Chapter 50
CHAPTER FIFTY
acelynn
The morning light poured through the curtains in slow, lazy stripes, spilling golden across the sheets tangled around me.
For the first time in what felt like forever, I hadn’t woken to fear or nightmares, but to warmth.
My body still hummed with the memory of his touch, the bruising strength of his hands, the heat of his mouth on mine.
Kaius.
Even just whispering his name in my head sent a shiver rolling down my spine.
The night had been fire and chaos, violence and tenderness, all wound together until I didn’t know where one release ended and the other began.
I’d fallen asleep against his chest, listening to the steady rhythm of his heartbeat, letting it lull me into the kind of peace I hadn’t believed I was allowed anymore.
But morning was cruel. Morning reminded me that the world outside his arms was still waiting for me, claws sharpened and ready.
It reminded me that I still didn’t have answers to what happened to my family that night, and he was the only one who could give them to me.
I knew that if I revealed myself, told the truth of my original intentions of being here in his bar, all of this would shatter.
I wasn’t meant to have happiness like this in my life.
Time and time again, the universe reminded me of that.
It made me think some people are just meant to suffer through life and be the lessons for others that lead them to true happiness.
Some type of fucked-up karmic siren that gets dropped into people’s lives.
That’s why I had told Kaius I needed to go home to grab a few things earlier.
I needed space to think through whatever this was.
I dragged myself out of the warmth of my bed, each step heavy as I padded into the bathroom.
My reflection in the mirror almost startled me.
I looked undone. My lips were still swollen from his kisses, my neck marked in deep, dark bruises I couldn’t hide even if I tried.
I looked…claimed. A shaky laugh slipped from me as I reached for the drawer, pulling free a packet of makeup wipes.
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to erase the evidence or cradle it close like proof that, for one night, I hadn’t been broken.
The wipe brushed over my lips, smearing away the remnants of Kaius’s mouth, and something inside me ached.
My reflection stared back at me, fractured by the faint light, as though she wasn’t sure who she was anymore.
Acelynn. Emersyn. The liar. The traitor.
The girl who had kissed her enemy like he was salvation.
I pressed harder, trying to scrub myself clean.
And then the world shattered.
A violent crack exploded through the mirror as my forehead slammed into it, spiderwebs of broken glass splintering around my reflection.
My breath caught, a scream choking in my throat as shards cascaded into the sink.
Hot pain bloomed across my skin, followed by the slow slide of blood down my temple.
Before I could stagger back, a hand fisted in my hair and yanked me away from the sink so hard my spine arched.
My body collided with the bathroom counter, the edge biting cruelly into my ribs.
“It’s been too long since I’ve heard that sweet scream.”
The sound of his voice froze my blood.
Logan.
I thrashed, but his grip only tightened, dragging me backward, out of the bathroom, and into the bedroom where the golden morning had suddenly turned suffocating.
His strength hadn’t faded with time. If anything, he was harder, crueler than before.
He threw me onto the bed, the mattress caving beneath the impact, and his weight followed instantly, crushing me.
His knees pinned my hips, one hand capturing both my wrists above my head with ease.
I writhed, kicking, but he only laughed, leaning over me like a nightmare made flesh.
My heart screamed inside my chest, beating so fast I thought it might break free. “Logan…please—”
He pressed a finger to my lips mockingly, smearing my blood there as though silencing me was some kind of game. His hair was buzzed close now, his scar deeper in the daylight, twisting around his eye until he looked more beast than man.
“God, you’ve been busy,” he sneered, eyes darting to the bruises on my throat. His grip tightened painfully on my wrists. “Didn’t take you long to find someone else to keep your bed warm. Thought of me at all while you spread your legs for the King of Lovelen?”
My stomach knotted, shame and fury clashing in equal measure. “You don’t get to ask me that. You don’t own me, Logan. You never did.”
The slap came so fast I barely saw it. My cheek split with pain, the metallic taste of blood blooming across my tongue. He tilted his head, almost admiring his work, before dragging his thumb down the mark he’d left.
“Still got that fire,” he murmured darkly. “That’s why I picked you in the first place. That’s why you’ll always be mine, Emersyn.”
That name. It cut deeper than the slap. My chest squeezed, every breath sharp and burning.
“That girl is dead,” I rasped, teeth gritted against the tears threatening to break. “She died in that fire with her family. You killed her.”
His laughter filled the room, cruel and endless. “You think flames can erase what you are? What you owe me?”
He leaned closer, lips grazing my ear. “You were supposed to bring me something real. Something I could use to tear those bastards down. Instead, you’re in their king’s bed. Are you really that stupid?”
“I wasn’t supposed to bring you shit. I don’t work for you,” I hissed, spit flying onto Logan’s face through my clenched teeth.
Logan raised an eyebrow at me. “But you work for Parsons, right? And Parsons works for my boss, so by association, you do work for me.”
Anger flared even through the terror, reckless and wild. “I’d rather burn with Kaius than rot with you.”
His hand slammed down against the pillow beside my head, making me flinch. His eyes blazed with something unhinged, his grin crazed.
“Careful, doll. I’ll start thinking you’ve forgotten who holds the strings.” His voice dropped lower, more venomous. “You bring me something on the Knights. Soon. Or I’ll carve reminders into that pretty skin of yours that even your king won’t want to touch.”
A sob shook free of my chest, half terror, half fury. He pressed a mocking kiss to my temple, soft, revolting. “Remember, betrayal is punished by death. I’ll be watching, little Spade.”
And then he was gone.
The silence he left behind was deafening.
My body curled in on itself instinctively, arms wrapping tight around my stomach, as if I could hold myself together by force alone.
The sheets beneath me were tangled, stained with blood from my brow, my cheek burning where he’d struck me.
I couldn’t move. I couldn’t breathe. For one night, I’d felt bliss.
For one night, Kaius’s arms had made me believe I could be something more than my past, more than Logan’s puppet.
Now the illusion had shattered because Logan was right about one thing.
He wasn’t going to stop watching me. And sooner or later, I was going to have to choose—betray Kaius or burn for him.