Chapter 1 #2
A slight smirk tugged on his full lips, his eyes running down me.
“You are nothing like I thought you’d be.
” His violet eyes locked on mine, holding me like I was caught in a web.
My heart sped up under his scrutiny. “You’re right.
I would not kill you right away, but you’re wrong for the reasons why I want you.
I don’t care about your pathetic humans.
The ones whose arrogance let them think they have a hold here when all it would take is a word from me to end them. ”
“You don’t want to use me for bartering with Istvan?” I swallowed.
“Barter?” Killian’s head tipped back with laughter, the sound plunging tingles of warmth through me, hitching my chest. Fury at my body’s response to him showed on my face. I tugged my legs tighter into my frame.
“What would I possibly need to barter for, Ms. Kovacs? I am quite curious what you think I’d need from your kind.
” He tipped his head to the side. I pinched my lips together, not answering.
“You humans always believe you are far more important than you are. Your lives, your needs, are above all else: earth, animals, nature’s resources, even people of your own species.
” He smiled. The flare of something feral underneath his pristine image radiated off him, his eyes flashing.
He leaned into my face, and I could barely breathe.
“But it’s a lie, Ms. Kovacs. You can all walk around in your delusions, telling your offspring the same falsehoods.
But your species is at the bottom of the totem pole.
And in a blink . . .” He snapped his fingers against my cheeks.
His breath brushed down my throat, hitching my own breath. “You can be taken out.”
Air ripped raggedly through my airways, his words settling in around me. This whole time I thought I would be a carrot to be dangled, a prize to be used against the Human Defense Force’s general. It was something Istvan always warned Caden and me about—that our enemy would use us.
“So, what do you want with me then?” Dread sparked with adrenaline tore through my nerves.
“Wrong question.” His voice slipped down my neck, spearing my skin with shivers.
“It’s what am I already doing with you, Ms. Kovacs.
” His fingers slipped over my ear, tucking a strand of hair, sparking goosebumps down my flesh.
“You are turning out to be far more interesting than I could ever have imagined.” His proximity pinned my spine to the wall, my lungs hitching as fear rushed into me.
His eyes drifted over my face. “I can’t figure out why you are different from the others.
Why have you not succumbed? How are you able to resist it when no others have? ”
“What others? Succumbed to what?”
A sneer curved his mouth, his violet eyes glistening. He stepped away from me, his hand digging into the pocket of his jacket, pulling out a tiny pill, holding it up.
My gaze dropped to the object, my throat clogging at the sight of the neon blue pill between his fingers. I recognized it instantly, the color so unique. It was the same kind I had stolen from the train the night I got captured.
“As soon as I discovered who you were, I had your items sent here from the night you were apprehended. I was curious. Why would the ward of General Markos be on the train robbing from her own kind?”
I locked on the strange pill, my throat bobbing.
“Tell me what these are.”
My eyes darted up to his, my jaw locking down.
“Why were you after these?”
Nothing.
“You think it’s wise to defy me?” Anger bloomed in a blink, his eyes igniting in fury, enveloping me. “Speak!”
Silence.
“I order you to talk, Ms. Kovacs.” His lids narrowed, his focus sharpening. A swirl of energy crackled around me, tugging at my tongue and jaw, but broke like waves against the rocks the moment the magic touched my skin.
His nose flared; a nerve in his jaw twitched.
“Answer me. Now!” I could feel the power of the order.
The demand hissed in my ear, but I only locked my teeth together, pushing against the sensation.
“I said speak!” His hand caught around my throat, slamming me back against the wall, ripping air from my lungs.
His form seemed to expand, magic emanating from him. “Last chance.”
“I don’t know,” I croaked out.
“You expect me to believe that?” His face was an inch away from mine, his thumb pressing into my throat enough to make my heart jump and stutter. “I found your bag full of these pills. Tell me why you were taking them. What do you know about them?”
“I don’t know anything,” I spat. “I swear.”
“I have very little patience today.” His cheek twitched, his thumb sliding up and down my neck as if he were taunting me.
“I told you I don’t know what they are.”
“Do. Not. Lie. To. Me.” He clamped down harder. My nose flared. My chest puffed up and down, searching for air, my spine protesting as he continued to push it against the wall.
“I’m not.” Holding up my chin, I stared at him, oxygen wheezing through my nose.
His unsettling focus stayed on me for another full minute before a smirk hinted on his lips. “Fine. You want to play it that way. You will find soon, Ms. Kovacs, this isn’t Leopold. You push . . . I don’t push back. I obliterate.”
“I survived and escaped your impregnable prison, Killian. You want to torture or kill me? Bring it,” I snarled back.
“Don’t ever call me by my first name,” he growled, his hands clenching, his shoulders lifting. Names held power to the fae. Intimacy. “You call me King.”
“There’s only one king in this world. His name is Lars,” I spit through my teeth, my head swimming for the lack of air.
“He’s not king here. I am.”
“Just because you call yourself king doesn’t make it true.” Saliva dribbled down my chin as I struggled to get out each syllable.
His fingers squeezed tighter, stealing all my air. I clawed at his hold, which did not budge his fingers, as blackness dotted around my eyes.
“Watch yourself, Ms. Kovacs. I am known for having an extremely short temper when it comes to disobedience.” His breath curled around my ear, sparking energy through my skin before he ripped his hand away, stepping back.
Air rushed back into my lungs with a gasping cough, my hand flying to my throat as I gulped in oxygen.
“You want to know what I want with you? What I am already using you for?” Killian snapped back into his cool, composed demeanor, turning around and heading out the door. “Then you will see firsthand.” He flicked his head to the guard. “Cuff her. Ms. Kovacs is going on a little field trip.”