A Kingdom of Blood and Betrayal (Stars and Shadows #2)(8)

Then I could feel it. His dark magic that called to my own. It wrapped around me, embracing me with its strength and possessiveness. Everyone else could see it too, his black magic like a thick smoke that coated my skin. It moved and enveloped me as we took off, and I tried not to allow my body to react.

But it was the only thing I could focus on as we started our journey to the Blood kingdom, and I tried to distract myself.

Evren pushed the horse hard as we galloped along the land of thick lush trees I didn’t know. The horses’ hooves slammed against the damp ground, and I tried to focus on the sound.

But Evren’s touch and thoughts of what was to come troubled me. What would the Blood kingdom think of me? How would they react when they knew that I had been taken from the fae?

Would they welcome me, or would they be everything that I was taught to fear?

The thoughts rolled over and over through my head as we rode, and I could think of little else through the long ride.

I didn’t know how long we had been riding, but my thighs had become sore and my back begged me to just lean back into Evren and give it some reprieve. But I did no such thing.

I put as much distance between us as his magic would allow and clamped my eyes closed when his power ghosted over my lips. Evren was so in control of his magic, so in control of himself, and I was falling apart on the horse in front of him.

I wondered if this was exactly what my father was trying to avoid. Would he have been so disappointed when he saw what I had become? Would he fight in ways that I hadn’t? That even now I didn’t have the strength to?

“Princess,” Evren whispered, and my spine straightened as the sprawling city that lay ahead of us caught my attention as we topped the hill.

I tried to take a deep breath as my eyes scanned over the kingdom before me. Hills lush with wildflowers of every color led to the vast city with an array of stone homes and tall brick buildings. The sky was bright blue and the clearest I had ever seen it. It was far more beautiful than I could’ve imagined. Nothing like the nightmares of old legends.

“Welcome to the Blood Court.”

I looked back at him, and I could see the hesitancy on his face.

“I have no interest in being welcomed to the Blood Court.” My gaze dropped to his mouth, and I couldn’t force myself to look away. “I am here against my will, prince.”

His mouth curved up in a smirk that I hated but also loved, but it did nothing to hide the frustration that lay there. “This is my home, Adara.” He nodded toward the bustling city as we moved closer. “This could be your home too.”

I clamped my mouth closed as I searched the city ahead of us. I was about to enter a kingdom full of vampyres, a kingdom that I had been taught to fear my entire life, but I couldn’t muster up the terror I had once felt.

Even as our horses’ hooves sounded against the cobblestone streets, I felt more curious than fearful, and I hated that it was because Evren rode at my back.

I had no business feeling comfortable in his presence or beneath his touch, but I couldn’t explain it. His magic was protecting me as it surrounded me, and I still felt safe in that protection.

The city was alive with sound and vampyres bustling through the street, but when they noticed us riding through, every one of them stopped. They looked so normal, so unlike anything I had been taught to fear. Much like those in my village, some were so pale their skin almost looked translucent while others were the deepest shade of black. Each one of them looked different from the other, and I studied them as I tried to find a way that differentiated them from me.

I found it odd that the queen didn’t move behind her guards or allow them to shelter her, instead, she rode at the lead, and I watched as she smiled at her patrons like she was seeing old friends.

And they looked at her the same.

But they looked at Evren differently. It wasn’t a friendship or simple respect that shone in their eyes. They looked to him with admiration.

Many bowed their heads or simply nodded to him as he rode past, but everyone watched him and the way he was holding me.

Were they admiring him for what he had done? Were they impressed that he was so easily able to steal the Starblessed from her betrothed with his wicked words and the gods’ blessed hands?

Could they see how easily I fell for a man who promised me nothing?

What was the most shocking to me was that not a single one of them looked at me with an ounce of contempt or hunger. I was told of the vampyres’ thirst for blood. It was a fact my mother had drilled into my head over and over throughout the years. That thirst ruled them above all else, but if that was true, they all hid it incredibly well.

Because they looked like nothing more than men and women who were happy to welcome home their prince. I straightened on the horse, Evren’s thighs still pressed firmly against my own, and I watched them as we passed. I realized then that it was their unnatural beauty that set them apart, and I remembered my mother telling me of that fact on one of the double blood moons. It was their beauty that would draw you in. It was their looks that would make you attracted to them in a way that you couldn’t resist.

Evren seemed to move closer to me, his chest pressed against my back until there wasn’t a trace of air between us, but he didn’t say a word.

I wasn’t sure if he could sense my warring thoughts or if I should have truly been fearful of a threat, but either way, I tried not to let his touch affect me.