The Phantom King (The Kings) (38 page)

Sh
e knew what was coming next
. She could have spoken the words herself.

“This is you, Siobhan,” Thane told her.
She felt his eyes on her again, searching her face, maybe
even
searching her soul. Very softly, and with a finality that spoke of firm belief, he said,
“
Y
ou are my queen.”

Siobhan
stared at the piece in his hand. It gleamed in the moonlight
.

Slowly she reached out
to touch it
. As her fingers closed over the piece, a sense of completion stole over her. “I know,” she said
, taking it from his
hand and turning the piece over
. “I think I knew the moment I first looked into your eyes.”

Thane was quiet beside her, so Siobhan looked up. He looked more shocked than she felt, and his throat was working as if he were swallowing tears he would
not allow to his eyes. “You
aren’t angry?”
He asked it as if he could
scarcely
believe his fortune.

Siobhan thought about that. He hadn’t been honest with her from the beginning. How long had he known? How long ago had this
witch
woman given him the chess piece? That delay bothered her, especially since she’d
trusted him enough to sleep
with him.

But then… this was Thanatos. And nothing could overshadow the way he made her feel, the way everything about him was even more magical than she was, from his realm to his tender-fierce touch.
She knew she was meant to be with him. She knew it in some place so far down, so rooted in her co
re, it was practically primordial
.
And he probably did too.

She knew that he’d most likely been afraid that if he told her,
she would deny
it, claim it wasn’t true. And
in the process, crush him. She could understand that kind of hesitation.

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m not angry.
” She closed her hand over the chess piece
with
decision. It was a gesture that spoke volumes of acceptance. “
But don’t ever keep anything from me again, Thane.”

Thane’s eyes widened even further,
and he half laughed, half choked with emotion
as he reached forward to cup her face in both hands. “Oh Siobhan….” He shook his head. “
No.
I
swear I
will never keep anything from you again.
”

“Never is a long time,” Siobhan said, placing her hand over his.

“It’s not so
long now.” He
leaned in and
kissed her, tender lips and a bit of scruff igniting the fire that had been smoldering in red embers inside of her. The moment he parted her lips and his tongue delved inside, all she could think about was the bed beneath her and how she wanted him to hold her down on it some more.

But he pulled away after a few delicious moments and
breathlessly
said, “I
want you to marry me.”

Siobhan blinked, shuddered a bit, and tried to get her libido back under control. She hadn’t been expecting that. Marriage was a bit form
al and a bit traditional for the crazy, magical world they were living
in. “Ummm….”

His gaze intensified and his voice deepened. “Siobhan, please be my wife.” He reached down for her right hand, the one she had always felt a bit more magic run through, and ran his thumb over her ring finger. Tiny sparks sizzled across the base of her finger, tickling ple
asantly. As they receded, an intertwining line of red and black wrapped around it like a knotted ring.

A ring tattoo. How very Phantom King.

Siobhan couldn’t help but laugh. The man could probably give her a
diamond
the size of a pickup truck,
but he’d gone with this
. It
was something so much more
him
. The gesture touched her, and th
at touch felt wonderful
.

She nodded. “Alright,” she said, still smiling broadly. She turned her hand over, admiring the gorgeous scrollwork. “I’ll marry you.”

As soon as she said it, there was something else,
something that hadn’t been there a second ago. It was indescribable, like what the air felt like just before lightning struck. Like the sound of a held breath and
the smell of possibility. It
was something that had been Thane’s
alone – and was now hers as well.

Thane
lunged forward and
captured her lips at once
, bruising them with a
palpable
happiness that made her feel drunk.
Light flashed around them, and when Siobhan managed to open her eyes for just a moment, it was to find the sky filled with shooting stars. Thousands of them.

But once again,
a minute later,
the king broke their kiss, and this time Siobhan had to fight not to fist her hand in his hair and yank him back in with everything she had.

When he
pulled back, he looked as addled with lust
as she felt. He swallowed hard and said in a gruff tone, “I
have to return to the mortal realm.”

Siobhan ran a frustrated hand through her hair.
“Okay… why?”

“With his actions, Marius h
as waged war
on the other kings,” he told her.
He let out a shaky breath, ever
y
muscle in his perfect body tensed as if he were fighting something off.
“I’m one of those kings.”

She processed that, closed her eyes as a dread began to creep in, and then she made her way off of the bed.
The planets continue to turn overhead, the stars to glimmer.
Not again
, she thought.
Her desire slowly waned, leaving her body feeling chilled by the night air. He was about to leave her alone again.
Only now she knew it was worse. Now she knew there
was a possibility that Thane
might not come back. And now she really, really cared.

“Fine,” she said. “I’m coming with you.”

She had no magic left; she could feel that she’d used it all up while trying to outrun the Phantom King
,
and she hadn’t yet slept or ea
ten, so none of it had returned –
if it was
ever
going to return at all. Which was something she didn’t want to think about.

But she could fire a weapon; she could pull a trigger as well as the next person. She could lend moral support. She could do
something
. Couldn’t she?

Thane
looked down at the bed, seemed to consider something, and then he rose from the mattress as well to stand beside it. He stared at her long and hard, an enig
matic expression on his gorgeous
face. As he did, the bed disappeared – and clothes magically formed on both of their bodies.

Siobhan glanced down, recognizing her own belongings, and then looked back up. The Phantom King stood before her in his jeans and black leather, looking as indomitable as ever.

“No,” he said
softly
as he slowly closed the distance between them. “You’
re the very thing that
Marius is after.
You go out there
,
and no matter what else happens and who else dies, you’ll be the one most at risk.” He stopped a foot away and shook his head. “
And there’s no way
I
’m going to
lose you now.”

“Thane,” she said, offering up her most pleading look. “Please don’t just leave me here.”

“It won’t be for long, and you won’t be alone,” he told her. “
We’ve already discussed it and I’ll bring
several of Roman’s people
and a few werewolves
into Purgatory
to watch over you.
”

Siobhan’s eyes widened. She blinked. “You’ve already discussed it?”

“With the other kings and with the werewolf council Overseer,” he said.

“I see,” she said, feeling a sharp spike of anger shoot up her spine.
It had been  hard enough for her to get past the fact that werewolves
and dragons and fairies
existed when he’d told her about them while they lay in bed together. Now they were deciding her fate for her.
“When were you planning on telling me this?”

Thane looked as though he knew he’d done wrong but was unrepentant.
It was a beautiful look on him
. I
t made her want to rip his shirt off. It
also made her want to then
strangle him with the shredded material.

“I’m telling you now,” he said.

That spike of rage that had made its way up her body was sitting, crouched and read
y
in her brain now, flooding her system with adrenaline and cortisol.

“Absolutely not,” she said through clenched teeth. It was one thing to tell her she had to stay here; she could even come to accept it
if she tried
. It was true, after all.
She would be no good to anyone in a fight.
But the fact that he trusted her so little that he was going to have paranormal monsters
babysit
her was making her vision go red
. He was just lucky she had no magic at that moment. “I will
not
stay here under guard, Thane.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, my queen,” he said, his expression turning just as dark and determined as her own. “You absolutely
will
.”

He reached out with lightning speed and grabbed her wrist, spinning her around so fast t
hat she lost her balance. She gasped
as she fell back against him and he wrapped his arms around her.
The world tilted, melted, blurred, and she knew he was transporting them once more. Instinct always seemed to rule out during interdimensional travel, and she found herself clinging to his tightly wrapped arms out of sheer self-preservation. When the world solidified again,
they were
in Thane’s living room in his house in Purgatory.