Sothing thick pushes against my stomach and my body freezes, right before it jerks forward, successfully tearing Rafael off . And my fist swings before I can stop it, slamming into his stupid face.
The blow catches his right eye and his head snaps right. My chest heaves from anger and exertion. "I do not assu wolves regenerate when they lose a limb. Want to find out? I dare you to touch like that again."
Rafael rests back on his heel, wiping the blood off his mouth with a swipe of his thumb. He smiles fondly. "There you are." He cocks his head slightly, inhaling the air slightly. "I’ve missed the scent of you, Valka."
I make to push past him but he stops with an arm to my chest, pushing up against the wall. His eyes flash gold as he face stops inches from mine. "You ca out here, all alone, hoping I would follow. Did you know when you were fucking the enemy that I felt every second of that pain?"
"Clearly not enough of it, since you’re still alive," I spit. "And you are mad if you think I ca out here for you."
He starts laughing. "Oh, you clever little bitch. You orchestrated this to get back at , didn’t you? This is all so part of your grand revenge plot against for pushing you. You have my complete attention now, Valka, but I cannot assure you that is a good thing." He leans in and licks my cheek, making shudder with disgust. "Does he do it better?"
I don’t even want to know what the aning of the question is, but I catch myself saying anyway, "He does *everything* better. And I assure you, it is more for your sake that I suggest you let go this instant."
His eyes shine with sothing hard to read. "I dropped you for several reasons. Maybe I was a little jealous. Or maybe in truth, I despised you for what you were. But in truth, had you returned ho with us with the claims of victory, you would have died anyway, breeded beneath the dungeons for what you were worth. You owe , more than you’ll ever understand, and this is how you repay ."
Soft laughter curls in my stomach. "Shall I get on my knees and bless you for it? For saving from your depraved family? From you? Sing praises of your rcy? Your unmatched compassion?" It is an effort to keep the anger reeled in, because I know he wins if he gets a reaction out of . "There were a million other choices you could have made, and the first you picked was to discard , because you never saw as anything more or less than a threat. A scourge on your white cloak. What do you want from , Rafael?"
His head sinks slightly, almost touching my forehead. "You. Co back to Silvermoor with ."
"Does Astrea know you’ve reduced yourself and your marriage with her to this level of pathetic?"
He grunts sharply. "We both know I’ve never given a fuck about her. If you co back with , I will forget you’ve had... fucking neanderthals between your legs. I’ll make you my concubine and you’ll have riches beyond asure."
Another wave of laughter slips out of . "Look at , Rafael." I tip my head so he can see the glittering crown. "I am Queen, Erasthai to the most powerful man alive. You have nothing to offer that I do not already possess. You are a child, a pup, really, snivelling in the corners for crumbs where I stand. You are completely worthless to ."
He bares his teeth in a snarl. "When the war desecrates Ebonheart, leaving blood and nothing but dust behind, you will find that a crown ans nothing without a kingdom."
I raise my chin, then. "You plan to wage war anyway. Why, then, have you reached for a truce if you’ve settled on a complete annihilation?"
Rafael’s lips curve slightly, sinister and dark. "I quite like to play a ga of chess well enough. It is often entertaining to see the pieces play out themselves, according to plan." His hold on loosens. "I intend to win this war, regardless of what it may cost . I will wipe out whatever is left of your abominable race, and then, I’d still have you. You can choose to be mine with a title, or with a leash. I don’t mind, either."
My brows arch. "It is a tad difficult to be scared of a lackey, when I’m mated to the devil himself." I lean in close enough that my nose brushes against his. "You will never asure up. I will never choose you. I was never even yours to begin with. And even if you wrapped up in chains, my answer wouldn’t change. I’d sooner spread my very pretty legs for a neanderthal king and be ridden like a horse than have be touched by you with a ten-foot pole. And if it still isn’t clear enough what this is, it is rejecting you."
He stares at for a long mont and chuckles slightly, letting his hands drop from where they hold against the wall. "You will change your mind before the week ends," he whispers.
My shoulder knocks harshly against his as I walk out from between the walls.
"And one more thing, Valka."
I turn slightly, only to freeze when he cups my neck rather gently, his other hand resting on the small of my back, inappropriate in the way his fingers touch the curve of my ass, as he shes his lip to mine once again.
The kiss is over just as soon as it started, way faster than I can react and he whispers with a kind smile that doesn’t match the sickening glee in this grey depths. "Thank you, for eting ."
What?
It isn’t until I hear the barely there crunch of silent feet against gravel that I realize why he did that. I whirl, catching the retreating shadow of Lucien’s shirt and my heart stops.
"Lucien," I call out, but he’s already gone.
***
The adjoining chambers are comfortable, beautiful and--oh, so very tense.
Lucien’s back is rigid as I shut the door to my chamber behind , hair and skin damp from scrubbing off whatever remnants of Rafael’s scent that remained off .
My heart beat slows as I try to think up all the possible ways to refute what I saw without uttering the very generic, "I can explain" or "It isn’t what it looks like."
"Lucien," I start slowly.
He doesn’t even turn around to look at before storming out and pulling the door shut behind him, quietly.
I didn’t know how to handle the quiet. Lucien is never quiet when he is upset. He may not speak, but even in those monts, the atmosphere speaks for him, expressing all that rage.
So I wait for him to return in my chamber. I wait for the soft click of his door. To properly explain. But the fatigue from the trip and the fever gets the better of and I fall asleep.
Hours later, I am awoken by the sound of an unfamiliar female laughter from his side of the chamber and I know precisely how he plans on spending the night. I press my face into the pillows and cry a little.
And I fall asleep that way.
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