Page 17 of Inheritance
He paused for a minute and added, "If that means being alongside all of you, then so be it."
A dark smile crossed his face as he added, "Just know, if you fuck up, I won't hesitate to end your life."
That was probably as good as we were going to get with that.
Drayven grunted, "Good enough for me."
When he turned towards the tent, Damien nodded for me to join them, and I couldn't lie—a feeling of acceptance strummed through me, making me feel as if I wasn't alone. Being royalty had encouraged isolation, and as I looked back at the Kingdom of Pura before following the others into the tent, I realized that the city that had symbolized so much hate for so long had brought me a brotherhood, the likes of which I'd never known before.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Ama
As I lay in my bed and stared up at the stone ceiling, I tried to dissect my emotions so I could work through them instead of dwelling on them.The only way to get to the other side of a tough time was to go directly through it.At least, that's what my dad always told me. If you continued to dwell on the issue, you'd never find the peace waiting for you on the other side of it.
Curling up on my side, I stared into the now dark landscape of the realm I could see out my window. I couldn't help but wonder what was going on with my men and with our families. Had they started the attack on Pura yet? Were our family members safe, or had the Dark Elves decided they no longer needed them?
My stomach churned at the thought of them being dead, and I quickly sat up as nausea rocketed through me. My dinner threatened to come up, so I closed my eyes and took in deep breaths.
They were okay.
We would get to them in time.
Everyone would make it out of this.
I chanted those three sentences in my head like a mantra until my stomach settled and my heart stopped racing.
Unfortunately for me, that was the exact moment a knock sounded at my door. Typically, no one waited for me to tell them to come in...because why would they? I was a prisoner, and what I wanted didn't matter. Everyone here was blind to Luce's flaws and followed him with stars in their eyes.
When I waited a few moments to see who would enter but no one did, my brows knit together in confusion. I called out, "Who is it?"
"It's me, Little Temptress," the devil himself called out.
I scoffed lightly at him having apparently just now learned what boundaries and respect were. Perhaps it was a little too late for that.
My head fell back, and I stared at the ceiling once more, mumbling to myself, "What am I supposed to do?"
A part of me truly did feel bad for the life he had endured after being cast out by those who should have been his family and told he was born to be darkness itself. That was so damned wrong, and it was an experience that easily had the power to warp anyone into a cold shell of who they could have been. Despite that, it was so obvious Luce wanted the warmth and happiness love could bring. He didn't want to be alone and cold.
However, I couldn't excuse how he’d responded to his jealousy about others finding love in front of him by lashing out in a manner that had led to the near complete slaughter of my kind. He had acted like a child throwing a tantrum over other people having what he thought he couldn't have. If he couldn't have it, neither could anyone else.
The truth of the matter was that he was selfish—really fucking selfish—and I didn't regret saying that to him tonight. Someone had needed to tell him the harsh truth instead of blowing smoke up his ass about how great a man he was.
Yes, I could feel sympathy for him despising being alone because, honestly, no one wanted to feel that. But damn, how many times had I felt alone in my life? I had been treated like complete shit by an entire kingdom, constantly spoken down to, and made fun of for things I couldn't control. Yes, I had resentment towards those people and wished I could hurt them like they’d hurt me, yet I had never given in to those urges. I would never lower myself to being cruel like them, and that was the main difference between me and Luce.
I would never want to see someone hurt like I had, but Luce had actively sought ways for others to feel the depth of his pain.
Fate might have chosen that Luce would run Hell, but it damn sure hadn't forced him to choose the path he had once he was down here. That was all on him.
"Amare, may I please come in?" his deep voice asked, making me roll my eyes.
I couldn't help but snark back, "Why does it suddenly matter what I want? You only care what you want."
Silence stretched for a few moments before the door creaked open, and I chuckled lifelessly, "See. You do what you want—"
His eyes narrowed on me as he cut me off, "I came to give your powers back to you."
The statement had my mouth snapping closed and my eyes widening in shock. Was he being serious? If I had my powers, I had a fighting chance to get out of here, and he had to know that.
