“Your Majesty?” Riggs murmurs from my right side. He’s looking down at me with concern. “How do you want us to proceed here?”
“I…” The words dry up. “Uh…”
How do I want them to proceed?
I have no fucking idea.
Riggs shifts his weight to lean a shade closer. “If you don’t want to talk to him, say the word. We will remove him — without violence, I assure you — and take you back to the castle immediately.”
“She wants to talk to me,” Carter calls up the steps. “Don’t you, Emilia?”
The cadence of his voice washes over me in a drugging wave. That deep rasp when he says my name is almost enough to undo me. A memory blasts into my head unbidden — of the last time he said it, when he was buried deep inside me, his thrusts timed to each syllable.
Emilia, Emilia, Emilia.
“Thorne,” Riggs growls. “Address her properly or not at all.”
“New guard dog, huh?” Carter’s eyebrows are two dark slashes of amusement. “Does he do all your talking for you now,Your Majesty?”
I stiffen.
The guards around me go decidedly tense.
“Thorne, watch your mouth.” Riggs’ patience has officially expired; he sounds like he’s about two seconds from pummeling Carter into the cobblestones.
But Carter either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care. He’s still staring at me with that heady mix of sexual tension and snide defiance. It radiates off him like cologne, even with fifteen feet separating us.
“Emilia,” he says again. Softly. So softly, it slays me.
Dammit.
All this distance, all this time and space… yet still, with one murmured word, he manages to fragment every piece of myself I’ve spent weeks putting back into place with meticulous care.
“No,” I whisper, my head shaking in violent rejection. I’m not sure whether I’m talking to Riggs or to Carter or to my damn self. “I can’t talk to him. I don’t want to be anywhere near him.”
If I get near him, I’ll fall into his arms.
If I let him closer, I’ll lose myself completely.
Again.
That’s all the go-ahead Riggs needs to intervene. Signaling the two nearest guards to follow, he advances on Carter without hesitation, his long legs swallowing up the steps in a few strides. They have him in their custody so quickly, it makes my head spin — massive biceps straining against their uniforms as they haul his tall frame off the limousine.
“Emilia, don’t do this,” Carter yells as they start to drag him away, struggling to get free with every step. “Emilia! Just listen to me for a minute—”
I close my eyes so I don’t have to watch, unable to stand the sight of him thrashing against the guards’ grip. I’m horrified to feel tears gathering behind my lids, poised to escape down my cheeks.
I’ve never felt so at war with myself. I want to tell them to stop, to let him go. I want to run down the steps, into his arms. To sink into him, safe in his hold for the first time in far too long.
“Emilia!”
I flinch as his voice breaks on my name. He sounds farther away already. I wonder how many more seconds of this torture I have to endure before he fades out completely. Before he’s shoved into some dark SUV and whisked out of my life once more.
“Look, Emilia, I know what you think of me. I know I lost your trust. I know you have no interest in talking to me ever again. Okay?I know.” He’s panting now, exerted from fighting against the ham-fisted guards. “Do you truly believe I’d come here if I didn’t have a good reason?This is fucking important!”
The first tear escapes, streaking down my cheek and pooling at the corner of my mouth.
This is killing me.