Page 136 of Wrath of the Fae

I grip my Mates hands harder as they wrap their arms around me. I need them. More than I have ever needed them. How I have come to be here, I have no idea.

Am I in the human world? Or is Ivan in the Fae?

It’s not raining. I think I’m inside.

I grip their hands in mine tightly.

‘Raven. Portal.’ Reid says in my ear. ‘Now.’

‘Boys…’ Ivan laughs slowly. ‘Step aside. Let me hug my sweet daughter.’

‘You touch her, you die.’ Cyrus scoffs. ‘Actually. You’re going to die no matter what.’

Ivan grinds out a dark laugh before I hear a whipping sound. I’m thrown backwards, and a fight breaks out.

I can’t fucking see! Not a thing.

Ivan laughs harder, and I hear the guys slam into something hard. Something wraps around my leg. A vine, I think. From the power he stole from Brennan. It drags me towards him as I claw at the ground with the one hand I have that’s not broken. His hand grips my hair, and I’m hoisted to my feet.

‘Tell me. How did you escape my machine?’

Nothing comes. No words. No thoughts. I’m frozen and hate that I’m so weak as to be consumed with such fear.

‘Come now. You have done well to avoid me for as long as you have. But isn’t it exhausting? Fighting against me all the time? I know you feel me pull you back when you access your powers. I know it takes everything you have to resist. But you’re not that strong, Raven. You never have been. You can’t fight your fate. Now, return to my machine so I might save the world. And let’s be honest. Look at the state of you. You’re a mess, girl. A disgrace. Do the worlds a favour and get back to where you belong.’

‘F-fuck you.’

‘That’s it? The great Raven Rivers. The Queen of the Fae. Your best line is‘Fuck you’?’ He tuts. ‘I see when you use your shield magic, child. My machines are programmed to recover it, so when you do, you’ll fade into that wonderful dust and return to my creation. Then, I will take your two little men and skin them alive. I will make them listen to your screams and drive them mad with pain and suffering because we both know that the only thing those two care about is themselves and, for some reason… you.’

The two boys are back on their feet. I hear them fighting what sounds like Dark Fae. They snarl and growl as the guys yell and grunt.

‘Have you told them?’ Ivan asks. ‘Do they know you were conscious the whole time I had you? That you felt nothing but pain and agony every second you were my prisoner?’

The room fills with a twisted version of me, screaming. Endless and all consumed with the pain I remember well. Sometimes, I scream for death. I plead for it. He’s trying to distract them. Make them lose focus so his monsters can kill them.

‘Do you recognise my vines?’ Ivan mocks loudly. ‘They belonged to your fallen brother. Poor Brennan. Left for the maggots and rats. Left behind by those he loved so dearly. And you never even knew that I was wearing his face.’ Another laugh. ‘You know, I was told it took him two days to die. After I took his power, I ordered my men to leave him beneath the rubble of that little farmhouse. They watched him die. It took a while. And those rats and maggots fed on him as he lay dying. He screamed for you, Elias Reid. He called for you as he felt insects writhing in his open wounds and smelled his flesh decay and rot. And what were you doing? Playing house with my daughter. Fucking like rabbits.’

His words are meant to distract Reid and Cyrus from the fight. To get them so angry, they make a mistake. Or maybe, he just wants to hurt them even more than he already is.

As Ivan continues mocking them, they still fight like hell to get to me. They get close. Ivan grunts and jolts as something hits him.

Ivan throws me across the room. I land hard and scream as my twisted wrist collides with the ground.

‘GET HER TO THE MACHINE!’

Something slithers around me as I try to sit. When my hand feels its flesh, I gasp and get pulled into the creature's memory. Into its truth.

I see a human woman injected with serums, poked and prodded as she screams and writhes. As she turns into a monster.

From her chest and below, she’s a snake with a thick and vast tail. Above, she looks a little more human. Not much. She has arms and a head with slitted, golden eyes, sharp, curved, lethally pointed teeth, and a long, forked tongue. And her skin shimmers as if faintly scaled.

I pull my hand away, desperate to stop watching the memories of her agonising transformation.

She wraps herself around me, crushing me.

My fists ball up, and I expel a fierce blast of power. With a hiss, she recoils, and I fall free. I turn.

And stop stone dead.

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