Free In the Service of the King by Laura Kaye Page B

next to her on the bed.
    She could have eternity to ask him her questions about his life and times.
    She could have justice for Dana. Vengeance against the Soul Eaters.
    She had to tell him. “Before, when I said there were things you didn’t know?” He nodded. “When I was fourteen, my older sister was murdered by vampires.”
    Kael gasped and moved closer, one arm threading around her shoulders. That preternatural light flared in his eyes, but it was darker somehow, more menacing. “Soul Eaters,” he growled.
    “Yes. Before they drained every drop of blood from her body, they raped her. Then, when she was dead, they slit her open and ripped out her heart. That was how she was found. Those are the images my parents have to carry around in their heads.” Shayla held her breath and refused to surrender to tears and grief.
    “Were you close with her?”
    She smiled and released her breath. “Yeah. I mean, you know, we drove each other crazy like siblings do. But she was my hero. She’d just graduated high school…” She shrugged. “What happened to her, well, I have to play a role in bringing justice to the animals that did that. I’ve never known what that role would be, exactly, just that I had to do something. What do you think of that?”
    He studied her for a long moment, then leaned forward and dragged his nose along the skin of her arm. Pressed a kiss there. “Many years ago, I was mated, and she conceived a child.”
    “Yes,” Shayla whispered, reaching out and trailing her fingers through his hair. She’d learned Kael’s history, of course, it was part of why she imagined he might understand what drove her, but hearing it from the man himself was something else all together.
    “When Meara was in her sixth month, the Soul Eaters attacked Dunluce. We’d been betrayed by one of our own whose treachery went as far as allowing them entry to the castle, and we were caught completely off guard. The assault began at four in the morning when they used our own cannon against us to destroy the walls, insuring there would be no protection from the sun when it rose. Meara shepherded the women and children to the relative safety of the dungeons. There is no telling how many lives she saved. But she went into labor. It was too early and she was bleeding. I was above, engaged in the fight, pinned down and outnumbered when my blood felt her alarm. By the time I could get to her, it was too late. The newling was gone and she’d hemorrhaged so badly feeding her could not save her.”
    “I’m so sorry,” Shayla said. Could she ever replace such a woman?
    He turned his face and kissed her hand, still stroking him. “Thank you, but that is not why I told you about her. You asked what I thought of your need to act on behalf of your sister. I understand it, completely.”
    His words stole the breath from Shayla’s throat and wrapped themselves around an old, damaged part of her soul. He wasn’t only her dream. He was her dream come true. She threw off the covering of his robe, embraced his big shoulders and climbed into his lap, straddling him. She swallowed his groan as her center ground against his cock, already waking under her. The kiss was intense and sensual, full of compassion and shared grief and understanding.
    Kael pulled back and rested his forehead against the bridge of her nose. Then he met her gaze again. “ You must understand, though, my dearest heart,” he began in a strained voice. “I could never expose you to the kind of danger that took Meara from me. My intention would never be to stifle your dreams or impose my will as if…”
    She lifted an eyebrow. “As if you were my king?”
    One side of his full lips quirked up. “Is it wrong that I like the sound of that?”
    The heat of a blush warmed Shayla’s cheeks. Truth be told, she did, too. “No, as long as you don’t think it’s going to get you your way in everything.”
    “Sometimes, though?” His fingers made slow, teasing drags