The Alpha King Marked Me. I Still Haven't Told Him I'm A Girl novel Chapter 67

Chapter 67: Sixty Seven

Valka

Just how many secrets am I keeping from Lucien? No. Wrong question. How many secrets have I been hoarding to myself?

Well, for one, I am Lyra, Margot’s two hundred year old daughter. Two, I’m the mate of the man all of Ebonheart currently hates. Three, well, I am Ilya. Sort of. Four, I have met Lucien before. Five, I’m pretty sure Lilith is fucking Cyrus, but I cannot prove it.

What do you know? I’ve been lying to Lucien for longer than I can even remember. Rather, for longer than I want to remember.

Even now, it is instinctual to keep the words to myself. Because telling him feels like I am giving him a part of me that is sacred. It’d mean I have to trust him. And I’ve come to realize that the reason why I am not much of a speaker or a sharer is because I do not know how to trust people.

"I--"

Lucien waits patiently.

I lick my lips. "Rafael was my commander. A general I looked up to. Someone I cared about. More importantly," my gaze finally meets his. "He was my mate. Is."

Lucien stiffens and I feel the frost on my skin.

Odd as it is, I’ve begun to read his moods, little by little. Whenever the temperature drops, it is a clear sign that Lucien’s temper has been breached.

"I didn’t tell you because--"

"Do not explain," he cuts in. "You owe me no tales of your past life. None. But if this is to be a barrier--"

"It will not be," I say, voice stronger than it’s been in days. "He betrayed me. I saved him, all of them, and they cast me out. I will go with you. And I will pay what I owe without fail."

Lucien’s expression shifts into one of quiet contemplation and I’d give anything to have a field trip in that mind of his.

In a smooth maneuver, he rolls out from under the table, stretching to his full height and his gaze lowers as he extends a hand to me.

My hand is small inside his, near golden in his pale ones as his fingers wrap around mine, pulling me off the floor. My knees, stiff from sitting too long fail me, and I stumble into him, hand braced against his chest.

Even through his clothes, I can feel each hard line of his torso. A heated memory flashes in the back of my mind of running my lips over his skin, how those muscles clenched each time my nails had scratched him there, the snapping of his wrists against the binds--

I draw back from him abruptly. "Sorry, I--"

Lucien tugs me forward, until our chests touch. My head cranes back, our eyes meeting. His hand finds my cheek with a handkerchief. And then, he brushes the crumbs from my cheek with a care. Like I am something fragile. Precious. Like he’s done this a thousand times before in another life. Once satisfied, he presses the cloth into my left hand.

"Do you give all the women you bed precautions?"

"If you’re asking if I gifted Lilith something, then yes. I did. It was the only way to get her out of my damned bedroom before I snapped her neck." His free hand drops to the curve of my waist. My chemise crinkles in his grasp as his fingers furl and unfurl, as if battling the desire to pull me flush against him. His lips brush the shell of my ear, voice dipping into a growl. "If you’re asking if I fucked her... well, Valka, you already know the answer."

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