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If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my twenty-three years alive, it’s this: Women in pain give men confidence.
“Nocturn is trapped,” she hisses, and the venom in her voice makes my skin prickle. “He’s trapped, and when he escapes, he’s going to tear the world apart.” Mother lunges at Lee, yanking on his tunic. He’s seen her delusional before but never aimed at him. A violent shadow passes over her face. Everything was perfect, so of course it couldn’t last. These moments shouldn’t surprise me anymore, but still—I’d let myself hope. Heat burns behind my eyes. “Mother,” I say, trying to draw her attention back to me, to calm her down. Goddess, what must Lee be thinking? It only sets her off more. “And
...more
“All right, kitten?”
My head still pounds from the bonding. But that’s life. It’s always been my life. Pain and persistence.
Crown Prince Killian descends to the balcony while I stand there frozen, my whole world crumbling around me. And then, seated at his father’s side, he lifts his head and looks right at me, dark blue eyes filled with regret. My heart cracks. Lee.
He leans down, his breath now hot against my neck. And his tongue streaks over my skin. I can’t repress the sound this time, small and almost angry, like the very beginnings of a growl at the base of my throat.
Great. I’m cooked.
NO
Tomison leans in the doorway.
Ridoc
“Do you truly think I need your help to find my mate? I have known him for years.”
I know its Cratos and Starke
That’s right, you are not going to die today.
Did something go wrong? Were Killian’s guards not able to find it?
he's behind it i bet
But of course, I know. Who else would give me such a gift? Oh, Killian…
YOU FOOL ITS NOT HIM
I fall asleep to the sound of his heartbeat.
I DON'T LIKE HIM
I’m astride him, like I wanted, but the punishing pace is too much for me to match; I can’t find the rhythm. I let Killian move me instead, up and down his length until I’m babbling his name, pleading, saying I don’t know what, words with no meaning, as he drives me insane.
I hate that he won't let her take charge if she wants to
“We don’t want to put you out. We’ll take the room you have.”
ONE! BED!
Lamplight gleams on the silvery scars, making them look all the more vicious. Suddenly Stark is on me, his face thunderous, backing me into the tiny corner. “Who did this to you?” he demands ferociously, one calloused hand clamping hotly on my thigh.
“They knew we were coming,” I hear myself say.
BECAUSE YOU TOLD KILLIAN
There’s movement in the corner of the tent and I squint at it—are the shadows shifting again? But as I stare, they settle down, back to normal. Great, just another hallucination.
Killian shadows
But I’ve never felt more clearheaded. This incredible man kneeling before me is far more than I deserve. Me, a commoner. Me, who has no other family to speak of.
YOU HAVE A WHOLE FUCKING PACK
Finally, finally, the shadows disappear.
HE'S MANIPULATED YOUR EMOTIONS
Stark stands tall at the top of the hill, his dark presence saturating the clear morning air.
HE SHOWED YOU JUST HOW NOT ALONE YOU ARE
“Hide the journals,” Anassa growls suddenly over the bond, her tone urgent and filled with warning. At the same time, I hear the thump of Killian’s boots in the hallway outside.
BECAUSE HE'S A SIPHON
It’s the crown my mother drew over and over—the twin wolves leaping at a precious gem set between them. Absolutely identical. This is the crown of the Sturmfrost line, forged thousands of years ago and imbued with powerful magic.
YOUR MOONSTONE
His thumb tugs my bottom lip, and it’s like he casts a spell on me.
BECAUSE HE DOES
“Leave a mark,” I whisper. And instantly, his teeth dig into my skin.
HE'S BITING YOU NOOOOOOO
“Against the headboard.”
It's not hot when he says it.Only cassian gets away with it
Killian was horrified by the Nabbers. He brought one of them to me and helped me torture the man for information. He’s voiced his suspicion of his father and his desire to change the kingdom so many times.
HE IS THE ONE RESPONSIBLE FOR THEM, THOUGH.
I turn to Killian, and his face is ashen. There is no relief. No triumph at his father’s downfall. He looks at me in abject horror, his eyes moving over the blood spilled across my chest, to the sword, to his father’s corpse. “Meryn, what have you done?” he shudders out, stepping away from me with wide eyes, hands shaking. Then, anger. His expression contorts into fury. “Guards! Seize her! She’s killed the king!”
I KNEW IT
He thinks I’m mad.
You're not crazy.He's gaslighting you I hate this
“Liar!”
I push him off weakly, my hand pressed to his chest. The movement cracks his expression. A tiny sliver of something ancient and cold flashes across his face—a glint of his eyes, a tightening of his jaw—before disappearing again behind concern and affection.
HE'S A SIPHON THE SIPHON KING
And then Stark walks around the corner.
I knew what I knew what I knew. And I knew it, I knew it
So I settle a thin filter in place in my head, just enough to come to my senses and stop gazing at this brutal, infuriating, ruinous man as if I’m on the verge of ripping his pants off and going to town.
Fuck, how did I miss this?
I have no idea girl because even though you're in Strategos, you are dumb as f***. I noticed this so many chapters ago
The stone is the twin of the one in the necklace my mother gave me, glinting with the same age-old luster.
I knew it
That the queen is… my ancestor?
I knew what I knew it. I knew it, I knew it. I knew it, I knew it. I knew it, I knew it. I knew it.
He looks unsettlingly like both Killian and his father, with piercing blue eyes and the same sharp features.
Because it is him, they are the same
“Chiara Sturmfrost is dead. Meryn Sturmfrost has returned. Long live Queen Sturmfrost.”
“The Bonded have been under a Siphon blood curse for five hundred years.” He gestures to the crown with a distractingly scarred hand. “That crown and the sword, together, control the human bonds to the direwolves.”
No one was permitted to speak of them again, and within a generation, they were forgotten,” he tells me. “By everyone except for my family. As you know, we are the sworn protectors of the royal line.”
I knew it
“Do you know how hard it was to see you with him?” he rasps. “To know who you were, even when you didn’t, sickening magic silencing me? To endure our wolves’ mate bond on top of it all?”
“Do you have any idea what it felt like to watch you at the Forging Ball in the dress I picked for you”—What?!—“swirling in your lover’s arms and bowing to his traitor father?”
“Stark—before the Ascent, you came through the city. There was a man, a deserter…” The man that Stark and Cratos tore apart before the public. The man who threatened me at my fight the night before. Stark lifts his chin. “Yes,” he says simply.
Right now, I need to think like the Alpha I am. No, scratch that. Like the queen I am, as unbelievable as that sounds.
It wouldn’t surprise me, at this point, if Killian were a Siphon. If I’ve been traipsing around, secretly a queen—fuck, Stark’s nickname for me sits differently now—why not a secret Siphon in our midst, too?
CALLED IT
“Give me the word and I’ll tear out his throat. All the lives I’ve ever taken were just training for this moment, my queen. Make me your instrument of vengeance. Let my hands act out your every savage, depraved thought. Use me. I’m yours.”
Mine. My psycho asshole. My bloodthirsty killer.
“Kinky,” he says, cold eyes rising to meet mine. “You trying to behead a second king with that sword? Two in a day probably sets a record.”
I HATE HIM I HATE HIM
Saela’s fallen. She convulses on the ground, eyes rolled back in her head, muscles twisting her body until tendons strain and ligaments pop. Something sickly sweet is in the air, like the smell of rotten fruit.
what the fuck
A scream tears from me that rips my throat raw. Killian’s words echo through my head. As a parting gift, I’ve left you a little surprise.
oh you're a REAL asshole
