Chapter 8
Angel
I’ve managed to avoid Max like the fucking plague. The Kings were watching, so I couldn’t sit next to Silas at dinner. I sit instead with a guy named Simon, who I know very little about. I have no interest in getting to know him either, and yet he keeps talking to me like we’re best friends. I’m not typically a rude person, so I try to be engaging and present in the conversation with him, but something about him creeps me out.
I’m uncomfortable. Every time I move, I can feel the cum sticking to my inner thighs. I know Silas likes it because I can see him grinning at me across the damn table.
“So, what do you want to do after college?” Simon asks. I nearly roll my eyes.
“Is there anything to do after?” I ask, glancing over at him.
“What do you mean?”
“I thought we were to have kids soon after the ceremony,” I tell him, even though it chokes me up to say.
“A lot of women have kids and a career, Angel.”
“In this society?” I ask. He nods. “Who?”
“My mom, for one,” he replies like it’s no big deal. I nearly roll my eyes again. I know how his mom is, and she hardly counts, considering she’s a lawyer for the damn society.
“She doesn’t count, Simon.”
“Of course she does. She’s doing a job,” he snaps back at me.
“Who else?” I ask, challenging him to name someone who doesn’t actually work for the fucking society. Women aren’t allowed to work here. We have kids, raise them, and take care of the men. That’s our fucking role.
“I can’t come up with someone right off hand,” he says, and I snort a laugh. Simon doesn’t appreciate that at all. He reaches up and grabs my face roughly in his hand. I shift my eyes to see if anyone is watching and see the leaders taking us in. They won’t stop him. He’s doing what a King is supposed to do by correcting my bad behavior.
“You think you can talk to me any kind of way?” he hisses at me.
“Fuck you,” I murmur the words so everyone at the table doesn’t hear them.
“Oh, you do, don’t you? You think you can talk to a King in that manner and get away with it,” he says, smirking at me. “Stand up and follow me out of the room.” I swallow hard. There’s no way in fuck I’m following him anywhere.
“In your fucking dreams, Simon. I’m not going anywhere with you,” I hiss at him. His eyes grow rounder, larger as he looks me in the eye as if he wants to choke me right here at the table.
“I’ll make you suffer worse than your brother did,” he warns. What the fuck did he just say? How does he know that? How does he know what my brother did? He sees the look in my eyes and knows I want answers. “You want answers? Get the fuck up and follow me out.” My chest tightens as I shove to my feet, causing him to release his grip on my face. He shoves out of his chair, and I don’t bother to look over at Silas because I can feel his rage across the damn room.
Simon leads the way, and the Kings leaders look happy about it. My stomach ties in knots as I follow him down the hall and into a side room. We step in, and he slams the door shut before eyeing me.
“Fucking princess, my ass. You’ve whored yourself out to half the fucking Kings in attendance; I would assume,” he hisses at me.
“What the fuck? I have not!”
“Not what your brother says,” he adds.
“What do you know about Tom?” I ask, needing to know what the hell he knows.
“You’d like to know, wouldn’t you?”
“What do you want, Simon? What do you want to tell me?” He grins at me, and I want to throw up. I know exactly what the sick fuck wants, and he isn’t getting it. Not from me. I shake my head as he advances on me. I back up until my back hits the wall, and his smile grows.
“There’s nowhere you can run, Angel.”
“Don’t touch me.”
“Why? Hasn’t everyone else?” I shake my head once more. I’m not a whore. Not for anyone except Silas, but Simon doesn’t know that. He inches closer, and the thought of throwing up hits me hard. I reach up and cover my mouth so I don’t do it when he leans in. Just as he begins to reach for me, the door bursts open, and the guys come in. They look between Simon and me as I try not to throw up my dinner.
“What’s going on in here?” Rylan asks casually, as he picks up a small box off the dresser and looks it over before setting it back down.
“Teaching this little princess a lesson in manners,” Simon replies. Ry hums, but I can see the deadly look in Silas’s eyes.
“What did she do?” Levi asks, pulling his attention.
“She doesn’t know when to shut up for one,” he tells them as he grins. My heart leaps into my throat when Silas speaks.
“So what’s stopping you? Punish her,” he declares, nodding toward me. Tears cling to my lashes. He isn’t really going to let him do that, is he? Silas cut off someone’s fucking finger for touching me, and now he’s going to let Simon punish me? I look wide-eyed at Silas, but he ignores me, watching Simon instead.
“I don’t think I need an audience for this,” Simon tells them.
“What do you mean? That’s one of the rules. If a King without a Queen is to punish a princess, another King must be in attendance to witness. You know, in case something goes wrong,” Silas reminds him, still not looking at me. “Do what you want, man. We’re not going to tell.” Now, my heart hammers against my ribs. Why is Silas doing this? Why would he let him touch me?
Simon grins before turning back to me. I eye him up and down, ready to kick him in the balls if I have to. I don’t need Silas to save me from him; I’ll do it myself.
I lower my hand from my mouth and stand with my back straight when Simon snaps his hand out. He wraps it around my neck and squeezes it before I have to chance to move. He quickly cuts off my air as I reach up and claw at his hands.
“You’ll learn, Angel. You’ll learn how to behave for a King!” He roars in my face. I can feel my eyes bugging as spots begin to bleed into my vision. Tears slide down my cheeks as I feel myself getting weaker by the second. I jerk my eyes to Silas, but he isn’t looking at me. Just as I feel like I’m going to pass out, Simon is being ripped away from me. Rylan moves through the room quickly, as does Levi. Levi makes a noose out of a bed sheet while Rylan attaches the other end to the bedpost. I’m rubbing at my neck and coughing as Silas drags Simon toward the balcony. I shove to my feet and stumble in that direction, not knowing what the hell is happening.
“What are you doing?” I manage to ask. Silas looks over his shoulder at me and grins before turning back to the guys. Levi slides the noose around Simon’s neck, and I gasp. They aren’t going to kill him, are they?
“You can’t do that!” I snap at them. Silas jerks his head at me and Levi moves to stand behind me. I don’t pay much attention until his hand covers my mouth, preventing me from screaming. Simon begins to struggle, but Silas doesn’t let him go.
“You’re going to climb onto the fucking ledge, and you’re going to jump. Do you understand me?” Silas orders him in a deadly tone. Simon shakes his head when Silas leans in and whispers something in his ear none of us can hear.
Simon looks over his shoulder at me with wide, scared eyes before he does as he is told. I can see him trembling from here as I try to scream behind Levi’s hand. I watch in horror as Simon climbs and stands on the edge of the railing.
“Now jump, Simon. As much as I’d love to play this out a little longer, we do have a dinner to finish,” Silas tells him calmly as he checks his watch. I see Simon’s body tremble as he starts to cry.
“Now!” Silas snaps at him. Simon jolts, but then he does it. He takes a step forward and falls. I scream now behind Levi’s hand as tears roll down my cheeks. How could he do that? He forced him to jump! Silas and Rylan look over the edge to make sure he’s dead before walking back into the room as if nothing happened.
“I’ll wipe the cameras,” Rylan announces before leaving the room. Silas nods toward Levi, and he releases his hold of me. I want to run. I want to scream but the look in Silas’s eyes has me doing neither of those things. He comes closer as snot and tears mix and run down my face.
“You’re so pretty when you cry, Angel.” He wipes my face and rubs his hand down the leg of his pants before smiling at me. “He won’t bother you anymore.” My heart races. What do I say to him? I knew he was out there, and I knew he did things, but to see him actually force Simon to jump? My hands are shaking when Silas grabs them in his, and I almost jerk away, but I don’t.
“You need to calm down before we go back out there. They can’t see you like this, or they’ll think you did something to Simon.”
“What? Me?”
“He did leave the room with you,” Silas reminds me. Ice wraps around my spine as I become as still as stone. He’s right. Everyone at the fucking table saw me leave with Simon. What if they think I did this?
“What if they think I did this?” I ask, my voice trembling.
“They won’t.”
“What if they do, Silas? I’ll be killed!” I shriek. Silas reaches up and cups my cheek in his hand as he stares into my eyes.
“Do you honestly think I would let anyone hurt you except me, Angel?” I open my mouth, but I don’t know what to say. Silas shakes his head before lowering his lips to mine. He kisses me so gently it gives me whiplash. How can he go from killing someone to kissing me like this? When he pulls back, he grins at me.
“No one is going to touch you and live to tell about it, Angel. You belong to me.”
Silas leads me to the door, where I wipe my face once more.
“Go into the bathroom and wash up. Then go back to the table like nothing happened. Understand?” I nod my head. I understand perfectly.
“Good girl. That’s my little Angel,” he praises me before opening the door and ushering me out. I hurry down the hall toward the bathroom when I see Tamsyn and motion for her to follow me. She does, and we huddle inside the bathroom as I fall apart. She pulls me against her and holds on tightly as I sob.
“What the hell happened?”
“Silas forced him to jump, Tamsyn. He’s dead,” I cry.
“Who is?”
“Simon!”
“Oh shit,” she remarks casually, as if that’s not the worst thing they’ve done. Maybe it isn’t. Maybe I don’t know Silas as much as I thought I did.