Glow (The Plated Prisoner, #4)

by Raven Kennedy

If I’m going to try and take Sixth, I certainly cannot have her bastard heir being born from her womb. But that will be a problem for another day.

Smart move would be to kill her now but whatever

I won’t allow another storm to touch Auren. She has been flooded and wrung out, left to take the barrage without shelter. But so long as I’m here, I will be her shelter.

She shakes her head, gently tipping my chin up. “No, Slade. Not you. You don’t break things. You protect them.”

“You don’t have to be cruel to be strong. You don’t have to be mean to seem brave. You don’t have to look down on others in order to stand tall. Having emotions does not mean you’re weak. It means you’re smart enough to let yourself feel.”

“Yeah, loathing.”

Unadulterated loathing.

I’ve always been treated like treasure, but with Slade, I’m simply treasured.

But it’s true. I do know I’m beautiful. Any beautiful person who says otherwise is lying. Sometimes, it’s to fish for compliments. But mostly, it’s because they have been taught by society—men, in particular—that we have to downplay our beauty, to only let them determine it. To seem humble. But I don’t have to be humble. I’m a princess.

“Did I just what?” Great Divine. It’s strong. I have to suppress the urge to plug my nose. I clear my throat. “I just can’t help but notice that it smells. Badly. All of a sudden.” A startled laugh barks out of him. “That smell isn’t coming from me, I assure you. Though I’m a bit worried that you think I could produce something so...pungent.” “I was worried too, believe me.”

King Fart

“Well, that’s not strictly true, is it?” I say, the words flying from my mouth before I can stop myself. “I don’t remember asking you to rot me.”

Wtf Auren

“You’re right,” he says, and despite the heat of the room, a chill lopes down my back. “But I will tell you this now, Goldfinch, and you will hear it. When it comes to your life, when it comes to the option between you living and dying, I will always step in. I will always choose to do whatever needs to be done to ensure that you fucking live.” My inhale gets snagged against the rungs of my ribs, banging against it with hollow uselessness. “I hate that I had to use my power against you, but don’t mistake my guilt for regret, because you will be sorely mistaken. I would do it again in a fucking heartbeat.”

YOU DONT DESERVE THIS MAN RIGHT NOW

“I failed you so utterly. You should loathe me for it. You should never be expected to forgive me for that. But I’m a selfish piece of shit, because I will try to earn your forgiveness anyway.” Earn it. Not ask for me to give it. This is so incredibly foreign and bewildering.

“You aren’t just afraid of what you did that night. You’re afraid of your gold, aren’t you?”

I thought we established this

“I want your past, remember? Your memories, your thoughts. Tell me, Auren. I want to help.”

Ok but he better give her the same courtesy later

“I won’t ever again give myself to someone who doesn’t give himself back to me. So if there’s someone else here…I need to know about it.”

“Hey there, Gildy. Heard you found out why we really call him Rip. Bit of a show-off, making a whole-ass rip into the world, don’t you think? Personally, I preferred all the rumors that we came up with to explain his nickname,” he tells me. “It was fun spreading them.” Lu smirks. “Like he got the name for ripping people’s heads off in battles.” Judd nods. “Or having ripped muscles—the women liked that one.” “Rest In Peace.” “Ripping people a new one.” “Being a rip-off.” “Ripping through lives.” Judd’s eyes light up. “Or ripping some nasty ass far—” “Enough,” Slade says with a sigh. Judd snickers.

King Fart returns

She’s basking in the sun, and it looks as if that’s all the daylight was ever created for. She’s so breathtaking up here in only my shirt, that I have half a mind to drag the guards back and demand they pluck out their own eyes for seeing what’s mine.

But my song of home doesn’t come from the sun. Mine comes from her.

But her head’s not in it yet, so I’ve been giving her space. Her body sure as shit is. There’s no denying the way her eyes dilate or the way her cheeks go all fucking cute and pink when she’s around me. But body responses don’t equal consent.

HELL YEAH CONSENT KING

Because I will fight for him, and he will kill for me, and if we need to be the villains, then so be it.