“You want to go with this monster?” His tone is cutting, his cruelness turned on me now despite the sadness in his gaze. “Go. A war will come it either way.”
He steps back from me. It’s only a single step, but my emotions launch the moment he does, twisting around and tightening in my chest.
Can I truly walk away from the only men in my life that ever made me feel like a goddess even while bound in chains?
Rorrick doesn’t look a me. I study him for a long hard moment but he only focuses on the ground. He doesn’t speak. He can’t even look at me.
Just—Look at me!
You’ll be safe with him.His velvety warm voice enters the intimate space of my mind like a secret I’ll never hear again after tonight.
Still he doesn’t meet my gaze. Hot tears prick my eyes but I refuse to let them fall.Why do they all make it seem so easy to shove me away? Why can’t it feel that easy for me too?
My heart sinks while my stomach turns. What if I can’t do it? What if my life is just as tragic in the fae world as it was in the human world? What if—
“I’m going with her,” someone says. The words are spoken quietly but effectively. Every pair of eyes drifts toward the one man who hasn’t said a single word:
Seven.
His hand slides into mine. He’s confident. He’s assured enough for the both of us. And I’m so incredibly thankful for that.
The Thorn King pauses on our interlocked fingers before he swiftly calls out to unseen soldiers. Pain slices through my chest, cutting my heart in two. I hold the prince’s gaze for far too long, hating that I can’t see a single ounce of emotion in his steely eyes. He looks exactly the same as that first confusing night in The Neon Gods Club: devastatingly handsome, and yet, emotionally empty.
A chaotic wind bursts around me, a shrieking of bats and a sound like a thousand wings beating at once crashes into my chest. The metal slide of swords being drawn can be heard around me. But none of it matters. Because suddenly, Christian is pressed against me. His hand captures my chin and he tilts my head up firmly. Depthless eyes tainted with a pulsing ring of red look down on me. My heart beats wildly against his chest. It pounds so hard within me it makes up for the silence within him.
“You’ll always crave me, Pretty Pet,” he whispers against my lips. His next confession comes out rasping and raw; a confession he doesn’t want to admit. “I just never expected to crave you too.”
A spiraling urge tangles through me. It’s a demand for action. I want to kiss him and crawl into his arms all at once.
I can’t put my fate in this maniacal man’s hands though. I won’t.
I step back from him slowly. A magnetic pull fights against me. The small space between us grows and so does the pain in my heart. Something inside me yearns for his demented affection. His hand falls away with ease. A shining glint is in his eyes: a look of understanding and a look of tragic remorse.
“I’ll see you soon, Crymson Vain.”
It feels dangerous to look away from his deadly promise.
But with my head held high, I do just that. I walk away from the Vampire Prince.
Forever.
THE END