FOR HER, HE WILL SET EVERY KINGDOM ON FIRE.
Kyron LeFur never wanted to be king. He may have united a torn people and ended a bloody war, but none of that matters without his queen. She sacrificed her crown for him, and now he will stop at nothing t...
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I've had my moments of upsetting Kyron. We've butted heads on several issues. Never have I seen him as angry as he was earlier today. I had a feeling he wouldn't like the choice I made, but I didn't expect him to explode the way he did. The impact of his quiet detonation was so powerful that it shook me to my core. I was left with scrapes and bruises; he bled out before I could save him.
The urge to run after him propelled my feet into motion, but my father caught me before I could reach him. He spoke reason into my frantic need to fix what I had done, talking me into giving my parah space. I tried, busying myself with unpacking and going through the motions of my nightly routine. When it all became too much, I resorted to pacing the corridor leading to the staircase to his room. Thousands of steps later, my legs ache, and I've plopped down on the hard bottom step. My back hurts, my stomach is rumbling, and I have shed quite a few tears. Still, I wait.
Footsteps echo down the corridor, and I sit up and smooth the soft pink skirt of my nightgown. My breath hitches as I wait for Kyron to round the corner. I have no clue what to expect, but my guess is that it will get worse before it gets better. I'm willing to face that if it means making things right.
My lips rattle with a long exhale and I prop my chin in my palm as Leif and Wel come into view. The two look happy, walking hand in hand. Their clothes are disheveled—tunics untucked and Leif's sandy hair standing on end. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what they have been up to. They have never been good at keeping their hands off each other. Then again, that's what made me think they were right for one another. They could blow off some steam with a person they enjoyed spending time with. It was a win-win that made Leif and Wel perfect together.
My best friend nudges me over with his hip, squeezing next to me on the step. Old habits appear to be hard to break for Wel because he bows before leaning against the wall across from us.
"This is what you get for not stopping by to say hello to me first. I would have told you what a mistake that was going to be," Leif says with a mixture of truth and playfulness.
"Unless you're dying, I'm not seeing you before I see Kyron. And since when do you talk me out of bad ideas?" I flatly say.
"I would have talked you out of stripping naked and kissing Kyron's boots. Talk about taking the servitude pledge to a new level, Elle."
Wel shakes his head at Leif. "The rumors have gotten out of hand, but that's not what people are saying."
I shoot Leif a side-long glare. "Don't self-insert your kinky fantasies with Wel into my life."
"No need to fantasize when I'm living it," my best friend quips.
Wel chuckles, running his hand over the black stubble on his head. His brown cheeks flood with crimson, and he turns away to hide them.
"You know, I was fine wallowing in my misery alone," I grumble.
