath.

“That we should run away,” I say honestly. “But it wouldn’t work.”

He laughs. “Why?”

I blink up at him through heavy eyes. “You’re too big to hide,” I say around a yawn. His chuckle sends pleasant vibrations through my body.

I swallow obediently as he extracts himself and tilts a trickle of water down my throat once more. I wave the broth away. The smell causes my stomach to rise. I finally give in and just keep my eyes closed. He kisses my forehead and my eyes, then my mouth when I tilt my head back to demand one. No one has ever made me react the way he does. This is love.

“I must return to my council, though every part of me wishes to stay here.” He speaks into my hair. It’s probably all over the place. I want to be clean again.

“My people need their king.”

“How many did you lose?” I ask softly.

“56 men here, who were guarding the castle, three Inner Ring women who attempted escape from the Elite, and none at the Great Stairway.”

My eyes fly open. “None? What happened?” I blurt. I wonder who the three women were. If only they’d waited a little longer! And I knew about the men here, having seen their piled bodies on the roof.

“They just stood there, for a day and two nights. Now we know they were waiting for the signal from the Elite.” He rubs his jaw.

“They came all this way from Osolis, then turned around because a fire wasn’t started?” I ask slowly.

Jovan shrugs. “The Ire showed up too. The Solati may still have engaged my army despite the unlit signal, but I believe the Ire was too much of an unknown factor, and tipped the odds too strongly in our favor. I never got a chance to sever your Uncle’s limbs from his body. The Solati began retreating through the Oscala during the third day.”

I brainstorm out loud. “I wonder if it’s a ploy so we’ll follow them to Osolis. Solati have always won battles on our home ground.”

“I don’t want you thinking about those things yet,” he says, locking his jaw. “You’ll be happy to know Jimmy is alive and well.”

A happy smile spreads across my face. Thank Solis. “Thank you,” I say.

Jovan stretches to his full height. I stare with blurry eyes at the taut muscle he reveals in doing so. He kisses me and makes for the door and I wish I could ask him to stay. But this is how it will always be. The desires of my heart will always come second to what I know I should do; second to what I know is right. It’s no different for Jovan.

But, with all of that, he still loves me. I’ll hold on to that forever.

“King Jovan,” I call as he places a hand on the door.

“Tatuma Olina,” he says with a half-smile.

I grip the furs on my lap, unsure of how to form the words and set the next stage of my life into motion. It’s been my ambition to rule my whole life, but in recent months I’ve danced around the thought, knowing it would come to this, just uncertain exactly when the timing would be right. My people were starving. The Tatum has committed too many crimes.

Jovan still waits for me to speak. I decide to call a stone a stone. Bruma value bluntness.

“I need to kill my mother,” I say.

My comment would make a normal man wonder at my sanity, or edge away, but Jovan’s half-smile grows. There’s no humor in it, only a detached calculation. It’s the look of a man who has been pushed too far.

My whole body stands on end as he replies, one eyebrow raised.

“We do.”





The Final Installment of Olina’s Story

!!!COMING IN 2016!!!

Book Four of The Tainted Accords





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