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gleam
Roll credits.
He’s not. I have no allies, and I need to remember that. Whatever I thought Rip was to me, that’s gone now. I have no one.
He is. and you do?
Maybe the guards would have been better off as rotted heaps on the floor. Who knows what the kinder fate would have been? Which king’s retribution would they have preferred?
They would have been.
What a pushover I was.
Yup!
“You said you didn’t need my forgiveness,” I remind him with a bite in my tone.
He sure did!
I must be defective in some way. Unworthy.
You know who will love you? Slade.
Odo’s breathing becomes labored as he trails after my quick steps up the stairs. “That the queen is...well, she’s wearing white, Sire.”
Odo is trying his best!
My teeth gnash together so hard that my jaw bone pops. I’m running out of time. If I don’t make a show of power soon, my grasp here might weaken, which can’t happen.
Aw! Poor baby....
The sudden standoff between this stranger and me calcifies, fusing my dug-in heels right where I stand. I should probably just go, since I was going to leave anyway, but because he’s ordering me, because he’s sneering at me, I just can’t.
The stubbornness
We tell ourselves twisted lies to tangle around our wicked truths, all so that we can get caught up in the bind and not have to face bare regrets.
Midas clicks his tongue. “Therein lies the problem. I was going to let you do just that, but in your current state of mind and overemotional hysterics, I simply can’t allow it.”
Wooooow slimy dog.
“My father could duplicate everything one time, but his power didn’t work on people or animals. But when my magic comes out, it’s going to be even more powerful than his. Maybe even more powerful than yours,” he says, tone as pompous as only a child prince’s can be.
👏🏿👏🏿
“You see a commander from another kingdom’s army coming toward your king’s favored, and your instinct is to back the fuck up?” he seethes. Whoa.
Dang. Call them out!
Even I’m a little scared, and I know he won’t hurt me. At least, not physically.
Not mentally either.
“I will walk her to her rooms, and she’ll be far more protected by me. Unlike you two, I would never back up if a threat approached.”
👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿
“My own good was stuck on a pirate ship, with an aura like a beacon that flared across the Barrens,” he grits out, a thick spun voice meant to tie knots around me. “My own good was cowering before men who were nothing—fucking nothing—in comparison to her.”
Mmmmm.
“My own good hated me, fought me, argued with me, but I didn’t care, because I watched her slowly come out of her shell, peeling back one layer at a time, and it was stunning.” He raises a finger in front of my face. “I got one touch. One taste, and if it was an act of selfishness, then you should know, it certainly wasn’t one-sided, Auren.”
I might drown in the depths of his bottomless eyes. His teeth snap together, as if my uncertainty sets him on edge. “I’m saying that you are my own good. And for you, I gave you a choice, but you chose him.”
She sure did!
“You will always choose him. That’s what you told me.”
Mhmmmm!
How is it that I could feel so safe in his arms, and yet in such danger at the same time?
Cause girl, you a freak 😝
“Fine, keep your secrets.”
FRODO!
“Goodnight...Slade.”
FINALLY!
We Coliers don’t give in.
Its going to be a failed assassination attempt.
Brown eyes darken as his gaze skips from me to the commander I was just caught staring at. My stomach drops, and I know I’ve made another grave mistake tonight. All of the calming reassurance I received from Slade is instantly gone, crushed beneath the threat of Midas’s stare.
I know Slade is fuming.
Before I can stand fully, Midas’s hand is on my wrist, halting me. “If it wasn’t an inconvenience last night, then it certainly shouldn’t be now.” The cold challenge is a blatant flex of control shoveled out from his words before he levels a look at Slade. “You don’t mind, do you, Ravinger? Your commander took such good care of my Auren last night, so I know he can do so again.”
Ohhhhhhhhh, Lord.
and just...behave,
There's that word again...
Fingers grip my arms again, shaking me, just as he did to wake me up. “The guards abandoned their posts. They opened the damn gates.” “What?”
Sounds like you heading to seventh kingdom to meee!
“Getting their due,” Jeo answers grimly, his hold around me going tighter. “They’re splitting Highbell apart brick by brick, stealing the gold that they’ve been forced to see every day while they starve and freeze.”
Mm.
A garroted cry rises up his throat. “I’m guilty of nothing!”
He has daddy issues. Not your fault.
Because in order to escape one king...I have to leave behind two.
That won't happen lol
gleam.
Roll credits.
I’m glad for the anger I see on his face. Misery may love company, but anger thrives on it.
gaggle of saddles
😂😂😂😂
“Not a guard,” he counters. “And even if I were, King Ravinger, Ruler of Fourth Kingdom and Rotter of Things, wouldn’t need one.”
True.
You’re not the villain in my story.” “I am,” he says without remorse, his sharp jaw tight with tension. “But I’ll be the villain for you. Not to you.”
“All my life, men have had me, but I have never had a man.”
Mm!
“I’ve wanted you since the moment I laid eyes on you, Goldfinch. I was just waiting for you to catch up.”
“Love happens in all kinds of ways. Fast. Slow. In bits and pieces, or immediate. Filled with lust, one-sided longing, a snap realization never noticed before. Deeply. Thoroughly. Love is a whisper we didn’t hear or a sound that drums in our ears and drowns out everything else.”
“Are you going to let him come back inside? It looks cold out there.” “He’s fine,” Slade says dismissively. “No, I’m not!” Fake Rip calls in through the glass, though he doesn’t turn around from where he’s leaning on the railing. “It’s fucking snowing again!”
😂😂😂
She looks over my shoulder to the men. “Get her away from me. These are my personal chambers that the king gave me, and I don’t want her here.”
Alright. Your funeral 🤷🏿♀️
Midas takes me out of the great hall, down a corridor and to a set of stairs. I try to memorize the path so that I can relay it to Lu later in case she hasn’t found the way yet, but it’s a struggle to pay attention because of how drained I feel. I squeeze my stinging eyes shut and then miss a step from my lack of concentration. Luckily, my ribbons help catch my fall.
He's going to put you in another cage...
Because Digby is broken. This is not the man I remember. This isn’t my strong, gruff, stoic guard. The person lying on this cot is a mess of injuries and pain, skin too many colors to count. If it weren’t for the wheezing from his lungs, I would think he was dead.
DIGBYYYYYYY!!!!!!
“Me?” he asks, and then he starts to slowly shake his head. “Oh, I didn’t do this, Auren. You did. Whenever you broke a rule. Every time you tried to pull away from me, you did this. I warned you.”
Mmmm. Monster.
I struggle to get to my feet, using the edge of Digby’s cot to pull myself up. “You...you drugged me?”
Yes, you stupid hoe!
A pained curse flies from his mouth, and my head whips up. “You will never touch me again!” I growl, not even recognizing the sound of my voice. “I hate you. I fucking HATE YOU!” I scream, my throat shredding, the room splitting.
YEEEESSSSSS! TELL HIM!
“Steady.” My eyes fly up to him, and it just goes to show my state of mind, because I forgot we were in the same room. “Digby.” My voice cracks, throat ruined from my screams.
Digby 😭😭😭😭😭 You're alive, barely but alive!!!!
“Now isn’t the time to be stubborn.” “I’m not.” He rolls his neck a bit so he can look up at the ceiling. Maybe it’s just as hard for him to look at the tattered remains on the floor as it is for me. “The second I was assigned the post to be your guard, I found my purpose, my lady. All those other shits weren’t good enough to watch over you.”
He's still dedicated😭😭😭 Digby's a goat!
Midas steps away from the railing, away from the crowd’s eyes. It’s only in private that he ever shows his true color, and it sure as hell isn’t gold.
Period! Weak man!
“Your golden trinkets will dwindle. Your fame will turn to ridicule as your people turn against you. Your betrothed will abandon you, and the laws of this world will force the crown off your head, and still, you won’t find me. No matter how tirelessly you look. No matter how furious your search. And it will make you go mad.”
👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿
