Page 11 of What Whispers in the Dark
Jade curled her lip at the male. “What? There are no mirrors around for you to look at yourself, so you demand my eyes for your reflection?” she sneered, and he seemed to pleasure in it.Just like a Flame.Just like any male that considered her a lesser. Held under their torch for their own sick amusement.
It disgusted her.
Made her feel as if her damned collar was secured around her neck once more. Burning her until she’d submit.
When Malik said nothing, Jade snarled, “What?”
But it was Thalon who called across the firesite, standing stone-faced, holy fury in his eyes, “Leave it, Jade. He’s not worth it.”
Thalon was right. The male could die for all she cared. Buried beneath the dirt as fertilizer, though nothing good would grow from it.
The dark-haired prick ignored Thalon, much the same as he did during Garrik’s imprisonment. Then that reptilian grin twisted. “I was merely thinking how delightful it would be to see into that mind. To learn where something like you came from. Of who owned you before your beloved Savage Prince. Must have been someone terrible for you to cling to him so.” No doubt one of his tactics as a magic-washer. To claw into her mind and change her every intention until only the High King’s pompous, wicked desires were her own.
Jade was tempted to wrap her fingers around her necklace, as one name hit her like a damning blow.Kieran.Shivers threatened to wave across her body at his memory. Even the burn scars on her body itched.
She didn’t give him the satisfaction of a physical response as he raked his eyes over her face, her neck, and stopped at that melted coin and spine like he hadn’t seen it a thousand times. She never hid it. Always proud to acquaint her enemies with what she could do if they approached her. Malik was no exception. She’d proudly rip out his spine and wear it too, but that honor she reserved for Garrik if he ever wanted it.
Studying her, Malik angled his head. The movement calculated, lethal. A predator measuring its prey before the kill. The leather cord burned around her neck, and she wasn’t certain he hadn’t ignited it with his flames before he mused, “How curious.”
He could keep wondering.
Unless she’d give him any reason to cart her to Galdheir to his dungeon of horrors, he wouldneversee into her mind. And she wasn’t foolish enough to endanger the entire rebellion over one male who she couldn’t give a damn about, past spilling blood from his veins.
It was a low blow, but she never concealed her retorts to nurse a male’s ego. “Run back to your snake, Malik. I’m sure her bed is lonely.” They could both rot in it. Dying from some flesh-eating plague.Slowly, with no cure. Perhaps one of the Mystics in the legion carried such powers… If not, maybe one of Eldacar’s books harbored such knowledge of ailments.
Malik’s grin curved downward. Ghostly, hauntingly still as his eyes fell empty or unamused or some shit—she didn’t care. He opened his mouth to speak but reconsidered.
Satisfaction rippled across Jade’s face as she flashed a victorious grin, but it quickly fell as his silence ended and returned with, “I rather enjoy these little skirmishes. You never cease to disappoint.”
Flames,she despised him. So much so she stabbed her dagger into the wood of the hitching post and snarled it. “I hate you.”
An amused breath. Something like glee flashed in those night-dark eyes along with it. Malik pushed off the pillar and inched a step closer, daring—actuallydaring—to approach her. “Oh, come now, l—” He cleared his throat. Then said, “You can do better than that.”
A brief moment of calm … before?—
Like Maker of the Skies had sent her as punishment, Malik had half a second before Jade threw the entire force of her body through the air and into her swing. Snapping her strength back before her blade could slice completely through his throat. At the base of his neck, she rested it there.
Malik didn’t fight it. He only stumbled backward. Sank his back into the pillar.
“One more word,” she threatened with honest menace.He wanted to see her claws? Better not act surprised when she used them.
Apparently, he enjoyed her claws because his eyes brightened with the challenge. Though impossibly dark still, resembling the waters of a frigid lake. Once again flickering down to her necklace then back to the green of her eyes, he snickered with cold revelry, making her realize he had won precisely what he wanted. “There she is.”
The words… She couldfeela sense of ownership in them, like he was staking a claim.
No matter her lapse of control, Jade pressed the edge of her blade harder into his skin. He may have succeeded in getting a rise out of her, but it was his neck that was bleeding.
He hissed, and she felt that rush of power and all-consuming joy as blood beaded around the metal. She wanted to see him drenched in it.
Heavy footsteps crunched the loose pebbles and rustled the grass. Shadows of silhouettes extended below the morning light, drawing closer.
With little effort, Malik dismissively flicked his wrist, stopping whoever it was without a single word. Like he wasn’t afraid of her. Of what she could dowithoutmagic.
Arrogant fucking fool.
“Oh”—the word elongated, chuckling it like a taunting song as it bounced off his wretched tongue—“High Prince’s. Little. Dragon.” Entirely an insult, pressing deeper against her blade with an emphasis on each word. Then murmured, “Can’t have you die yet. There’s still so much more I want from you. My little toy.” A hand brushed along her jaw. He tucked a loose strand of red hair behind her ear. The movement a threat of its own.
Pet…He didn’t have to say it for her to know he was as demoniacal as the bitch who tortured Garrik.
