“You go,” I said. “I’ll be right there.”
She studied me for a few seconds and pursed her lips. “Okay. Go do what you have to do.”
As soon as she turned on her heel, I hurried down the other hallway toward the west wing of the palace; it was where my cousins and I used to play hide and seek when we were younger. There were warriors standing guard in their respective places, but as I got deeper inside the castle, there were none.
Kai moved around from room to room and then stopped in one I knew was a vacant study lined with shelves of books from the mortal world. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been in there. Kai said he could feel me whenever I was near, which meant he knew it was me on the other side of the door.
With a hand on my dagger, I used my other one to turn the knob. When it opened, I scanned the room, but he was nowhere to be seen. Everything was dark until I summoned the air to pull back the curtains, lighting the room. It was then that he appeared, leaning against the bookshelf with his arms crossed over his chest. He wore jeans and a tight black T-shirt that hugged his muscular arms, but his stormy gray eyes made me tremble.
“What did you do with Draya?” he demanded.
“Do you even care?” I snapped.
His jaw clenched. “Not really, but I want to know where she is.”
“Well, you can rest assured you’ll never see her again. She was smart to choose me over you.” Kai looked away and I unsheathed my dagger, holding it firmly in my grasp. “You have some nerve coming intomyhome,” I growled, concentrating on my anger.
His eyes narrowed when he turned back to me. “Just like you came into mine,” he fired back.
“I wouldn’t have if you didn’t start this.”
My skin tingled with electricity. I could feel it sparking all over my body. Kai moved from the bookshelf and circled the desk like a predator about to pounce on his prey. I countered him, knowing it was too dangerous to let him get close. And that posed to be my greatest difficulty. How could I kill him if I couldn’t get near him?
Kai’s hungered gaze bored into mine as he stalked closer. “I can’t help it, Ella. That first night I came into your room and saw you sleeping triggered something inside me.”
He and his brothers talked about how he snuck into my home. Kai continued to pursue me, and I noticed my steps growing slower like I was walking through quicksand.
Brimming with frustration, Kai ran his hands through his hair and down his face, his eyes wild. “I don’t fucking understand it. I’m supposed to kill you, to make the royals suffer.Thatis my duty.” His breathing turned ragged, his eyes darkening with need. “But something is holding me back.” He slammed a hand over his chest. “I can feel it in here, the demand to kill you, but also to take you as mine. Both urges fight within me, and it plagues my very being.”
I was only an arm’s length away from him, mesmerized by his words. His words replicated everything I felt. I hated everything about him, but I wanted to feel his touch. I needed to kill him but yet wanted him alive. None of it made sense. Kai closed the distance and grabbed my arms, not caring that I could thrust my dagger into his stomach in a split second.
Tension filled the air as his eyes searched mine. “Tell me I’m not the only one,” he growled. “Tell me you feel it, too.”
Jerking out of his hold, I couldn’t allow myself to get sucked back in. “I feel nothing.” It was a lie . . . I felt everything. “Leave,” I warned. “If you come back here, I’ll see it as a threat. I’m not going to let you hurt my family.”
Kai’s gaze burned right through me. “Does that mean you won’t be coming back to me?”
“Yes,” I replied. “I don’t want to be near you ever again.”
He shook his head. “Then you leave me no choice. Iwillbe back.”
Gripping my dagger, I met his stare without hesitation. “And you’ll meet your fate.”
He was gone instantly, but I knew he’d be back. The question was . . . when?
Chapter13
Kai
I’d lost my fucking mind.
After being with Ella, tasting her, touching her . . . it was enough to drive me insane. There was a rage building inside of me, torturing me. I could envision wrapping my hands around her neck while I fucked her and taking her life away at the same time.
Even now, I wanted to go back to that room in the palace, slam Ella on the desk and claim her as mine. My dick grew hard just thinking about it. I needed her to come back to me.
After grabbing a bottle of bourbon from my liquor cabinet, I poured three shots worth into my glass and downed it in one gulp. Ella was my enemy. Her mother had killed my father. So why couldn’t I just kill her and get it over with?
Would the urges stop?