Throne of Ice and Blood (Flame and Thorns, #2)

by Marion Blackwood

“You won’t be able to find a clasp. Only a dragon shifter can take off a collar like that.”

“So maybe I should leave you here for a while to teach you a lesson about disobedience.” His eyes glint. “And because you look really fucking hot in handcuffs.”

Mabona’s fucking tits, one day, I swear I’m going to be the strong and powerful one standing before him while he kneels on the floor.

“If you ever touch her again, I’ll break your fucking hands. She’s mine. Got it?”

“Because I don’t like it when people touch what belongs to me.” I grind my teeth. “I don’t belong to you.” “Yes, you do. In every way that matters.”

“Since Selena is weaker than both Isera and Alistair, I didn’t want to take too much the first time and risk having her unconscious for weeks.”

“Three important people killed inside the palace… This can only mean one thing.” He clenches his jaw. “The Red Hand is back.”

“I thought you said that the Red Hand would never dare to show his face again after you almost caught him last time. That he would spend the rest of his life in hiding and that the human rebellion had been crushed for good.”

“Because if I have to see you in this collar one fucking second more than absolutely necessary, I’m going to start killing people.”

“Outside this room, you need to wear it. If you don’t, they will torture you. But in here, when it’s just us, I will take it off.”

Galen slams his fist down on the table, cutting him off. “Again with the Red Hand! Can’t you just accept that you lost to him?”

“You heard me. You’re fixating on the Red Hand just because he’s the only one who has ever managed to outsmart you. And I’m tired of hurting people just to salvage your pride.” He squeezes both hands into fists. “If anything, we should be helping the Red Hand.”

“You wanna talk about being deceived?” Pain flickers in his eyes. It’s followed by something deeper. Something more like hurt. “How do you think I felt back in that underground forest? How do you think I felt when I realized that you didn’t fuck me because you genuinely wanted to? That it was all an act. That you didn’t really want me. That you only fucked me as a distraction to steal the ring from me.”

“The first few weeks or months or sometimes even years when they break in their new life slaves. When the fae still try to fight back. Still try to resist. Before they eventually break and become obedient little slaves just to stop the torment and humiliation.”

“So hate me all you want, little rebel. And fight me all you want in private. But out here, in public, you need to act as if I’m your God.”

Why do you serve them?” Anger flashes across his face. “Because I don’t have any other choice.” “There is always a choice!” “You have no idea what you’re talking about.” The anger on his face transforms into searing pain for a second before his expression becomes unreadable again. Clenching his jaw, he flexes his hand and draws in a controlled breath. “You don’t know them like I do. You don’t know what they’re capable of. What they’ve already done. To me. And to others.”

“Good. Hate me. Fight me. Take it all out on me.”

“You’re going to regret that wish. Because inside these walls, I’m going to become your worst nightmare, and I won’t stop until you bow down before your own personal Queen of Hell.”

“As long as you act like I’m your God outside these walls, I welcome your hell in here, little rebel.”

“They’re too powerful. Too cruel. Too vicious. They control everything. How much food we’re allowed to eat. What we’re allowed to drink. How many children we can have⁠—”

“That they’re sterilizing us.”

Lavendera holds my gaze with serious eyes. “We didn’t always only produce one child. Back before the war, we could have as many children as we wanted. But after they trapped us in the Seelie Court, they began to sterilize us after we have given birth to one child.”

They think that having multiple children thins the magic in our blood, so they only let us have one to make sure that if that child is born with magic, it gets all the magic in that bloodline.

“Let’s get something straight.” His eyes burn through my very soul as he locks them on me. “I am not a hero. I don’t care about other people. I only care about getting what I want.”

“Because I don’t care who gets hurt, as long as it serves my goals. This world is cruel and unfair. And if you’re too kind and too trusting and too empathetic, people will only take advantage of you.”

“So I don’t wring my hands about collateral damage,” he says as he holds my gaze with those intense eyes of his. “I take what I want from this world. And God help anyone who stands in my way.”

“You don’t care about anyone else, huh?” I challenge. He flashes me a sharp smile. “No.” “Then why did you try to save me?”

“I don’t get it,” I say, frustration leaking into my voice. “Back in our city, you truly are the Shadow of Death. People tremble at the mere mention of your name.” I shake my head at his muscular back. “But here, you’re like a little lapdog who jumps at his masters’ command.”

“Mark my words, oh Shadow of Death, I will put you in your place one day.”

And the sheer possessiveness in his eyes when he does it makes heat pool at my core. “Fuck,” he growls. “That dress should be black.”

“I can’t believe you made her do that,” Galen hisses under his breath as Draven pulls me to a stop to the right of his empty seat at the head of the table. “In front of everyone. Have you at last lost your final shred of⁠—”

“I’m about to murder someone,” Draven growls in his face. “And unless you want that to be you, you watch her until I get back.”

Part of me is furious that Draven is the one who gets to storm out and be angry and then gather his composure before coming back inside. I’m the one who just crawled across the floor and licked someone’s boots in front of an entire banquet hall, for Mabona’s sake!

“Draven has always won. He has always completed every mission he has been given. Crush that rebellion. Bring that clan to heel. Burn that city. Conquer that castle. Assassinate that person. He always succeeds.” Smug amusement flits across his face for a second. “But not with this guy. The Red Hand is the only one who has ever gotten away. The only one who has ever outsmarted him.”

“They laughed at me. The courtiers in the room, they laughed at me.”

“I know,” he repeats, the words coming out more like a growl. He flexes his hands around my wrists and clenches his jaw again before fixing me with a stare full of deadly promises. “I marked each and every one of their faces, and I swear to you, I will make them all crawl before the week is over.”

“You’re right,” he says, tilting his head back so that he meets my gaze. “I kneel for nothing and no one.” His golden eyes burn like flames, searing right through my soul. “But for you… For you, I would kneel.”

“If you don’t find the Red Hand soon, we will hold you personally responsible.” “And you know what that means,” Jessina adds, malice dripping from her voice.

After stripping down to my underwear, which leaves very little to the imagination, I straighten my spine and raise my chin in a confident posture even though my heart is suddenly pounding in my chest.

“Eyes down!” he bellows across the room. “Anyone who raises his eyes will get them carved out.”

“Put your clothes back on. Now.” “Why? I thought you weren’t jealous.” “I’m not.” “Fine. Then I’ll just keep flirting with everyone I come across.” “Not unless you want them to lose their eyes. And their hands.”

“Why?” “Why what?” “Why do you hate it when I flirt with someone else?”

“Because you’re mine.” I arch an eyebrow at him. “Your life slave?” “No. Mine. In every sense of the word.”

His eyes glint. “You will pay for this little stunt tonight.”

“Challenging me in front of my entire clan like that?” He flicks a possessive glance up and down my body. “So fucking hot. All I wanted to do was to bend you over a table and take you right then and there to show them all that you are fucking mine.”

“Do you know the torture you put me through when you walked into the room half-naked like that?”

“Here’s the deal, Shadow of Death.” My own eyes are full of challenge as I meet his desperate gaze. “Either you fuck me, or you watch me fuck myself. Those are your two options.”

“God, you’re so fucking hot when you threaten me.”

“Don’t ever hold back against me.” His eyes burn through my very soul. “Don’t ever suppress your fire.”

Nysara gives me another one of those slow smiles. “Oh child, I am not from the Seelie Court.”