A Kingdom of Blood and Betrayal (Stars and Shadows #2)
Holly Renee
CHAPTER 1
I hated him.
It was the only truth I could cling to because I was unsure of everything else.
I hated him for making me trust him when I shouldn’t have. I loathed him for making me see a future that was nothing more than a deception.
He was no better than his brother. At least Gavril had the decency to show me who he really was. He took from me, but not in the same way Evren had. Evren had made me want him, beg for him, and it was nothing more than a manipulation.
I fell for him when I wasn’t supposed to, and he had let me fall.
He was the heir to the Blood kingdom, everything I had been taught to fear, and he had let me fall.
I stared at his back as he started to set up the tent. I was surrounded by my enemies, but all I could look at was him. His gaze landed on me, and I forced myself to look away. I refused to meet his eyes. Instead, I stared ahead and watched his mother as she spoke softly to one of her guards. The guard that had been ready to hurt her son only hours before.
She was so different than what I expected the Blood queen to be. She was softer than the legends that were told of her. The way she continuously pushed her hair out of her face as she helped her men set up camp reminded me of my mother. My chest ached as I thought of her; after all, she was the one who had so easily handed me over to people who were only planning to use me.
She had sealed my fate as easily as the star marks on my skin.
Evren’s magic caressed my skin like a whisper, but I refused to acknowledge it. He hadn’t let it fall from me since we left the forest edge en route to the Blood Court. He hadn’t refused me my own horse, not after I absolutely declined to go anywhere near him, but he did refuse to give me space. He kept his dark magic wrapped around me for the duration of the ride. It moved and embraced me as if it was checking to make sure I was all right.
But I wasn’t. How could I be?
I tried to garner up my own power to blast his touch away from me, but I was tired. Far too tired, and I didn’t know how to control my magic like he did. Magic that I didn’t understand, that I hadn’t even known I had.
Magic that felt so familiar even though we had just met.
I thought back to a time before Evren, when I had been alone with my mother in our village. Had my magic been with me all along even then? Had my mother known? Had my father?
I could still feel it coursing under my skin. My magic had been awoken inside me, and I wasn’t sure how I had never noticed it before. It felt wild and reckless, like an extension of me I’d yet to meet.
“Princess,” Evren whispered his name for me, and my gaze slammed into his. It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him not to call me that, but I didn’t say a word. I just stared up at him and prayed that he could see the anger writhing inside me. “You need to get some rest. We’ll reach the Blood Court by morning.”
I tried to ignore the noise from the Blood soldiers that surrounded us. They were all watching me carefully even though they had given me a wide berth. They didn’t trust me, and I didn’t trust them.
I trusted no one. Not anymore.
I pushed off the tree I was leaning against and moved toward the tent. He held the flap open for me, and I passed by him quickly, careful not to let his skin touch mine. But gods, I could feel him. Every part of my body felt on edge where his magic was touching me, my marks dying for more, but I held it all in.
I would never allow the heartless prince to touch me again. It didn’t matter that my body craved him.
He was my enemy and my betrayer. I had no business feeling comfortable in his presence or beneath his touch, but I couldn’t explain it. His magic infuriated me, but the way it swirled around me made my marks feel alive and my magic thrum.
He was my enemy, but he was also my mate.
He followed me into the tent, and my spine stiffened as I turned to him. There were two bedrolls on the cold, hard ground.
“You are not staying in here with me.”
Evren ignored my words and moved toward one of the rolls. He groaned as he sat, and I could see the exhaustion on his face. My fingers ached to reach forward and run my thumb over the deep crease between his eyes. Even through my anger, my chest felt heavy as I watched him.
“I am.” His magic tightened around me almost unnoticeably as he started pulling off his boots.
“Then I will sleep somewhere else.” I moved toward the tent opening, but his magic hardened, holding me in place. No matter how hard I tried, he still held me captive in both body and mind.
“You’re crazy if you think that I will allow you out of my sight for even a moment.”
“Because I’m your prisoner?”
“Because you’re my mate.” He set his boots to the side and braced his arms on his knees as he stared up at me. “You can hate me all you want, princess, but that fact is still true.”
I knew he was right. I could feel the truth of his words all the way to my bones, but I refused to accept it. He was supposed to be more, and he proved to be everything I had feared.
And I wasn’t going to be tied to him because fate deemed it so. I was tired of relying on fate and the life she had cruelly handed me.
“I am not your mate.”
Evren clenched his jaw as he stared up at me, and I could see the fury in his eyes. Good. I was furious too.