Page 3 of What did you do?

Thanes pulled away from me abruptly and turned to her. Leaving me feeling empty and slighted.

“Go ahead.” He stalked toward her. The arrogance in his easy stride made me shiver. “Tell your son thatyoukilled me, his best friend. His idol. Hisfucking father.” Thanes’s laugh thundered through the castle as he moved in close to Tenebris’s porcelain face.

The woman who always appeared so frightening and powerful to me suddenly looked weak and timid. I nearly feltsorry for her the way Thanes’s presence caused her to shrink in on herself.

To everyone else, she was unstoppable, an unyielding force of power, but with her husband, she submitted like a dog.

Love made you stupid. No one would ever understand that more than me.

“He’ll get over it,” she growled back at him.

Smoke from the queen’s feet formed a protective barrier between them.

“Mendax idolizes me, Tenebris. You kill me, and the first thing that boy will do is end you,” he said with a cocky smile. “It doesn’t matter though.” He grabbed her blackened hand. “You wouldn’t hurt me. Youloveme. The fae believe you Smoke Slayers to be so tough, but I know the truth.”

He bent down and kissed her tenderly. Despite her eyes falling shut, she remained stiff as a board.

My fists curled until my long, peach-colored nails threatened to pierce the skin on my palms.

“I know that once you are in love”—he kissed her again softly—“and once you have bonded to another”—another kiss to her forehead—“you Slayers areincapableof stopping it or hurting the one you’ve chosen. It doesn’t matter how it destroys you.” He brushed a piece of straight, black hair from her face as I watched with horror. “It seems that it’s you, my love, who fucked up when you chose me.”

Jealousy flared inside me like the fiery sun. If I’d have been granted the SunTamer’s abilities, I would have burned them both with the heat of a thousand suns.

I knew he was manipulating her and that he didn’t really love her.

He loved me.

But as I stood in the cold, dimly lit castle, something blossomed inside of me. Something dark and jagged with thorns and teeth flourished.

I would make her regret ever challenging me—regretevermaking me feel less than worthy because I couldn’t match her powers or beauty.

I was no Smoke Slayer, but I wouldn’t let that stop me from ruining her whole life and everything she ever cared about. I would make certain of it.

This wasn’t just about Thanes anymore.

Her realm was mine.

I was the better woman, and I would watch as he killed both his wife and son for me.

I could be powerful too.

2

PRESENT DAY

Mendax

Warm blood trickled down to the dried leaves that blanketed the ground, making a soft noise that would have gone unnoticed by most. But not by me.

My ears always searched for that sound, perking forward with the hopes of being blessed with its sultry notes. It was the orchestra that fueled and ignited me, the essence of my soul that demanded I hear the song of blood being shed—that I be the maestro.

I stole the deepest breath my aching chest was capable of and let the humid forest air push into my immortal lungs. Even the earthy forest scent made me think of her.

Everything made me think of her.

Not yet, I sang over and over in my head as I let out my breath and willed some of my impatience to exit with it.

I was faltering already. I could feel it. The impatient rage had already commenced its siege on my body and mind. Faster it came, every day since she had left. Simply beating this man’s face in wasn’t enough.

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