Realm of Wind and Vines (Flame and Thorns, #4)

by Marion Blackwood

The flame of pain in his chest is so massive that my vision blacks out for a second.

all I can do is to lie there uselessly next to him and take away his pain.

I need to get stronger. Smarter. Better. More ruthless. And I need to do it fast. Because no one will ever hurt him like this again. I will make fucking sure of it.

For one perfect second, he is looking at me like he used to. Then his mind, or rather the unnatural flame of hatred in his chest, catches up and a jolt goes through him.

I suppress the sudden urge to strangle him. It’s starting to get increasingly annoying to try to have a conversation with him when that wildfire of hatred in his chest constantly defaults to arguing with every single thing I say.

unfortunately I do need to breathe in order to remain conscious.”

The mate bond inside me is thrumming. Vibrating in tune with my pounding heart. And through it, I can feel… him.

“What the hell are you doing to me?”

“I could feel you,” he continues, his voice still edged with panic, as he holds my gaze with wide eyes. “I could feel… what you feel.”

The mate bond. It was trying to rebuild.

“Stay the fuck out of my head.”

Draven still hates me. I could feel that massive flame burning mercilessly in his chest

I will find a way to fix this. I will find a way to get him back.

“It’s so that we won’t hear them move closer when they ambush us.” “Oh.” I don’t know what it says about me that I somehow now consider statements like that entirely normal.

what the hell am I supposed to do? I’m not a brawler.

“I didn’t demand.” “You only demand and give orders. It’s what makes you… you.”

still don’t particularly like you, but I have to admit, I respect this new ruthless you a little more.”

“If you ever touch her like that again, I will cut off your fucking hands,” Draven growls in his face.

Omg we are so baaaackkkkk

“I’m yours, aren’t I?”

“No. You’re a menace. That’s what you are.”

“Because they tried to hurt you. Anyone who hurts you dies.”

“Admit it,” I retort, holding his stare with eyes full of steel. “You want me. Badly.”

deep down, you know that what I’m saying is true. I am yours. And you are mine.”

“Did you kiss him?”

Omgggggggggggg

But right before our lips can touch, he tears himself away

Noooo dravennnn

Well, fuck.

I spend the entire flight alternating between a renewed sense of hope and an even more crushing sense of despair.

The fact that I’ve managed to make Draven feel something other than hatred towards me, even if just briefly, makes that tiny spark of hope in my chest flutter.

It’s proof that his real feelings are there. Buried deep inside him.

doesn’t change the fact that he also still hates me with every fiber of his being. That flame of hatred that I put in his chest is still there. It’s still as strong as ever.

Regardless of what I do, I can’t remove that hatred, which is the source of the problem. And that awful knowledge, and the crushing sense of hopelessness that comes with it, is eating me alive from the inside.

“Should I find you some mud to roll in, beast?”

I love himmmm

“If you ever presume to think for me, or give me orders, again, I will slit your throat,”

Queeennnnn

My jaw almost drops when Isera actually blushes.

Omggggg

I can’t help but feel that time is running out. All of it. The time to mount a proper attack on the Icehearts. The time to prepare our own defenses. The time to fix what I did to Draven.

Every day that passes is another day where Draven only focuses on how much he hates me.

Even if I can somehow figure out how to remove that hatred from his chest, will it be enough? Will everything actually go back to normal? Or will our relationship already have changed too much by then?

I will make Draven remember how he feels about me if it’s the last fucking thing I do.

The tightness in my chest and the uncomfortable emotions that twist inside me like cold snakes have more to do with who I used to be when I lived here.

this city only remembers the person I used to be when I lived here. It has no idea who I have become after leaving it.

can’t help but hate this city. Once this is all over, I never want to return here again. I want to leave this place and the person I used to be behind.

If you hadn’t rigged the game by cursing that final portal, I would never have been forced to make Draven hate me.”

the choice was either to let him die or to make him hate me!”

I just stare at him, my heart beating painfully in my chest. Those massive waves of dark despair threaten to crash over me. And I know, without a doubt, that if I let them hit me right now, I will drown. Fully and irrevocably. So I block everything out.

“I never thought that you would…” “Make my fated mate and one true love permanently hate me?”

“Maybe you really will win this war.” “Maybe we really will win this war,”

Power is everything in our court. And if I’m not powerful and intelligent and strong and ruthless enough to keep it, someone else will take it from me. So all my life, I have only ever been able to rely on myself.”

“You’re attracted to women who hate you.” I bait him with a knowing smile. “That’s why you’re so obsessed with Isera.”

The power I have over his life right now makes a dark sense of craving burn through me.

I’ve never held this kind of ruthless authority before. It’s making me feel drunk on power.