Page 25 of Queen of the Wicked
I stay in the doorway, silent, watching her turn. Moonlight spills in through the high windows and surrounds her in silver. She’s barefoot this time, clad in nothing but a thin black skirt and a sweat-soaked camisole, and when she spins again, her eyes land on me.
She doesn’t stop, not even for a breath.
She just lifts her chin and continues moving through her choreography with a defiance that I feel in my chest. Her body glows with confidence. Freedom.
Power.
And gods help me, I want her.
The tether between us hums with heat. It’s stronger today, more insistent. She doesn’t acknowledge it, but I see the flush in her cheeks. I smell her skin, Kaius is still all over her. In her. His scent is mingling with hers, tangled in her sweat and breath and magic. It ignites something animal in me, something jealous.
She finishes her turn and comes to stillness, chest heaving. Her skin glistens in the candlelight. She wipes the sweat from her brow and finally speaks.
“You came to stare?”
I smile. “Can you blame me?”
She doesn’t return it. “You should’ve said something.”
“You seemed…busy.”
Her breath hitches slightly, and for just a moment, she looks like she might smirk. But then she drops her gaze to my lips, recoils slightly and moves to the wall, picking up a water flask. Her fingers tremble when she drinks.
“You’re stronger,” I say.
“Am I?”
“Stronger. Bolder. The magic doesn’t look like it’s devouring you today. It looks like it’s obeying you.”
She doesn’t reply. But I see the way her shoulders stiffen. She’s afraid to believe it. Afraid to hope.
I take a few steps into the studio, slowly. Carefully.
“You should go,” she says quietly.
“Why would I do that?”
She looks at me like she has so much to say, but settles on: “I don’t want to hurt Kaius.”
I take another step. “Then let me be the one you hurt.”
Her gaze snaps to mine. I don’t look away.
“If it goes wrong,” I continue, “I can handle it. You won’t break me.”
“And if I do?”
“Then maybe I was meant to be broken by you.”
The words settle in the air between us like smoke. She doesn’t reply. Doesn’t smile. But something flickers in her expression. Something caught between sorrow and temptation.
I feel the bond tighten in my chest.
And that’s when I know that it’s real. That what I feel toward her isn’t just magic or hunger. It’s the same pull I once felt for Kaius. That godforsaken soul-deep ache.
He hasn’t completed his bond with her because he’s still holding back. But me? I know I’ll be here when she falls apart. When the magic finally burns through her from the inside out.
And I wonder—if I claimed the bond, would she hate me for taking what Kaius wouldn’t? Would she understand that it was fate? Would she even accept me?
