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Dade
Snot-nosed princelings are not so easy to steal but easily lured.
I caught ours the morning before returning to find my swan in the hall outside our rooms—the mere sight of the arrogant fuck’s face enough to make my blood boil when I thought of how she’d allowed his unworthy lips to grace hers.
I’d given the warriors instructions, then I’d warped back to the Keep to lay eyes upon Opal. Which had nearly earned me a book to the face.
I still smirked at the thought of her using a book as a weapon. She could fight, most definitely, yet she so often forgot her own strength in the face of fear.
The prince had been sent a letter from a friend of mine who excelled at imitating handwriting. A letter from my dear Opal stated she was on the run and requested to meet with her alone near the Well of Wishes. The ancient well sat a few miles from the border between Sinshell and Errin, deep enough into Sinshell’s land that the human soldiers did not see us coming.
And neither did the prince. Although he was idiot enough to believe the letter’s contents, he wasn’t so stupid as to arrive on his own.
His eight comrades were now sea dragon bait thanks to legion three, and after watching in horror as they’d flown over the cliffs to dump his men into the Night Sea, the prince had little choice.
He’d glared at me, indignant even as fear rolled off him in a putrid wave. “W-what do you want?”
I’d gri
What I wanted was his guts oozing between my bloodied fingers, my talons still embedded in his stomach. What I wanted was to devour my swan in front of him, to show him what it was to have her be a willing participant, to show him that he’d never, not in this life or any after, know what that was truly like.
What I wanted was his fucking head on a pike atop my keep, but I could not be hasty. No, I’d take my time in getting there. I would savor every moment and make him regret the day he first laid eyes upon my mate with extreme care and attention to every fine detail.
Swinging one boot in front of the other, I dragged my fingers over my instruments, blood splattering onto the stone floor. Oh, the things they’d seen and done. I chose the scissors for my next task, noting they were gleaming—evidently not used as much as the hacksaw, hammer, and varying other devices.
The prince moaned and whined. I whistled, thoughts of Opal beneath me in my bed never too far from the forefront of my mind. If I were being honest, too often it was the only thing I could think of.
Kiss me, she’d said, so rough—as though it’d tainted parts of her to make such a plea.
I opened the scissors and sliced them across the asshole’s abdomen.
The way she’d shuddered at my touch, shaking as she began to come undone in such a slow-building, blissfully torturous way.
I closed the scissors around the tip of his nipple and snipped.
Agony. She’d been ensnared in the most exquisite type of agony, mostly naked beneath me, breasts heaving and her skin flushed and misted, her eyes struggling to focus, to stay open at all when it had arrived.
Blood gushed over the handles and my hand, and with his screams nothing but white noise, I then stabbed him between the ribs.
When it all had finally gathered enough to break, and she’d overflowed with pleasure, shaking relentlessly with it, as I’d spilled myself all over her.
Another stab, this one to the gut, the scissor blades separating while still inside his stomach.
“Dade.” Her voice came to me. So soft, so fucking sweet. A summer fruit given soul.
And fuck did she taste just as sweet. So divine, I wanted to devour—
“Dade.” A half-shouted growl this time, followed by a touch at my elbow.
I recoiled, whirling and yanking the scissors from the prince’s gut while doing so, blood flicking through the air to splatter at Opal’s feet.
The prince screamed, garbled and continuous, but I could barely hear it.
I heard nothing as Opal’s gaze flitted behind me to the mangled prince who’d tried to steal her maidenhead. Who’d tried to steal what was mine. Who sought to use her for his own gain, marry her, defile her, humiliate her…
I turned and said, “I’ll be right back, dear prince.” Then I slogged him in the face hard enough to send him into black nothing.
“Sunshine,” I said between my teeth, both enraged and ecstatic she was within touching distance of me. Touch her I did, taking her gently by the arm and leading her out of the dungeon.
Her head kept twisting over her shoulder, her reluctance to walk away from what she’d seen evident in her weighted steps. “Where did you find him?”
I sent flame into the sconces of the dark hall, and they danced toward the vine-patterned ceiling. “That matters not. What are you doing down here?” I stopped when we reached the spelled hallway, firelight flickering in her eyes.
“I…” She chewed her lip, then released a rushed breath. “Well, I was looking for you.” Her cheeks reddened as she said gently, “I couldn’t find you, so I followed your scent.”
I scowled, unsure if I’d have believed her if it weren’t for the embarrassment, that a
“You said you’d show me the city,” she went on, her hands scrunching in the skirts of her creamy gown of lace and satin. “At night, and I’ve been waiting but…” Her nose crinkled, and fuck if I didn’t want to lean down and nip it, then kiss it, then do the same to those sin-infused lips. “Are you going to kill him?”
Already, noting the way her eyes kept darting around me, over me, I knew she wouldn’t let this go. She wanted to know more. I could tell her.
Or I could live up to the abomination she thought me and take advantage of her curiosity for an evening outing and steal some more time with that luscious mouth of hers.
I tossed the scissors I hadn’t been aware I was still holding over my shoulder. They hit the ground with a clang. “Fine. Let’s go.”
If she thought I didn’t notice what she was doing, she was both beautiful and delusional.
And I was a fucking fool for allowing it.