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Started reading
May 27, 2025
“Keep your hands around it. Yes, like that.” He pulls my hair away from my face. “You can taste me, suck me, or lick me however you want—Mmm.”
“Yes. You’re too chicken to do something Dessin won’t like. That makes you a chicken coward.” “I am not.” Warrose looks both amused and annoyed as he gazes down at Ruth like she’s a pest he can’t get rid of. “And wow, you’re really gearing up with your insults. Chicken coward.”
“You’re touching my foot.” “I know. Touch mine back.” “Why?” “Err. It’s a way of flirting.” “You’re flirting with me?” I deadpan. “Careful. I’m in a fragile state. If you reject me, I might burst into tears.”
“I’d like to see you again, little siren. Maybe when you’re of sound mind, I can do more than flirt with your foot.”
“Like we’re in one of Skylenna’s wet dreams.” Niles nods to himself.
“Jesus Christ! You’re kidding me. You get to have sex with different people in the same body?” Niles lets out a low whistle. “You have to give us every detail. Do they have different styles? Like different positions? Don’t leave anything out!”
“I’m sorry you were only there because of me…” He sighs, still not looking back at me. “I’d do it a thousand more times.” “Why?” Stupid question. But is it? After everything I’ve learned. Why would he put himself through all of this for me? “Because… I’d never let you burn alone.”
“You’ll know she’s ready when the first blood is drawn for the one that was born of slaughter.”
“After we kissed under the waterfall. I lied. I told you it didn’t mean anything to me.” My armor softens, and I lose my breath. “That was a lie, Skylenna.” He swallows, eyes glistening with tears. “That kiss was my whole world, honey.” His chest is moving rapidly as if he’s in the midst of battle already. And I can see that he needs to get this out. He’s dying to tell me what’s in his heart. “Years ago, I promised you I’d take you under that waterfall when you were old enough and give you our first kiss. I’ve—I’ve waited so long to keep that promise.”
But time collapses. The world implodes. And his stunning dark-mahogany eyes go wide before they look down at the blade ripping through his chest. I choke on air.
“Go see the stars.”
“Before I let you go, I’m going to make one last promise.” I swallow down the growing lump in my throat, making it painful to speak. “I won’t ever love again. And I’ll never lose hope that I’ll see you again, either. Until hell freezes over.” And even then.
“You’re right, Runa. This isn’t the face of the girl you first met. This is the face of a woman who has just lost… everything.”
“Who would have guessed that the three-year-old little girl with curly golden hair and squishy pink cheeks would have me wrapped around her little finger for the rest of my life?” He sighs, stroking her cheek with his tan fingers. His brow knits together in affliction or sorrow at the sight of her. “Dessin spent years in that asylum, being tortured endlessly, so much so that new alters had to split off just to endure each sadistic treatment. All for my sweet Skylenna.”
And I allow the pain to consume me.
“I’m going to marry her one day, Momma.”
Sophia’s soft eyes lighten, and she begins to smile. “Is that so?” Kane nods once. “Yep. I’ll protect her and take good care of her until we’re all grown up. Then I’m going to marry her in the Red Oaks. And you and her daddy will be there too. And and and… we’ll have babies! And they’ll be twins too!”
“Skylenna is my soul mate.”
“But women are dragons kept in chains, convinced that they are helpless little birds. But that’s a lie, dashna. It’s time someone told ya that ya can breathe fire.”
“Go home. Watch over Niles. I’m going to spiral. I’m going to hurt anyone who gets in my way.”
And it all went to hell.
“That’s right. If you can’t survive without the sun, then we’ll build a fire.”
“Go to hell, you rotten bitch!” I smile, wide and maniacal, with teeth. “Oh, I am. But I’m taking you with me.”
“You can fake your death. Control the outcome so they won’t have a chance to hurt either of you.”
“Did you fake your death?” I scream at them. “Was this all a trick?!” “It’s a good plan.” He rubs his hands together, thinking. “But I’d never put you in the lion’s den like that. I’d never lie to you, never use you like a pawn, never risk your memories of me because, honey, our childhood together is part of who you are. Who would you become if we took those away, huh? The next time we’d meet, I wouldn’t know you, and you wouldn’t know me.”
“Oh my god,” Ruth whimpers, covering her mouth. “It’s empty.”
“I fucking missed you, baby,” he exhales against my lips.
“I want you inside me.” I tug at his belt buckle. “I want you to fill me up. I want you to make my pain go away.”
“I have waited half my life to hear you say that,” I breathe out, trapping her face between my hands. “I love you, Skylittle. I’ve loved you every moment since I pulled you from that basement. I’ve loved you as a child, a teenager—but as an adult, I am deeply, madly, agonizingly in love with you.”
“I’ll show you how.” He smirks, though it doesn’t touch his eyes. “How what?” “How to ride my tongue until you come.”
“I want you to fucking suffocate me, Skylenna,”
“You are incredible,” he exhales.
“I’ve never been more turned on in my entire life. You are an avenging goodness. My wrathful warrior.”
“My name is Kaspias Valdawell. Welcome to the Vexamen Prison.”
