CHAPTER 18
She collapsed in a heap on the floor, my anger instantly simmering down, and for a second, I think I killed her.
The burns etched into the soft skin around her neck guilt me, I force it down.
A fist connects with the side of my face.
Matitus is raining blow after blow. I don’t even fight back.
He knows I can break him like a twig. I’m the mighty Dragon King for a reason.
I can feel his pent-up rage needing release, and I deserve it.
My anger and hate are destroying everything—destroying her as she lay broken and unconscious on the floor.
Matitus’s weight on my chest makes it hard to breathe.
I know I fucked up, his burning rage eating at me, Dragus rips him off me.
My blood spills onto the floor, staining the rug. I barely feel it, numb to everything.
I hurt my mates, the ones I swore I would protect and love above all else. My beast rages inside me; he would be content even if we never broke the curse as long as they remained by our side.
Dragus scoops Elora off the floor, tears rolling down his cheeks as he gazes down at her.
Their emotions spill into me. They think they failed her, failed to protect her.
Who would have thought the one person she needed protecting from would be those who loved her most?
I never thought I would find a female mate, thought we were doomed to an eternity of misery, until Matitus caught her scent that day.
If only he didn’t, she would be safe from me.
The raging monster that has held the grudge for so long.
I often forget why I hate the Aziza bloodline.
Blaire destroyed us, what we created, yet the longer I hold onto the past, the more I realize I’m the one damaging everything.
I know deep down I truly don’t hate Blaire, but myself for that moment of weakness when I allowed myself to love her.
I’m the curse that has plagued my mates for centuries.
One action destroyed everything. I thought threatening to remove him from the equation would make her see sense, make her accept the bond.
If I hadn’t threatened him, she may have never rejected the bond.
Had the bond snuffed out in seconds, it showed she loved him more than us and I wanted her to hurt like I did.
So, I killed him in front of her. In front of their entire kingdom.
I never should have killed her husband, it was cruel, and I can no longer blame her.
I would kill anyone who dared to hurt my mates.
She would have felt the same, I realize that now.
Maybe she wouldn’t have rejected us if I hadn’t threatened him.
Maybe she wouldn’t have cursed us to a life of misery and hell if I hadn’t killed him.
The torture I felt in that moment was like no other.
Hearing those words leave her lips as she smiled at me.
She knew I was a monster; knew I was going to kill her, and she did it, anyway.
She welcomed death, stared it straight in the eye and cursed it.
Once again, giving into my pain and anger when I killed her.
She died by these hands, and it seems history is doomed to repeat itself with Elora.
The way she held my gaze as she tried to reject us; I held no doubt at the strength of her words, that she would go through with it, say the words that severed the bond just like Blaire did.
Blaire didn’t even scream, never took her eyes from me as I let hellfire consume me.
A knowing glint in her eyes as the flames ravaged her, melting her skin away, flames consuming her.
Not a tear shed, just the sounds of the screams of her daughter as she watched on helplessly, her mother burning alive when all hell broke loose.
The treaty was broken and the balance created for species to live harmoniously and fairly was destroyed.
Everyone was equal. By the laws, I had the right to kill her for rejecting the bond.
No bond could be rejected, and the Fae Kingdom was supposed to hand any Fae over once discovered as a mate.
Yet Blaire was their next queen and was married with a daughter.
The rule was unfair. Fae didn’t feel the bond; they chose their mates, their life partners, so I understood her confusion.
She couldn’t rule her people from the Dragon Kingdom.
She couldn’t keep her husband even though we would have allowed it just to have her.
But she was loyal to her beliefs to her people, but most of all to the man she married—the man she chose.
I was selfish and entitled, thinking the law would protect me.
Instead, it started a feud and broke the treaty when they attacked.
Matitus and Dragus both hated me for decades afterward for what I did.
Even though they hated me at that moment, they still helped me take down the Fae Kingdom, turning it to ruin and leaving them with no royals—or so we thought.
When we learned the curse could only be broken by a Royal Fae or their Chosen One, I thought for sure the curse was unbreakable.
Thought we killed every Royal Fae. Didn’t realize her daughter escaped.
Completely forgot to check for sure, thinking it was impossible for the child to survive the carnage.
Now though, staring at Elora, I truly can see my misdoings.
“You destroy everything, fucking everything with no regard for us,” Dragus screams at me.
I swallow the lump down, shoving his feelings away, letting my calm, cold demeanor slip back in place.
I rip her from him. Matitus and Dragus jump to their feet at her limp body in my arms. Turning on my heel, I leave, with them chasing after me, ready to attack if I hurt her.
I have no intention of hurting her. I need to fix this, and the only way I know how is by force.
She will give in; we will break her as much as it pains me to do so.
I won’t let history repeat itself. Placing her on the bed, I leave the room, heading outside to the garages and retrieving a chain and padlock.
Walking back in the room, Matitus and Dragus are watching her unconscious body. Their eyes snap to mine when they hear the clink of chains. I secure one to the end of the bed, padlocking it to her ankle. Matitus’s hand grips my wrist as I lock it in place.
“You insist on making things worse,” he spits at me.
“What would you have me do, Matitus? She will try to leave the first chance she gets,” I reply angrily.
He knows I’m right and her being here trapped with us will make the bond continue to grow, until eventually she will become consumed with only us; nothing else will matter and she will eventually forgive. The bond will see to it.
“She won’t care if you kill her; as soon as she can talk, she will reject us,” Dragus says, peering down at her. I’m nearly tempted to cut out her tongue, but I would never hear her voice again.
“She won’t be able to talk for a few days as long as neither of you give her your blood.”
“Then what? Huh? What’s the brilliant plan you have to make her accept us?
What are you going to do when she refuses to hand her magic over?
I don’t care if we never have kids, Silas, as long as I have her.
We don’t need heirs, we are immortal. You only want them now because the choice was taken from you, taken by Blaire. ”
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I sigh in frustration. I don’t have the answers they want.
“I don’t know, okay? What do you want me to say?” I ask, glaring at them.
“I want you to give her choice back, she won’t be forced. Giving up her magic means giving up everything she is. Why can’t you see that?”
“Because she needs nothing from the Fae; she should only need us. That’s how it is supposed to work. She was made for us in every way, and she won’t submit. So, it leaves only one option, I won’t lose her.”
Matitus snorts, making me turn my attention to him.
“What?”
“You’re so blinded by your own ego and pride that you can’t even see you’ve already lost her.” He shakes his head, shoving past me and leaving me with only Dragus.