Page 12 of Whispers of Fate

“You’re trembling, little girl.” He spoke in a rough tone, laced with gravel and a hoarseness that drifted over my skin and slid through my center. He sounded like what I’d assume whiskey to sound like if it had a voice. “Is it with fear, or do you anticipate what I’ve arranged for you tonight?”

“It’s freezing,” I returned icily, embodying the glacial air in my tone.

“Is it? I didn’t realize that something so frigidly cold and heartless could feel discomfort by things that matched her demeanor so closely. I care not if you freeze to death, girl. You’re a tool I intend to wield to take back what is rightfully mine. Your comfort’s not of my concern, nor my worry.”

“I’ll never allow you to manipulate me into betraying my people, monster. I’ll fight you with every breath until air no longer escapes from my lips. You assume you’re a god, but you’re nothing more than a homicidal sociopath who means to defeat a group of people who hold no culpability for what befell you and your people. You hide your face, camouflaging the beast you’ve become from the world, and still you expect to rule it? Everyone wants to control the world, asshole. Do you comprehend the difference between them and you?” I inquired gently, inhaling his dark, enticing scent deeply into my lungs.

“That I will rule the world, and they only crave to, right?” he countered, shocking me with his sincerity. He had some pretty lofty dreams and illusions of grandeur.

“They’re not the frail, pathetic bitch hiding beneath armor. The entities who covet it? They’re out there effectively devising strategies to get what they lust after. You? You’re here, brooding and grumbling about what they took from you because you were too fucking weak to hold on to it. They aren’t frightened of unmasking their true face, and I’m not frightened of you. You do not understand what you’re doing or who you’re considering dethroning. My family opposed the gods and won. They’ll devour you and your people and then consume your souls. If you really believe you’re enough to take them on, then I can’t wait for them to shove that hubris down your throat until you choke on it.”

“Those are pretty big words for a princess who weeps at night, pleading for me to let her free. I love the melody of your misery and the agonizing echo of it through my soul, Kahleena. I bet you’ll weep beautifully when I end your entire line and keep you as my fucking trophy. You make a gorgeous pet, held in a cage of my making. I wonder if you’d still be so brave and fierce with your tongue after an eternity spent within it.”

The coldness of his sharp and bitter tone formed a flutter deep in my body. As my eyelids fluttered closed, my eyelashes dusted my cheek and a shiver of anguish shot through me.

He felt the way my frame shivered, and he laughed huskily, snorting as he crowded his mouth tightly against my jaw, biting it softly.

“They may be brave words, but you are hesitant because of them. That you’ve not even provided me with a name to address you by, suggests fear, and fear invites defeat.”

“The only name you need to address me by is liege. The only emotions you will ever know again will be anguish and ruin. I aim to unleash both on you, Kahleena. Once I am finished ending your people and reclaiming what they stole from mine, it will be all that’s left of your kingdom.” The gauntlet that concealed his hand disappeared, and his warm palm gripped my chin. His fingers curved around my jaw, forcing my focus to rise until I peered into the dark, mercurial eyes that examined me. “I’ll be the one to raze everything you’ve ever wanted or desired within your perfect life, princess. I’m your god now, and you live because I grant you leave to do so. You’re at my fucking mercy, and I’m the one in control of everything happening to you from here on out.”

“You might be the whisper of fate, but I am the thunder raised by destiny and the realm. Fate is merely a whisper, but destiny roars to those who rise to embrace it, and it’s a deafeningly loud rumble I have within me, prick. Or did you forget that I’m the daughter of a god and goddess? I’m the spirit of their courage, their fortitude and strength, which fuel me with a fire you can’t, and won’t put out, asshole. Besides, my parents took on the gods, and they won. You’re here because you were too weak and pathetic to prevent them from locking you in this realm.”

“And what would that be?” he countered, loosening the hold on my chin so he can stroke his thumb along my jaw.

“I’m not old enough to be afraid of anything you whisper into the wind. Fear isn’t something I perceive or understand fully yet. I only know how to prevail and survive insurmountable odds. You assume the isolation you enforce on me affects me, but I grew up in the City of Gods. Nothing you do to me can hurt me or break me. You cannot wield me against my people because I’ve taken steps to ensure it. So, do your worst, and I’ll enjoy watching you fail.”

He stepped back, shaking his head. His hand remained uncovered, and I watched the power emanating from his flesh. Dark shadows floated around his skin, exposing intricate speckles that moved. The male lifted his hand, and swirling dark smoke jumped from his palm. It spun until it mirrored a cyclone, which revealed galaxies in their silken depths. The hand which created the image flung it toward me, forcing a strangled scream to rip from my throat, only for the sound to be violently thrown back by the shadows he’d unleashed.

Chapter Seven

Kahleena

Mybodyscreamedinpain, forcing air to escape my lips as I stared sightlessly into the midnight sky. The man slid to his knees, chuckling as he adjusted the gown to cover my midriff, drifting his fingers over the curve of my breasts as I sucked in air.

“I wonder how your parents will react to knowing that I claimed their precious daughter, Kahleena.”

“You didn’t claim me, jackass. You abducted me,” I whispered, grinding my teeth together to force the anxiety away from my mind. A lone tear rolled down my cheek before his finger captured it. He lifted it to hold before his penetrating black stare.

“I’m not sure which claiming you’d like me to accomplish. Do you assume I’d ever willingly taste the venom of your lips or plunder that pussy with anything other than my sword? I assure you, I won’t. You’re nothing more than a filthy, pitiful creature that feels it is clean.”

His wings blotted out the light, and power rumbled over my skin. Darkness blinded me, battering me until it pushed me to call on the brilliant hue of my soul as protection. The moment it lit within me and my vision returned, I found myself staring into polished orbs filled with glittering speckles of mercurial-colored particles radiating from narrow eyes. He had intense, well-defined cheekbones that cradled a strong nose between them. Full lips curved into a devilish sneer, which promised me suffering. Wispy, intricate brands covered his arms in silvery ropes that drifted from his wrists, whirled up to and around his biceps, and ended at his shoulders. A remarkable, ancient symbol—a marking that was the twin to my own—glowed on his chest. The symbols seemed to slide up his throat to curve over his jawline before vanishing into his dark hair below his ear. The symbol that perfectly matched the one on my chest became more visible the longer I gazed at his tattoos and sinewy physique. The shadows I’d noted before had grown and danced around him like they idolized him.

“If I were you, I’d start running. The shadows are eager to dine on your flesh, Kahleena. I’ve invited others to hunt you with me tonight, and I’ll reward whoever catches you with a night spent in your cell. Do you expect that they’ll spend it to relieve their carnal lust or to dine on your bones? You’re so fucking lovely that I suppose they’ll endeavor to achieve both. Maybe I’ll seize you myself and encourage them to help break that which I’ve won? Then I could revel in the music of your cries as they satisfy their hunger in that poisonous pussy that you play with at night, yearning to ease the ache growing there. Tell me, have you ever been destroyed sexually before, princess? Has anyone ever held you down and fucked you so ravenously and so viciously that you screamed and pleaded to be spared from their depravity?

“Fuck you,” I hissed through clenched teeth. “You’ve no right to violate my privacy or room at night. The present state of my body isn’t your fucking issue. I don’t desire for you, or anyone else, to relieve the discomfort between my thighs. Poisonous, remember? You don’t want me, and I’d hate for you to debase yourself with the likes of me or force you to seek to steal something I’d never freely give to you.”

He snatched me from the ground, sinking his fingers into my skin as he yanked me to my feet. Before I could protest, he fired us into the air. My hands wrapped around his back, and I pressed my face into the solid wall of the muscle of his chest. The enticing hint of twilight and masculinity assaulted my senses while my body pulsed with violence.

I pried my eyes open enough to peer out through the breach between his arm and chest. Stars burned brightly in the midnight sky while he climbed higher. His hands started to release me, and I grappled to hold on, assuming that he fully planned to release me. Panic and fear surged through me, and his deep laughter sounded very much like a warning.

“I’ve decided to be the one who seizes you tonight. First, though, we should discover the difference in the sound of your screams. I’d like to know how you scream with fear so I will be able to decipher it tonight when I’m driving into your supple body. Who knows, Kahleena, maybe I’ll renounce my loathing of you long enough to allow you to feel me ruining you. I wager you’d scream so delightfully if I wrecked your soft body with the hunger savaging through me. Would your parents enjoy knowing I fucked you and eased my eternal hunger on your pretty princess parts?” His hand lifted, slipping through my hair to jerk me away from his body. I squealed, grabbing out to fasten onto his frame.

“That’s not happening—ever.”

“Do you think we can’t hear you night after night, touching your needy pussy? No matter how much you touch that useless cunt or your clit, you won’t come. Your screams of frustration at never feeling that euphoria of pleasure give me fucking life,” he chuckled cruelly. “I must admit, I am impressed with your dedication to achieve the goal of getting your messy cunt off. It is, however, fruitless to continue trying. The only way you’ll get what you want is if I allow you to have it.”

“Go to hell—” He dropped me, and I tumbled through the air weightlessly, hurtling toward the ground. With every rotation, I caught a glimpse of his grinning face as I screamed.

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