Page 58 of Sinless Demons
“The King isn’t in a position to give speeches,” Waltry warns flatly.
To my surprise, Timmons nods in agreement.
Look at how my little duck has found his place in line.
“I think... I think it might be best if Aries was a sort of... speaker for the King,” Johnn suggests with a mixture of confidence and caution.
My brows lift. It’s candid shock. Because quite honestly, who fucking knew it was this easy to take over a kingdom?
“I agree. Let’s schedule the memorial for late this week, but the King is not to address the public,” Waltry says severely, and I can’t help but smile at my secret triumph. “Aries will give the speech.”
My smile falls flat on the floor as I imagine the speech I could give for the man I murdered.
Fucking lovely.
20
The Love in Lust
Aries
It’s heart stoppingly terrifying how real a simple dream can feel.
Even if you know it’s just a dream.
Long fingers slide over mine just as they did once before. He claws at me for the tiny vial in my hand. The darkness of her tomb envelopes us, but I’ll always remember the feel of his nails scraping over my skin.
“Give me the ashes, Aries!” Nathiale screams at me, and his words carry on, racing over the walls of the solid brick room.
“Fuck you.” My fist collides with his nose, and I feel the warmth of his blood across my knuckles.
His head cracks against the pedestal that once held the demonic vial that’s fisted in my sweaty hand. He’s down, but his fingers dig into my boot in a matter of half a second. He’s dragging me down and clawing up my body.
It won’t stop. Neither of us will give in until one of us is dead.
Unless.
My thumb pushes off the cork, and the scent of embers fills my nostrils.
And then it literallyfills my nostrils. I lift the small vial up close and personal until it drags over my upper lip.
I breathe in hard through my nose. My body attempts to cough it out involuntarily, but I feel it. It courses through my lungs and even farther. It’s a chaotic tornado within my veins. It’s a swirl of dust within my mind. It’s everywhere.
It consumes me.
Nathiale tears the empty bottle from my hands in the dense darkness and gives me a swift kick to my ribs as I continue dry heaving at his feet.
“Thank you, sister.” I can hear the sneer on his lips. The victory in his voice is hard to miss.
He’s going to be fucking furious when he realizes what I’ve taken from him.
He’ll kill me for this when he sees the empty glass vial.
But I’m calm as I lie there. I’m calm because somewhere, at the back of my mind, I know this is all in the past. And I know what lies in Nathiale’s future.
I know my father will banish me from his kingdom before the sun rises. I can almost hear the worry in his tone from all those years ago.
This is all just a dream.
