As he steps back, I see a dark figure at the back of the room. Standing as far away from Leavon as he possibly can is Ruin. Big black wings shade his brutish good looks. His narrowed eyes catch mine, and if he were any closer, I’d swear I could guess what he’d say in that brooding, rumbling voice of his:when I said to stay under the radar, is this what you thought I meant?
My gaze averts quickly.
A group of three girls rush out to the middle of the room, clearly excited to show off whatever magic they’ve gained in the last few days. The rest of the Chosen women spread out a bit slower, less confidently. While the others watch with hungry eyes for the show to begin.
“You shouldn’t be here,” a mysterious voice whispers to me from over my shoulder.
My head turns, and he’s too damn close. My cheek nearly brushes his as I look into those starry eyes.
“Fuck off, Synder,” I tell him through tight lips, not letting my mind wander to the things we did last night in this very room.
“Funny, I’m pretty sure I said the same thing to you recently. And yet, here you are. Still in my fucking kingdom.”
Hiskingdom. The arrogance of this man.
“You know the others here, they’re meant to challenge the Chosen. They’re meant to set an example.” He brushes against my back, trembling heat all along my body. “Set an example with me, Bellatrix.”
I eye him once more, and his presence just behind me is even closer. It’s a challenge. He won’t kill me, but he wants to put me in my place all the same.
Too bad I won’t give him the chance.
“I’m busy.” I trail after Ivy, giving her space and freedom, but also, ya know, helicoptering around for any crazy Chosen bitches who might try their magic on her.
To my surprise, she makes her move rather quickly. Her small stature gives her an advantage to sweep around the room without drawing attention. She zigzags through the wrestling and zapping magic soaring through the Great Hall. In a matter of seconds, she’s leaping on the largest woman in the room. The woman’s muscles bulge in her biceps when Ivy climbs her back and wraps an arm around the woman’s windpipe. I stop walking and focus intently on the little girl I grew up with. The girl everyone babied all her life.
And then red smoke drifts from her lips. She whispers unheard words into the girl’s ear like a song that only she knows the lyrics to. Little by little, the large woman’s knees give out. As if she’s fighting against something unseen, the woman drops to the floor. And slowly keels right over into heavy unconsciousness. There’s a happy, glinting sparkle in my sister’s eye when she gazes down on the full-grown woman whose gaping mouth has now given way to deep snores.
“Shittt,” someone says in astonishment from over my shoulder.
My slitted gaze shoots to the asshole who once more is shadowing over me. Why do I feel like I have an abundance of stalkers in my life at the moment? One obnoxious man in my life is more than enough.
“Looks like your pet project doesn’t need you looking after her.” His words skim along my shoulder, his head dipping low as if he might taste me there. “Show me you’re more than just sweet thighs and devious lies.”
Deep dark eyes challenge mine, neither of us daring to look away for several heated seconds.
And then my arm snatches out quick, slamming my fist into the dead center of his throat. A coughing, gagging gargle is his new snarky reply, and the smile on my lips is a slicing weapon as I use the pained distraction to sweep his knees out from beneath him.
He goes down hard, blooming confidence all through my chest with how easy it was.
I kind of missed this. It’s fun. It’s exhilarating. It’s—
My legs give out without warning. I’m flat on my back, choking on my next breath in the span of a single second.
“You look good lying on your back, baby,” he whispers to me as his thighs straddle over my arms and chest. A long finger strokes the edge of my jaw as he appraises me struggling under his weight. “You look even better beneath me.”
Cruel lips twitch with veiled magic. His mouth moves unnaturally as violence takes over his galaxy eyes, turning them into inky wells of sin. That darkness fully takes over. His smile becomes animalistic. His mouth morphs, stretching across his sharply jagged teeth. He could devour me, bite my head clean off. Maybe he will...
“You’re a Shapeshifter,” I accuse, knowing very well that his magic is hiding an even more sinister appearance than he has revealed.
“A Phuca actually.” The confident way he says that has me wracking my brain for the meaning of that creature but nothing comes to mind. “Show me what the Fae think is so damn special about a mortal bitch like you,” he says through that eerily stretched mouth of his. “What are all these kingdoms whispering about? You’re not the one, Bellatrix. You’re not.”
My boots kick against the cold tile flooring, my arms flailing at my side as dark memories surface from this very room. Her screams and the look of dead terror in her eyes are louder than the sharply spoken words of the man holding me down.
Melissa was so kind to me. She was my only friend.
And I killed her.
Pain shoots through my heart, snapping me out of the past and bringing me fully to life in the present.