Page 134 of Rescued By the Beast
She makes no move to break free this time, standing still and continuing to smile, despite the obvious pain and her increasingly bulging, red eyes.
"Break. The. Curse." I order again, sinking my claws into her skin, making her blood run down my fingers, slide down her lap, staining the blue blouse she is wearing.
"I. Don't.Want. To," she whispers breathlessly, her lips turning purple, the veins in her eyeballs bursting, and yet she refuses.
The irritating tapping of her nails on the chair increases when she says "I want".
"Stop, there's something wrong with her," Viklaus says coldly.
He watches the witch closely, his eyes appraising.
I frown and do the same, and as soon as I look back at the witch, her smile widens on her purple mouth, her tongue sticking out, her tears continuing to flow.
"Mark, I think..." Sandra murmurs. "I think Viklaus is right."
I ease the pressure around the witch's neck and she whimpers, but the smile doesn't disappear, it remains there, trembling and wet.
"What are you doing?" I ask. "Would you rather I torture you than break the curse?"
"I-I..." she replies softly. "I'd rather die."
Sandra gasps behind me and I growl, clenching my fingers around the wretched witch's neck again.
"I'll make you suffer until your last breath, I will..."
"Please kill me, I can't stand living like this anymore."
She lets out one last strangled laugh, and before I realise what's happening, the witch unleashes an explosion of magic against herself, throwing her body and chair backwards with such force that her neck snaps immediately in my hand.
I open my fingers, feeling her bone crack and the skin twist beneath them.
As soon as I let go, she falls backwards, her eyes wide, the last two tears now running backwards, sliding down her forehead until they disappear into her dark hair.
And the frozen smile on her mouth...
Now it looks peaceful.
Chapter 38
Mark
"You bitch!" I roar, my voice reverberating through the house with a crash.
The witch is dead. And I failed. I couldn't get anything out of her, I couldn't make her release Sandra from the curse.
Sandra...
I turn to her. My chest tightens when I see her trembling, her eyes fixed on the dead woman on the floor. Her face is pale, her lips parted as if she wants to say something but can't.
"Shhh..." I pull her into my arms, and she surrenders without hesitation, burying her face in my chest before she starts to cry.
I hold her tight, protecting her from the cold that seems to spread through the room now that it's all over.
"Everything will be alright, I'll take care of it, my love..."
Balthazar clears his throat, getting our attention.
"Sandra... are you feeling... different?" The caution in his voice is evident, and there is a glimmer of hope in it. "It's rare, but sometimes, when the person who cast a curse dies, theeffects dissipate... just like any mental manipulation she may have inflicted."
