12. Raelyna
RAELYNA
“Dance with me.” It was a command, not a question. My lashes fluttered up and I caught the gaze of the one male I’d least wished to see taking up the space before me.
“Luc . . .” His name was a faint whisper of surprise on my lips as he took hold of my wrist, his grip bruising while he led me onto the dance floor.
“What can I do for you?” I asked over the music, which had picked up. I felt his hand tighten around my waist, fingers digging into my sides while he pulled me closer to his frame, our bodies moving in time to the beat.
The scent of whiskey and sandalwood flooded my senses as I stared at the male across from me.
Rippling onyx wings were visible as they flared out from his back, fluttering with each turn we made across the floor.
His light brown hair was combed back, with the slightest tousle at the front, and his brown eyes were stark as they fastened on me.
Demanding, searching through the depths of my soul, as though he owned me.
I suppressed a shudder as his gaze raked over my body, focusing on the velvety material of the thin dress I wore.
I was dressed for dance performances and drinks at a downtown bar with my friends after our shift, not for staying in Solis Court to celebrate the festival.
The soft emerald green material hugged my upper body, the cut of the dress creating a clear dip down toward my navel, before the dress loosened at my hips.
The material hung low on my back, the barely visible straps pulling their weight as his gaze lingered on the material.
I should have worn a different dress.
“Eh-hmm,” I cleared my throat, nonchalantly. The noise was just soft enough that Luc’s gaze flitted back to my face as we stepped in time to the music playing across the throne room.
His wings flared wide, onyx feathers rustling at the movement, then they circled us, shielding us from onlookers as he spoke lowly.
“I thought I’d use this time to ensure you were following through on our bargain, seeing as you seem to think you have room to play in this arrangement of ours.
” His smile was tight, the hard grin of someone who held all the power.
His hand traced lower then, as the music played on.
A crescendo of sound, yet every part of me screamed to stop as his fingers trailed down the bare expanse of my back, drifting lower .
. . lower . . . then fanning out on my hips.
His hold tightened, a punishing brand as his hands spanned along my abdomen, stealing the air from my lungs.
We were too close.
His hands were too close.
Only . . . I couldn’t pull away. I couldn’t break free.
I felt his finger trace the outer ridge of a scar, the raised skin forever damaged on my flesh. A location we both knew that he had memorized, even though it was entirely hidden from view. It was a scar I bore from the last time we were together willingly.
“You killed him.” My voice rose in a guttural scream as I stared at my former best friend. “You. Killed. Him.”
“I did what I had to for the Quarter.” Luc’s voice was a frustrated snarl as he paced before me.
“You did what you had to do for you. You killed my father to please your own father,” I bit back as I glared at the male.
“You killed him as your final act of loyalty to become king, and for that, I will never forgive you.” I turned my back on my friend, moving to leave the room when I felt his affinity wrap itself around me.
I began thrashing, fighting against his hold as Luc came into view, towering above me.
“Your father was digging into things he had no right looking into.” His jaw ground as he stared down at me.
“He was committing treason against his own king. What else would you have me do? Let disloyal people continue to fly free in Solis? I should have punished your whole family for your father’s crimes against the throne, but I didn’t. I spared them—I spared you.”
“You can’t be serious,” I snarled as I fought against his hold, finally finding just enough movement to grab the blade from my waist. “Let me go, Luc.”
“You don’t see now,” he replied, shaking his head. “But one day, you will. One day, you will understand why I had to do what I did.”
“I will never understand why,” I screamed as I threw my blade toward him. I watched as it flew across the space between us before halting mid-air, his affinity wrapped around it, as he turned it, and I watched, unable to move, as it flew back toward me.
“Consider this a reminder,” he stated, “of who is in control here.”
I’d barely made it out with my life. And now, Luc used that same scar to remind me of how disposable I was to him. How worthless my life was compared to that of his, the king of Solis Quarter.
My skin prickled with unease—the need to run, to hide, to protect myself crawling over me. His fingers halted then, his nails pressing in with a subtle strength that had a whimper escaping from my lips as a burst of phantom pain shot through the side of my stomach.
He smiled.
He. Fucking. Smiled.
“It seems that some reminders work better than others.”
I wouldn’t let him rattle me. I couldn’t afford to.
“You promised you wouldn’t hurt her, Luc. That was our bargain.” It took everything in me not to snap the words as fear and lingering remnants of pain flooded through me. I needed to know that Orela was safe. That after his threats the other day, he would still hold true to our deal.
“You’re right, I promised not to hurt her.”
Panic twisted with the fear already churning through me in tidal waves.
Stars-damn him.
But no. No. I’d made sure the terms of the bargain were clear. That there were no loopholes. Orela was safe; she had to be.
“Stop playing games with me, Luc. Our bargain was me in exchange for Orela. Her freedom and protection in exchange for my life.”
He nodded, his eyes lingering on me as the music flowed around us. “It was.”
That’s all? That’s everything he had to say on the matter?
“Then why are you threatening me regarding her safety?” I asked, staring at the male with whom I’d once played with as children, who had come over and watched movies with my family on weekends while his parents tended to royal business. Who had been one of the closest people to me for so long.
Someone I’d once considered a friend . . . perhaps even more than a friend—a male I’d trusted, given my everything to.
“Threatening you?” His grip tightened in a vise-like hold. Another protesting whimper was forced from my lips as he chuckled—a dark, low sound that crawled across my neck. He leaned down and spoke in my ear. “Trust me, butterfly. You will know a threat when you see it . . . This is not a threat.”
I scoffed. I couldn’t help it. “You can’t be serious, Luc.
What else would this be? It’s not like I could forget our bargain.
” I raised my wrist, brandishing the mark forever ingrained on my skin, the black X that indicated a deal had been struck between two angels.
“The bargain was that you would protect her—protect us. And yet, you’re the only thing in this stars-damned Quarter hurting me. ”
“Hurting you?” Luc questioned, and his hand moved in an instant, his fingers squeezing my forearm, which was currently stretched out between us. Luc’s grip tightened even further, his fingertips digging into my sun-kissed skin, and pain laced across my flesh everywhere his touch was.
“Is this hurting you?” His voice was a dark snarl, a challenge as I choked back a cry of pain, silver rimming my eyes.
His fingers continued digging into my flesh, his grip branding and punishing as my skin turned red.
“Look around you. I have given you protection. I have kept your sister safe, despite her affinity giving her an unfair advantage over others. Despite the fact that she would be vital to the five gods in the temples, foretelling the future. I have even kept you safe, providing you with a job, ensuring you are paid. And this is how you repay my generosity? By belittling me, in my own throne room?” He spat the last words, venom laced in his tone as his eyes narrowed in on me, murder filtering through his gaze.
Stars-damn me.
Astara could take me any minute now.
The ground could just open up and swallow me whole.
Why . . . Why did I have to say anything?
“I apologize.” Every part of my body was put on the defensive; my walls raised high, even as the words fell, tasting like bitter acid on my lips. “I don’t know what’s gotten into me tonight. I shouldn’t have—forgive me, Your Majesty.”
Luc’s eyes narrowed on me, his grip unrelenting as he searched my eyes.
A million minutes seemed to pass in the blink of an eye, and a tumultuously prolonged silence stretched between us while he contemplated my apology.
The music faded in the distance, his wings still trapping us together in a tense cocoon of unwanted privacy.
“Your Majesty?” an unknown voice interrupted, and Luc’s wings shifted as he pulled them back, his gaze searching for the voice as he created some space between our bodies, his grip gradually loosening on my skin.
The briefest of glances told me my arm was already beginning to bruise.
Deep half-moons had found their way onto my flesh, marring my otherwise pristine skin.
A sharp stab of pain radiated from my left wrist, and I glanced down at the spot, expecting to see an angry bruise forming there too, but the expanse of skin was bare—not an injury in sight.
Stars be damned.
I took a shaky breath as the male spoke in urgent tones, the words half-lost with the music. I felt Luc stiffen, his features tightening in frustration, and then his grip released me entirely as he took another step back.
“Very well,” his voice was a menacing growl as he withdrew, focusing his attention entirely on the Royal Solis Guard standing to our side.
The guard started to depart, his wings rustling as he exited the dance floor.
I watched as Luc’s eyes narrowed further, then he glanced briefly back toward me, brown orbs assessing me as his jaw ticked.
“Oh, and, Raelyna,” he said briefly, his tone tight. “You can tell the others they can go whenever,” he stated, turning more fully to the guard who’d interrupted our dance, now standing by an exit. “I only need your services for the remainder of the night. Don’t let me down.”
I ground my teeth, staring at the cruel smirk of the male before me—of a former friend—as I merely nodded my head in submission, forcing myself to remember who I was doing this for.
I said nothing as Lucanus walked away from me, his form towering as he exited the dance floor. Dancers still whirled around me, mid-dance, yet I was frozen in time, frozen in place.
Trapped.
One day. The reminder rang through my mind as tears rimmed my eyes. Not today. Not tomorrow. But one day. One day, I will be free of him. Free to be me. I just have to survive until that day.