Chapter Eight
Triggers: graphic depictions of torture and murder, including blood.
T he chapter opens with Mia and Xavier torturing Asher. Xavier and Mia get into a fight when Xavier says he no longer wishes to harm Asher. He fears they will kill her if they continue on. Mia calls him weak and the two fight before Xavier leaves. Mia calls Asher ungrateful and then allows Theon to come in. When Mia leaves, Theon taunts Asher, touching her lips and making degrading remarks. Asher bites off the tip of Theon’s thumb, enraging him. He takes a knife and scalps her, calling her worthless and ugly. Tish comes in and heals Asher. Theon then drags Asher back to her cell next to Sterling. We learn that Theon had wanted to be with Asher when they were in Academy with the hopes of sitting on the throne, but Asher turned him down. He then stalked her and caught her with Sipho. He would go on to impersonate Sipho so that Xavier could see Asher and him. This led to Asher and Sipho eventually being caught and Sipho being murdered in front of her. Theon shifts into Sipho and Asher loses control. She somehow travels from inside her cell to outside of it and tackles Theon to the ground, ripping out his throat with her teeth and then beating him to death. Mia shows up and says that she has loved Asher. She then hits Asher upside the head and tells her that love will mold her into what she was always meant to be.