A Kingdom of Ruin (Deliciously Dark Fairytales Book 3)(124)

My heart twisted and then broke in half. I leaned toward him and touched my forehead to his. If it weren’t for seeing his battle with Micah, I wouldn’t truly understand the gravity of what he’d just said.

But I had, and I did. I’d seen his suffering and his fear of what the future might hold.

I looped my arms around his neck and lightly traced the pad of my finger down one of his scars.

He shivered as I said, “You belong with me. And I have news for you: you’re not the odd one in this pair. I have never fit in—with any crowd—and I’m not suddenly going to start because I have some scales and a pair of wings and a real asshole dragon yammering in my head.”

Suck rocks, my dragon thought.

“I’ll be the one who stands out, not you,” I continued. “I didn’t grow up knowing anything about dragons. I still don’t. I won’t act like one—Weston already told me that. He thought it was a good thing, but I’m sure other dragons won’t agree. Nyfain, I didn’t even know the names of the royal family! That’s how removed we were from court. I’ll stand out at every formal dinner, civilized meeting of the social elite, and…important function or whatever it is you all do. In a bad way. In the ways that matter most in this world, you will fit in, and I will be out of place. They’ll say, ‘There goes that powerful dragon with the weird mate,’ and it won’t be me they are pointing at.”

“You can change all of that. That stuff is teachable.”

I stroked his face and traced the scar near his lip. He didn’t pull away. “And wearing your scars proudly will teach others about the suffering you’ve endured. It’ll show them that you triumphed despite it. They’ll see the scars where the wings were ripped off your back and know the power and perseverance of a prince who wouldn’t bow down to a tyrant. They’ll see, with their own eyes, the pain you went through to protect your people. We’ll match in that way.”

I pushed off him and turned, showing him the scars the whips had left on my back. Pain and rage tore through the bond.

When I turned back around, climbing into his lap, he shook his head, tortured.

I snuggled close to him and laid my head on his wide shoulder. “Remember what you said to me when you were in my room?”

I went back to slowly tracing the scale scars down his back. He shuddered in physical pleasure mixed with internal pain. It was the opposite of what I’d experienced in the dungeons, but no less damaging.

“You said, ‘I see you, Finley. I see all of you, and I am in rapture.’ I fell in love with you in that moment. I didn’t know it at the time, but I know it now. And then you kept chiseling away at my heart with your letters and your actions until I was lost to you. Until you ruined me, just like you’d promised. Only it wasn’t in the way you promised. You only ruined me for other men. Because I see you, Nyfain. I see all of you. I see the scars you wear—and those you hide. I see your temper and rage…and your loyalty and love. I see your power and strength, and your kindness and tenderness. I see it all.”

“Others will not see past my deformity.” He clutched me, the pain overwhelming him in that moment.

I held him tightly. “It’s not a deformity unless you see it as one. It is a badge of pride that you didn’t give up. It is proof of your strength.”

We sat quietly for a moment as I continued to stroke down his scar, tempering the pain with pleasure.

“I love you despite your best efforts to push me away,” I said softly. “And I’ll continue loving you forever. So take as much time as you need to be comfortable with who you are and who you’ve become. I’ll be waiting right beside you. I’ve chosen my place. It wasn’t our dragons’ bond, and it wasn’t the curse—I chose you. And I’ll continue choosing you. Forever.”

He pulled back, looking at me with glossy eyes filled with incredulity. He shook his head and kissed me, love and longing filling our bond.

“You have zero sense,” he finally said.

“Hannon has mentioned that a time or two. Now. You promised me a first.” I pulled my hair over my shoulder and turned, showing him the two lines of scales down my back. “I want it, please.”

Instead he ran a finger down a line in the middle of my back, and I knew he was tracing one of my scars.

“Someday soon, I will hear every detail of your time away from me.” He traced another scar. “And before I die, I will make Dolion pay in a way no one has ever paid in the history of the world.”

“I think you’ll have to get in line. He took shifters from all over for his dungeons. Faeries too. They will want their own vengeance. He’s even pissing off his own kind enough to rise against him.”

“I spoke to Tamara and the others. I was shocked to see them. Though…I probably shouldn’t have been. It makes sense he’d covet their power. We’ll talk about that later, though. We’ll talk about all of it later.”

He clearly knew he wouldn’t like the details he’d receive.

His lips touched down on my nape before his hands landed on my shoulders. He turned me and gently pushed me forward.

“Grab a pillow,” he murmured, getting me to crawl a bit to grab one and then putting it under my hips so that my butt was raised in the air a little.

A hand on each thigh, he spread them wider before running a finger down the seam of my pussy. The bed moved as I lay on my stomach, and then I sucked in a breath and closed my eyes as he followed his finger with his tongue.