Page 49 of Hearts on Fire

She grabbed my hand, speaking in a fervent whisper, “Just think about it. Bastard children are often accepted by their parents and included in the line of succession. If you bear King Edkhar a child, you’ll be the mother to the Heir to the Crown.”

Just the idea of that possibility made my heart sink into such a dark pit of despair, I didn’t think I could ever climb out of it.

I pinned her with a glare and squeezed through my teeth, “I pray to your gods and mine that it will never happen.”

Fourteen

AMBER

The guards shoved me through the doors into the room that was shaped like the Great Hall and almost as big as it, too. The opulence of the furnishings rendered me speechless. I took it all in, almost forgetting for a moment about the reason I was here.

The room was at the top of one of the main towers of the castle. It was round with a high domed ceiling. Just like in the Great Hall, colorful crystals dangled from the thin golden chains suspended under the dome.

The walls consisted of tall windows between the thick support columns. Every one of the windows was closed with solid wooden shutters.

The light came from a giant fireplace located across a wide perch the size of a theater stage. There was enough space on the bed for an entire army of gargoyles to have an orgy or for the king to have sex in his dragon form if he so wished. The perch was piled so high with furs and cushions, one would probably need a ladder to climb up on it.

The monarch of Dakath stood by the fireplace. He wore a long, fire-red caftan and a pair of embroidered fabric shoes—a casual look for a king. Though it didn’t make him appear any more approachable and didn’t help me relax in any way.

With my spine straight and stiff like an iron rod, I pressed my back to the closed doors, wishing I could just seep through them like a ghost and get out of here.

The king glanced at me over his shoulder. “Well, come here, human.”

I remained where I was, not moving an inch.

He blew out a breath. “Should I get the guards in here? To move your limbs for you?”

I knew he would do it too. He would get his men in here to maneuver my body like a marionette on a string, to force me into any position of his liking.

Not wishing to have anyone’s hands on me, I peeled my back from the doors. Drawing in a deep breath, I willed my feet to move in his direction. I stopped a fair distance away from him, but he made the last few steps for me, coming closer.

Lifting the lace of my hood, he studied my face. I stared back at him.

The king was a good-looking man. If I didn’t know how ugly his soul was, I’d call him beautiful. His red hair shimmered with gold, spreading in waves over his wide shoulders. A gold crown with sparkling rubies sat atop his head. His beard reached down to his chest, with two thin braids made on each side of his mouth. A dozen or so golden clips decorated each braid, glistening in the light from the fireplace. The vivid green of his eyes reminded me of precious stones—emeralds.

If it was just about the looks and under different circumstances, having sex with King Edkhar wouldn’t be a chore. What repulsed me was his heart, or the lack of it. In addition to his cruelty, he also lacked character. King Edkhar was vain, insecure, and a coward who partied in his castle with a few chosen men as the rest of his army fought his battles for him. Not the qualities I could admire in a person.

There was no warmth in his eyes as he stared at me, just cold curiosity, as if he was examining an object in a museum.

He stroked the side of my face with the back of his fingers, tilting his head. “So incredibly plain.”

I glanced aside, resisting an eyeroll. Calling a woman plain wasn’t going to win her heart. But then again, it wasn’t myheartthe king was after.

He took my hood off slowly, clearly enjoying the process of “unwrapping his present.”

I peered at the slivers of light filtering between the shutters on the windows, desperately hoping the sunset would stop him. The sky behind the shutters was turning a warmer sepia color with the sun dipping toward the horizon, but there was still plenty of time for the king to do whatever he wished with me.

He knew that, too, and didn’t hurry. Slowly, he untied the strings of my robe, then slid it off my shoulders.

His expression heated at the sight of my nipples barely covered by the see-through material of my shirt in the low neckline of the dress. I swallowed hard, feeling nothing but dread pressing heavily on my chest.

But feelings weren’t necessary to go through with this. In fact, the less I felt, the better.

Could I force myself to think about it as some sort of business transaction? After all, wasn’t that the only interaction I vowed to have with men after Chris? A straightforward business transaction that didn’t involve my heart. Except that was before I met Elex.

My heart was no longer mine. No matter how hard I’d tried to hold on to it, Elex had taken it. What we had between us now was so beautiful and new, I hated to damage it in any way.

I couldn’t let the king have me, but maybe I could keep him busy with something else for a while? Just until sunset.