Armentrout, Jennifer L. - Blood And Ash 02 - A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire by Armentrout Jennifer L

Author:Armentrout, Jennifer L. [Armentrout, Jennifer L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Jennifer L. Armentrout, From Blood and Ash, fantasy romance
Publisher: Blue Box Press
Published: 2020-08-31T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 23

Sunlight streamed in through the terrace doors, and for several moments, all I could do was sit there and stare at the open door. I couldn’t believe what’d happened, from the moment I woke up, all tangled up with him, until he left the bedchamber. What had happened to him left me confused. And my actions, what I’d done and allowed, left me stunned and in a daze.

Casteel had lost his mind.

I’d lost my mind.

Kieran closed the door, cutting off the rush of sweet-scented air and snapping me from my thoughts. My gaze cut to where he stood in front of the fireplace. The flames had calmed, no longer stirred by the wind. “Did he hurt you?”

“What?” My voice was hoarse as I blinked.

“Did he hurt you, Penellaphe?” Kieran repeated, his voice softening.

“No. He…” I looked at my bare legs. He hadn’t hurt me. He could’ve, and I wasn’t even sure if he hadn’t wanted to, but he’d done the furthest thing from hurting me. Reaching for the blanket, I tugged it to my waist.

A muscle flexed in Kieran’s jaw. “He didn’t force himself on you?”

“Gods, no.” I shoved the hair back from my face and caught sight of the knife. It remained where I’d dropped it on the bed. Casteel hadn’t forced anything, and the truth was, I could’ve stopped what’d happened at any point if I wanted to. I could’ve wounded him enough to attempt an escape. But I hadn’t because I…I’d wanted what’d happened. I’d woken up wanting that. And I didn’t know if Casteel had sensed my desire through whatever had its claws in him, but regardless, I had wanted that.

Him.

I searched for remorse or shame, anything that would show that I regretted what’d taken place, but there was nothing. Like before, there was just vast confusion and irritation with myself because I knew better—knew that things like this just aided in me falling more and more for him. Not too long ago, I had told him that nothing like that would ever happen again, and I’d proven that I couldn’t trust myself to make good life choices—not once or twice but three times. The pantry. The nightmare. And now, this. How could I want him so badly that I didn’t care about what he did or who he was? Or what he might do to me?

“What happened?” Kieran asked.

It took a couple of moments for me to gather my thoughts. “He woke up, and it was like he didn’t recognize me. He was snarling, and his eyes were pitch-black.” I left out quite a bit there as I looked at Kieran, but I was sure he already knew a great deal of what’d happened. “His eyes reminded me of an Ascended. Is he…will he be okay?”

Kieran’s face was impressively blank, considering what had just happened. “He should be once he cools down.”

“Cools down? I think he needs more than that.” I glanced at the door. “He was about to attack you.”

“In that moment, he saw me as a challenge.

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