The King’s Tainted Mate
Chapter 39

"Is everything to your taste?" I looked up, right into my mate's alluring abyss of a gaze at his question. His protective tone matched the emotion that swam in there, making my belly flutter terribly. It was all it had been doing for the better part of our lone, quiet and welcome time in my mate's bed chambers. Everything was to my taste, surprisingly. After what I would consider a disastrous dinner, my own surprising boldness that inspired my life altering decisions, I felt a sense of satisfaction I hadn't felt since my world had crumbled down. It was a sweet taste of revenge, but that wasn't exactly what my mate was inquiring about.

"It is, thank you." I said of the food set before me that had been prepared at an impossible hour after a mean rumbling of my stomach. Against my protests, my mate had gone ahead and barked orders both to Rakon and whoever he'd chosen to mind link at the awkward hour to prepare something to eat. I had expected a snack at the very least, but when the many servants had poured into his chambers with various platters of food, I was dumbstruck at the sight. Everything was just too much and I had no doubt he'd woken the entire palace kitchen staff to do his ridiculous bidding. The woman I assumed was the head cook had only seemed to relax after my mate had given her a satisfied response once everything was set on a low table that I now shared with my mate. "You did not have to do this much." I mumbled, but as with my earlier protests, my complaint was met with silence.

I would have been offended too, but having him wait on me, having him stare at me as though I was his whole world while inquiring ever so often if I was alright, overshadowed my own need to be furnished with an answer and so much more.

He cared. He'd watched over me as though I was the realm's most rare gem he didn't wish to go missing. That had righted more things in my heart. And if any of it was a lie, a pretense on his part, I did not care for it. I would bask in his presence, inhale his scent, relish all he was offering until day break. Until I returned to my own chambers or until I had to face the harsh realities of the world beyond the comfort of his beautiful personal space. A space that had surprisingly remained untainted by my sister's presence. My heart skipped a beat at the memory of my mate's utter desperation as he sought to convince me of the fact.

Waking up in the sea of his delicious citrus scent had been a perfect way to re enter the land of the living after my unintended visit to hell's door, but realizing I had woken up in the very bed he could have shared with Myrna had pierced my heart and I had wished for nothing but to escape the pain that ensued. It was not that I had any delusions that my mate had remained chaste after wedding my sister, I couldn't just stomach laying on the same bed where he could have pleasured her to no end while I wallowed in pain during the very act.

Hearing that she had never set a single foot in his chambers had loosened many things in my heart and unknown to him, this grand bedroom had instantly become my favourite place in the whole palace after his confession. It was not for the sake of its grand beauty, but for the fact that in here, while those doors were shut, this felt like our own little private world. Ours to treasure, away from everything that threatened to tear us apart. In here I could forget our past for a moment. And with the way he was staring at me, I could consider his proposal to get to know him. I wished to know him.

I lowered my gaze hastily, afraid of giving in to the sinful temptation that had been lurking in my mind and body from the moment I woke from my slumber. Knowing him was apparently not the only thing I wished for. Even when a perfect distraction had presented itself in the matter of my mate having shared his bed with Myrna, my body, blood and wolf seemed to have totally ignored that part and kept the desire buried within burning. And once he'd cleared the air about the matter, the trio had simply dragged me and my heart along and plunged us in the anticipation of having that desire fulfilled.

"Will you try this too?" My eyes widened when a piece of fruit found itself too close to my mouth, his intentions to feed me oh so clear.

"Liira says it's good for the baby." Was he mind linking the matriarch for baby advice while I ate? I stared at him, his serious expression rousing something in me. For whatever reason, him wishing to take care of me this way did not sting as before. It did not make me think his heir was his only interest. Perhaps it had everything to do with knowing he'd searched far and wide for me until the last moment or my own admission that I might have been wrong too.

"T-Thank you." I reached for what he was offering with my hand because there was no way I was eating from his. The mere thought was too scandalous to entertain even in the confines of my own head. Besides, it would be the perfect recipe and shortest route to drown in the temptation that I was already reluctantly wishing to avoid.

"I promise I won't bite." He moved the fruit out of my reach, leaving me gaping at him. His expression did not change however and neither did his intentions. And when I merely stared at him, he got up and circled the low table, sending my heart hammering in my chest.

"W-What are you doing?" My breath hitched when he came and sat next to me on the large plush cushion that served as my seat at the table. He did not have to, we both knew it, but he did and I should not have liked it, but I did. And thanks to my very excited wolf, I did little to hide it.

"You've barely eaten." Concern laced his tone and so did something else that got me breathless.

"As have you." I protested weakly.

"I'm not the one to have collapsed, neither am I the one carrying my child." He cupped my cheek as gently as he made his case, making me lean into his touch and relishing the sparks that erupted at the contact. "What kind of mate would I be if I did not take care of you and our child?"

Our child... My heart melted, while desire soared and the darkness that graced his eyes only served to entice me even more. My lips parted of their own accord and when he slipped the fruit in, warm fingers tracing the edges, I yearned for something more. Behind the closed doors of his chambers, away from those who would judge, away from everything that sought to keep us apart, away from my own desire for revenge, I longed to be his. And when I held his gaze, eyes pleading, risking to make a fool of myself once more, his answer was immediate. Lips found mine, swallowing up my gasp and every moan that dared to escape my throat. A kiss more ferocious than any he'd ever lavished on me, plunging me in the very temptation I had been afraid of indulging in. But as suddenly as he'd claimed my lips, he stopped, leaving me dangerously close to cursing him. King or no king.

"Will you let me make up for my failings?" Was he bargaining with me right now? I stared at him breathless, my eyes widening when he slipped out the ring and got on bended knee. "I wish for nothing more than to make you mine right now, to grant your every desire, but beyond this pleasure..." He traced the edges of my lips once more, igniting my desire anew. "I wish to make a promise to you, Shyla." I knew that fate decided many things in my life and that promises could be broken, but I still stretched out my hand and let my mate slip the ring on my finger. It was all for revenge, I thought to myself. But when my mate reclaimed my lips, revenge was the furthest thing from my mind as a strange and more intimate feeling flowed in its place catching me off guard.