Sunday Snippet: The Pages of the Mind by Jeffe Kennedy

 About the Book

The Pages of the Mind   
Author:  Jeffe Kennedy
Publisher:   Kensington Publishing
Released:  May 31, 2016
Series:   The Twelve Kingdoms #6/The Uncharted Realms #1
Genre:  Paranormal Romance
Author contact links:   Website
Purchase links:  Amazon, Book Despository, iTunes, Kobo
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Snippet

Moving slowly, he took my hand and mimicked the motion, brushing his fingers lightly over my upraised palm. The sensation shivered through me and I caught my breath as my heart thudded and blood surged to the surface of my skin.

“You okay?” Jepp asked without turning around.

“Yes.” Except I wasn’t. I needed to think, something that became impossible when this man touched me.

Nakoa flicked Jepp an irritated glance. He gestured to her and said something longer, using both my name and his. Still holding my one hand, he made encompassing circles with the other at the ceiling, sea, and me. It sounded very solemn. He finished by touching the garland still hanging around my neck, sadly crushed and wilted now.

I wanted to say I didn’t understand, but I suspected I did, all too well.

“What was all that?”

I glanced at Jepp, who shifted impatiently from foot to foot. Nakoa tapped my cheek lightly, turning my gaze back to him. “Ayh,” he said sharply, shaking his head. He gestured to Jepp and said the sound again. “Ayh.” Then pointed back and forth between him and me. “Nakoa. Dafne.”

“Please stay quiet unless I call you,” I told her, not taking my eyes off Nakoa. This felt much like negotiating with a predator intent on eating me if I made the wrong move. More wolves surrounding me. Or a dragon, stalking.

I held up my hand, asking for his patience, and eased the other from his grip. Plucking a wilted petal from the garland, I pointed to the sea out the windows and moved the petal as if floating it on the waves. I set my finger on it, saying my name, showing the petal sailing to the palace. “Dafne came here on a ship to help you.” I showed him the petal sailing away again. “Dafne cannot stay.” I added a firm shake of my head. “Dafne must leave again.”

Nakoa’s expression grew thunderous. He touched the garland, then laid a palm over my heart, pressing me against the bed. Speaking long and in a commanding tone accompanied by much head shaking, he made it clear that I would be going nowhere. I flinched back a little at his touch, but he held firm, gentling his tone. Then he picked up my hand again, uncurled my fingers, and placed a kiss on the inside of my wrist.

If the previous caress had been a shiver, this was a bolt that shot into my already pounding heart. I imagined I felt the echo of Nakoa’s, beating in the same rhythm, along with that other, wilder heart. In the distance, a musical roar sounded. Nakoa cocked his head at it meaningfully, then kissed the tender skin of my wrist at the pulse point again, watching me as he did. I tried to keep calm, hide my reaction, but it made no difference. His lips curved in an unmistakably sensual smile. “Dafne mlai,” he said, and kissed my wrist again.

I stared back at him, my thoughts scattered. Somehow I’d gotten myself engaged or, goddesses forbid, married to this foreign king, and I had no idea how to get myself out of it.

Ursula was going to kill me.