27. Rhys
RHYS
I wanted to kill the witch for what she asked of her daughter. What she asked of the person she was supposed to love above nearly all others. I wanted to rip her still-beating heart from her body and wring it dry in front of her face. I wanted to end the threat she would likely always be to Rae.
My fated blinked rapidly, trying to take in the information I’d so callously dropped at her feet. But I didn’t have time to coddle her. I had a witch to deal with.
“Does your precious reputation truly mean that much to you? Your status? That you would kill your daughter to remain in the royals’ good graces?”
Imogen snarled in my direction, revealing a little of her true nature. “Better she dies an honorable death than live as a blood whore.”
Rae let out a pained gasp.
Imogen whirled to Rae, her face transforming into the picture of grief and love. “You don’t understand, my darling. You aren’t remembering it all. This is what you would’ve chosen for yourself. I’m simply honoring your wishes.”
Rae shook her head in staccato snaps as she backed away from the woman. There was an animalistic quality to it, like an injured doe trapped by a predator.
It made me want to snap Imogen’s neck, right here and now. It would’ve been so easy. Worth being cast out into the Dark Lands.
“I’m starting to remember,” Rae rasped. “All those hours of so-called training, you telling me I was worthless unless I could perform. But it was never enough for you—not even perfection.”
Imogen let out a huff. “Please. I think that’s a little dramatic.”
“Is it?” Rae’s hands fisted at her sides, her knuckles bleaching white. “I remember when I was six years old, you made me sleep outside for a week because I failed one of your little tests.”
I hissed out a breath between my teeth, my fangs pressing against my gums; the beastly part of me craved retribution, justice.
Imogen’s lips pursed. “It was for you to commune with the light. So that you could bond with it.”
“Never mind the stories of the monsters that would attack while our world was sleeping. The creatures that could’ve harmed me—the terror you wanted me to feel,” Rae snapped back.
I blinked as I stared at her fists. Tiny sparks danced around them like little fireflies.
“I made you strong,” Imogen snarled. “There’s a reason the gods can feel your power. It’s all because of me.”
The sparks moved faster and grew in number.
Oh shit.
“Imogen, leave. Now,” I bellowed.
Her head snapped in my direction. “You can’t order me around. You have no power over me.”
I let my fangs lengthen, forcing my mouth into a smile. “Want to try that again?”
She was already moving, tucking tail and running for the sanctuary.
Good.
I hoped she pissed herself, too.
I turned to Rae and struggled to force my fangs into submission. Having them out in her presence was far too great a risk. Because my beast wanted to bite. He wanted to make her his in every way. And he wanted to know exactly what she tasted like.
Rae’s breaths came faster and faster as the tiny flares of energy circled her arms.
“Slow your breathing,” I ordered.
“I-I-I can’t.”
“Soraya, listen to me. If you don’t calm yourself, you could overload.”
Her gray eyes went wide, and I saw there were sparks swirling there, too. “Because I’m a bomb.”
Exactly. But I wasn’t about to tell her that.
I strode across the garden, moving right into her space. I didn’t wait for permission. I wasn’t like Kian. I knew what needed to be done, and I did it.
I took her face in my hands, ignoring the tiny flares of pain I felt from her sparks. “Follow me. In.” I demonstrated a slow breath for her. “Out.”
Rae struggled to follow me. At first, the breaths were hitching pants. But slowly, she was able to follow.
“That’s it. Nice and easy.” My thumbs tracked over her cheeks, and I relished the feel of her skin. Like a petal from my favorite flower.
Her eyes glittered—not with magic but with unshed tears.
Fuck.
“She…” Rae swallowed. “I thought maybe I could have a mom again. But...” Her breath hitched. “She doesn’t love me. She loves what she thinks I can be.”
Tears crested, spilled over, and slid down her cheeks, catching on my hands.
Some foreign sensation shifted in my chest like a snake slithering through my rib cage. I fucking hated it.
I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. Kian strode toward us, looking furious.
An out. An escape.
I all but threw her at him as he approached. “Take her.”
Surprise lit in his gaze, but his arms curved around her as if he’d done it countless times before. And maybe he had.
Jealousy burned through me, but I forced myself to stalk away as I heard the first sob rack her body. Every note of her misery was like an ice pick to my skull. Yet I still forced distance between us.
I strode around the far side of the sanctuary to the very edge of the terrace. Lumaria was barely visible through the clouds below the rock incline. I had the urge to hurl myself onto the jagged peaks.
Not that it would do much good—only a few pointless injuries that would heal in a matter of minutes.
“Rhys.”
How many times had Pax greeted me in just this way? He’d always been the one to call on the shreds of goodness that still lived within me. But lately? It felt like they were dying, the darkness taking hold.
“Don’t,” I ground out.
I felt his energy at my back, but I didn’t turn. I didn’t want to see the disapproval on his face when I already heard it in his voice.
“You can’t ignore this. It’s your destiny,” he said quietly.
“Do I look like I’m godsdamned ignoring it?” I snarled. “I’m here, aren’t I? I didn’t stay in the human realm, which would’ve been a hades of a lot easier.”
“You would’ve missed Lumaria. Firelight. Your people.”
I had missed them. All of them. Even Ayden. Because they were a piece of me. It was as if I’d spent the last fifteen years in a zoo. It had all the things I needed, but it wasn’t home. Not really.
Pax didn’t let me ignore him. He came to stand next to me, shoulder to shoulder as he always had, and let the quiet swirl around us.
“I don’t want this,” I rasped.
The way I wanted her was a betrayal of my father, my sister, and my people. It was the worst kind of torture, and I’d be in it for the rest of my days.
Pax stared out at the horizon. “I know.”
Pain reverberated in my chest as I admitted my shame. “I don’t think I can do it.”
Pax turned slowly, finally looking at me. “You don’t have a choice.”