Page 95 of Rising Out of the Darkness
Both hands curled against my side as another rumble of frustration rattled inside my chest. A shy smile lifted Lena’s flushed face. Entranced, I couldn’t take my eyes off her even as she hid her beautiful body with her tunic. Long legs fell to the floor as she rose from the bed and closed the gap between us, intertwining her delicate fingers between mine.
“I’ll be waiting.” She brushed her smooth cheek against mine as she whispered against my ear, “Come find me when you’re done,sir.”
Lifting my other hand to her face, I rubbed my thumb over her swollen lips. “I will return shortly…I promise.”
She pressed her lips against my thumb as she tilted her head towards the door. I willed my legs to leave the room before I could change my mind.
My boots felt full of iron as I stomped alongside Liam. A ripple of nerves flooded through me and wrapped around my spine. This feeling wasn’t coming from me. Liam cleared his throat as my gaze drifted towards him.
“S-sorry, my ward slipped a little,” Liam stuttered. The man’s ward has always been as solid as a rock. He’d never slipped before, much less stuttered.
“Liam,” I barked, “just tell me. What the Hells has you so shaken?”
He cleared his throat. “The king and Alastor—as you may have guessed, are not very happy about our little display in the city.”
“Yeah, I figured as much,” I huffed.
Silence fell as whips of shadows rippled over my arms.
“Hells, just spit it out, Liam.”
“Your father—” His throat bobbed. “He asked me to bring him the whip, Dec.”
Afamiliar metallic taste saturated my mouth as more continued to drip against the stone floor. I would not be returning to Lena any time soon. Already, I was breaking my promises to her, just like I ended up doing to everyone in my life.
Somewhere in the night, time had evaded me. Daylight shone from a sliver of a window near the ceiling of the stone wall beside me. This room was all too familiar, though it had been a while since I’d seen the inside of it.
The musty smell invaded my nostrils, evoking memories of all my past visits. Of being hauled in here to remind me of my place and my allegiance to this kingdom. Of the lies that dripped from my father and Alastor about how these “lessons” would teach me to be a strong royal. There were no lessons at all. Rather, my father had attempted to bleed the weakness out of me.
A whoosh came from behind me. The tails of the whip shredded deeper into my skin, and I could no longer hold in my shudder.
Self-healing was a natural ability once Elysians had gone through Ascension. With the strength of my dynamis, I healed faster than most Elysians. However, when I was brought downhere, it was never fast enough. Healers were often brought in to heal me so that my father or Alastor could continue with their “lessons” without me passing out. Over the years, my tolerance to pain had grown abnormally high, but everyone had a breaking point, even me.
Judging by the pain that radiated throughout me, I was getting close to needing another healing. Boots paced behind me, the sounds of more than just a pair. My father must be here with Alastor. Sometimes, they took turns dealing out my punishment.
There had been countless opportunities for me to leave this place, to be free of them. Each time, I’d turned them down, remembering my true purpose. I’d stayed to help those who couldn’t help themselves. There was no way I could leave them unprotected.
A small part of me, a very small part, also held on to the hope that my father would wake up one day with a change of heart. My mother had had faith that he would one day find the path back to the light, which was why she’d written to me the night she died. She’d begged me to fight for him, to help him see the error of his ways.
Another promise I wouldn’t be able to fulfill.
As if possessed by the Hells themselves, a deep roar bellowed out of me and the whip slashed deeper this time. I felt a chuckle vibrate against the back of my skull.
Fucking Alastor Grimshaw.
I should have known that it would be him handling the whip in place of my father. He had hated me ever since my Ascension, especially once my dynamis became stronger than my father’s.
Everything in this kingdom had begun to fester and wither the moment he became my father’s advisor. It was Alastor I blamed for the evil that had taken root inside my father. There was no question that I held a hatred for my father, but Alastor?My disdain for him knew no bounds. One day he would meet his end in the same manner that he’d murdered my family, at the end of a blade.
A chill ran down my spine as he gripped my hair, raising my face to his.
“I thought now that you were older, you’d be a little wiser. Then we wouldn’t have to visit this room as often, little prince.”
Hells, how I despised when he called me that. “You know me, I can’t resist a good time.”
Alastor growled, his fist colliding with the flesh of my cheek. He leaned down close. Close enough for me to get a deep draw of his foul breath.
He flicked his fingers against the jagged red scar on the back of my neck. “Don’t forget who holds the real power here, boy.”
