Page 118 of Her Dark Promise

“Get off!” I looked over and saw the blade. I must have held onto it when I was in the water.

“You're hurt! Stop!” Callum pleaded.

I kneed him in the balls and pushed him off of me, making a beeline for the blade that I saw out of the corner of my eye. Ignoring the pain from my side, I lunged for it, but someone grabbed my leg just before I could get to it. I turned to find Soren pulling me back. I reared up and kicked him in the face, and he let go immediately, cursing. I paid him no mind as I bounded for the blade again.

I gripped it between my hands, lining it up to my heart, and pressed it in. I gritted my teeth together as the blade broke skin, but I was thwarted again when someone’s entire body pummeled me to the ground. So many hands were trying to get me to let go of the blade, but I hung onto it for as long as I could. I was so close to ending it.

Then someone ripped it from my hands. I looked up to find Bastian tossing it into the middle of the pond.

“NO!” My voice sounded so primal, like an animal.

I tried to use my magic on him, but it wouldn’t come forth. Callum’s entire body was still on top of me, and I fought with everything in me. I used what little strength I had left until Callum was pushed off of me, and Bastian replaced him. He straddled me and pinned my hands wherever they landed next to me.

“I said stop,” Bastian growled with enough force that I stopped my desperate attempt to get away.

We glared at each other briefly before I said, “Are you wanting an audience this time? I don’t think the scholar will appreciate seeing that.”

He ignored my taunt. “You just tried to kill yourself.”

I didn’t respond. We both know what I had tried and failed to do. I didn’t need to confirm it.

He tried again. “Why did you try to kill yourself?”

“You just tossed away theonlything that can kill me.”

“Because we won’t allow you to harm yourself.”

I stared into his eyes and decided on a different tactic. “Think about it, hunter. If you had let me succeed, then you could walk out those front gates as we speak. That’s what you want, right? I promise you that it will work this time. It will still take a while before the effects fade, like last time, but there is still time. Use your hands, and tighten them around my neck. Just do it.”

“Bast…” Callum’s tone was on edge, warning him not to make the wrong decision.

I didn’t pay him any mind and continued staring at Bastian, willing him to listen to me. “Come on, you know you want to. Kill the beast.”

He leaned down until our faces were close. “You wanted me… Now you have me, now and forever.” A mix of sweat and water dripped onto my face; he was soaked.

“Excuse me?”

He leaned back, still pinning my body to the ground. “You heard me. I’m staying.”

I barked out a humorless laugh. “You can’t do that.”

“Yes, I can.”

“No, you can’t.”

“Yes, I can.”

“No, you can’t.” He was about to reiterate that he, in fact, can change his mind when I said instead, “There is no way for you to have suddenly, out of the blue, changed your mind and decided to stay out of your own free will. What is it? Do you want me to beg? Fine. Let me up, and I’ll do just that. I want to die. Don’t you hear me? I want to die!”

His eyes softened, and some emotion I couldn’t quite read crossed his features. “I would have once loved to see that, but not now. Not after everything.” He narrowed his eyes. “You are not going to succeed. I will not allow it.”

“I ordered you to leave these lands! That I would kill you if I ever saw you again—”

“And yet I am still here!” He yelled, cutting me off.

“Because youhadto be! Because I had not allowed you to leave until now, so go!”

His expression turned pained. “It may not have seemed like a long time to you, but I have regretted my choice ever since I watched my father ram that blade through you. And now…” He swallowed hard. “Pulling your lifeless body…”

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