Page 114 of Princess Redeemed

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I spin around.

And there he is.

My father.

The vampire king.

He doesn’t need an entrance.Heisthe entrance.Tall, cold, wrapped in power and shadow.He moves through the ether like it belongs to him.His silver hair, thick and unruly, spills over his brow.The black leather duster he wears hangs heavy to his boots.His brown eyes lock with mine, and for the first time tonight, my breath stutters.

“Step aside,” he says quietly.

I don’t move.“No.”

“Daughter.”

“I have to do this,” I snap.“You don’t know everything he’s done.”

“I do,” he replies.“I always have.”

My heart twists.“Then let me finish it.”

He moves toward me, slow but unstoppable, until he’s close enough that I can feel the storm beneath his skin.He touches my arm.“You’re powerful.Ruthless, when you need to be.But you are not a killer.”

“I’ve already killed,” I say, “and he deserves to die.”

“He will.”

My father turns, and without a word, lifts his hand.

The demon king gasps, body lifting from the floor, limbs snapping tight under invisible pressure.His eyes bulge.He tries to speak.To beg.To gloat.I don’t know.

Because in one smooth, final motion, my father clenches his fist.

A sickening crack.

And then…

Silence.

Richard’s body falls like a puppet with its strings cut.

I stand frozen.

He did it.

My father.

He took it from me.

“I could’ve done it,” I whisper.

My father looks down at the body and at me.“I know.But now you don’t have to carry it.”

My throat tightens.“So you’ll carry it instead?”

He steps closer.Brushes a strand of hair from my face.“I’ve carried worse.”

And for a moment—for the first time in my life—I believe him.

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