Page 9 of Reluctant Rebel

“Excuse me,” Jinx muttered, attempting to step around him.

Carrick moved with her, blocking her path. “I’m sorry, am I interrupting you? Do you have somewhere important to be?”

For a moment, Jinx pictured him with his guts spilling out thanks to her claws and staining his perfectly pressed slacks. But instead of following through with her daydream, she pasted a fake-arse smile on her face and answered cheerfully. “As a matter of fact, I do.”

Carrick smirked, crossing his arms over his chest. “Oh? Do tell.”

Jinx dug deep for patience, demanding, “What do you want, Carrick?”

The fae shrugged. “I’m just wondering if the new king knows he’s getting cosy with a whore.”

Inside her mind, her tigress snarled, all but begging to be unleashed. The tiger had been wanting Carrick’s blood for a longtime. Jinx did her best to keep the animal contained. For now. “I don’t know,” she replied sweetly. “Why don’t you ask him?”

“I would,” Carrick retorted, his handsome face twisting into a cruel frown. “But Abraxis doesn’t receive his subjects like the kings that came before him. They actually cared about the kingdom they were running. But not him. All he cares about are his dead brothers.”

“Is that so?” Jinx murmured softly. Although Mikhail was back in residence in the palace, it was still a secret. The circumstances of his return needed to be revealed to Purgatory appropriately. It was one of the items on the agenda of their breakfast meeting. “You don’t sound too fond of our monarch,” she pointed out.

“I would be if he gave me a chance,” Carrick said. “I could be far more useful than a diplomat for the fae. I could help him be a real ruler.”

Jinx raised an eyebrow, her bi-coloured eyes glinting with suspicion. Carrick's words dripped with ambition, and she could almost taste the barely concealed disdain in his voice. He stood before her, his ethereal beauty marred by the haughty tilt of his chin and the cold calculation in his eyes. She shivered.

“A real ruler?” Jinx echoed, her tone deceptively light. “And what, pray tell, would that entail?”

Carrick's lips curled into a smirk, revealing perfect, pearl-white teeth. “A ruler who understands the intricacies of power. One who isn't afraid to wield it with an iron fist when necessary.”

Jinx snorted with derision and shook her head. He was really showing his true colours today. “And you think you can help King Abraxis with that?”

“I know I can,” Carrick replied adamantly.

“You’re an idiot,” Jinx stated, loving the way Carrick’s self-satisfied smirk fell away. “Not only does Abraxis not need or want help from the likes of you, but you have it all wrong.Purgatory doesn't need an iron fist,” she said, her voice quiet but firm. “It needs compassion, understanding, and balance. Those are the qualities that make a true ruler.”

He stared at her for a moment before bursting into laughter. “I had no idea you were so funny,” he told her. “How did someone like you get such grand ideas?”

“It’s called having morals,” Jinx replied blandly, refusing to get drawn into Carrick’s nonsense further. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to see King Abraxis.” She stepped around him and began walking backwards, maintaining eye contact. “Hey, while I’m there, I’ll be sure to let him know that he has an ambitious, disgusting rapist working in his palace.”

“I’m not a rapist!” Carrick spat, turning red.

“But you are disgusting.” Jinx nodded knowingly. She continued before he could spew any further nonsense. “And for your information, having sex with someone without their consent is called rape.”

Carrick stepped closer, lowering his voice. “I pay for it. It’s theirjob.”

Jinx raised her chin. “A job that isn’t always voluntary.”

The fae rolled his eyes. “Like you, you mean? Please, we both know you liked working for Asmodeus.”

“I wasn’t an employee, you fuck,” Jinx snarled lowly. “I was a prisoner!”

Carrick sniffed, stepping back and smoothing his palms over his perfectly pressed shirt. “Whatever.”

Before she acted on her impulses and castrated Carrick, she spun around and began walking swiftly down the corridor. Over her shoulder, she shouted, “Stay out of my way, Carrick.” She didn’t receive a response, and for that, she was grateful.

She made her way swiftly through the halls now, her adrenaline pumping. The only reason she hadn’t told Sabre or Gage about Carrick was because she didn’t want to dredge up hershitty past. She knew her friends would have her back and, very likely,breakCarrick’s back. But that part of her past was over. And other than in her nightmares, she had no desire to relive it.

Finally arriving at the gold-leafed doors, Jinx shook off the unpleasantness of the morning, told her tiger to chill, and smiled at the familiar faces of the guards. Besides the small rebel entourage that had been with Mikhail for the past year and a half, there were a select few privy to the true king’s return. Hugo, the handsome phoenix, and Uno, the hulking cyclops, were two of them.

“Jinx!” Hugo greeted her happily. “How are things?”

Jinx grinned back. “Things are fine.” She turned to Uno only to wince. “Uh, you have a little something in your eye there, big man.”

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