Page 44 of His Eternal Claim

She’s scared of what comes next. Scared… of me.

Because I’m terrified of me too.

Her voice trembles.

“If she married you…”

She looks at my Father. Then back at me.

“…she’d be marrying her stepbrother.” I laugh.

Completely fucking insane. Because of course.

Of-fucking-course.

The woman I love… the woman I would burn kingdoms for… the woman I’d kill my own Father for… is standing one marriage away… from becoming family. My fucking sister.

I look straight at my Father. Then at Hannah. Smile and point the gun at my Father.

“Well…” My fingers curl around the trigger. And I cock my head. “Love does make us do terrible things. And I guess one wedding’s getting canceled tonight.”

And I pull the trigger.

Chapter 16

Fever

THE REQUIEM | Present

Humiliation has a smell.

I realize that as I kneel on the floor, my fingers trembling as I wipe crimson wine from a monster’s shoes.

It smells of leather. Like old money.

Like men who think power makes them gods.

And women who teach daughters that survival tastes better when swallowed with obedience.

My knees sting.

Tiny shards of crystal are buried in my skin, biting deeper every time I shift. Blood stains the blue silk pooled around my legs.

Mine.

The irony almost makes me laugh.

A princess dressed like a dream… bleeding at the feet of wolves.

My Mother resumes her conversation as if I’m furniture. As if I’m not on my knees. As if she didn’t just hand my dignity over on a silver fucking platter.

I keep my head bowed.

Because prey survives by pretending it doesn’t have teeth. But inside… inside something ugly is clawing at my ribs. Something primeval.

Something furious.

Something that sounds suspiciously like him.