Page 118 of Wrath of the Fae

When a soldier waves at me from the ground, my lungs constrict.

‘They know I’m here,’ I whisper.

I scream as an iron chain meets my throat from behind and tightens. I kick and thrash as I’m dragged out of the bathroom. El is standing at the door, held by a soldier with one hand over her mouth and another pressing an iron dagger at her throat. She screams as she sees me, desperately trying to get free and help.

I’m pulled violently towards the bed. The chain is pulled tighter, and there’s a click as a lock snaps shut, securing me to one of the posts of the four-poster bed frame.

My skin sizzles and spits. The smell of my burning flesh fills my nostrils, making me want to throw up. I hear a low, amused chuckle as I claw at the chain around my neck.

The King walks in front of me and stops, smiling at me.

That smile… I hate that smile. His eyes search mine. Cold and calculating but with a cruel and sadistic kind of gleam.

‘Take El to the cells. I want to play with my new friend here,’ he orders.

I claw at him as they take her away. Her terrified eyes watch him laugh, looking me up and down hungrily.

The door closes, and the King grabs my wrists, pinnings them to my side.

‘What do you want?!’ I manage through gritted teeth.

‘What I’ve always wanted,’ he says in a twisted attempt at a seductive tone. ‘What I’m owed. What’s rightfully mine.’

He steps closer, those eyes on my lips as he presses himself against me. I swallow my urge to whimper as I feel his erection against me.

‘Did you miss me?’ he asks. ‘You thought I wouldn’t know? Me?’ He snorts and squeezes my wrist a little harder. ‘You seriously thought I wouldn’t notice?’

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

Firmer, his hands tighten. My bones groan, and I seal my lips together so I don’t scream. I will give no man that satisfaction again.

‘It was fun, you know? Making them suffer. Watching them grieve for you. Watching them slowly self-destruct with the knowledge that your death was ultimately their doing.’ He lets out a breathy laugh, still tightening his hold on me. ‘I watched them cry. I watched them shout and curse your Goddess for taking you away. I saw how they hated themselves more and more every day. And I loved every single minute. I loved watching them marry Rhea and El in a pathetic bid to save them, knowing they died inside when those wedding band markings crept across their skin. They longed for nothing but those markings they once had on their bodies, linking them to their Mate.’ He lifts my hand and runs his disgusting tongue over the ink I put there. My fake wedding marks smudge, and he laughs.

He knows who I am.

He fucking knows.

He reaches between my legs and, with a tug, retrieves my dagger. He taps the tip of the blade on my nose and chuckles.

‘Sentimental girl. Why do you cling to this old thing? Becausetheymade it?’ He taps the empty setting where the ruby used to be. ‘Oh, dear. Did someone lose their temper and throw a tantrum? What will your poor Mates say when they see what you did to their precious dagger?’

‘How?’ Is all I can say as the iron sears at my flesh and crushes my windpipe. ‘Who are you?’

‘I tried to replace you, but Rhea is not you. No one is you. And when you walked into the hall yesterday and watched me with that girl, I knew whose eyes I was looking into.’

He leans closer, watching my lips with hunger and running my dagger’s blade tauntingly down my throat. I’m trembling now because I know.

‘That kiss you shared with that piece of shit Cyrus. You kissed me like that once. Do you remember?’ Now his eyes flick up to mine, and I know them well. ‘That kiss we shared in the back of the van was the only time you kissed me and meant it. I still dream about that kiss. About how your tongue stroked mine. How your hands ran through my hair. How you put my fingers inside yourself and fucked them like a cock starved little whore. You remember that, don’t you?’

Everything inside me goes cold. I think I leave my body for a second. I’m above us, watching in horror as, yet again, I’m at this monster’s mercy.

‘Jonah…’ I snarl.

twenty-two

HowcouldInotsee it before? Those eyes. That twisted smile. That cruelty.

Who else could it be?

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