Page 40 of Rapunzel Unchained
I tugged on my finger, lifting the fireball I formed in my other hand. “That doesn’t make it any better.”
His grip tightened until I winced. “Drop the fireball or I’ll break it.”
I seethed. “Make me.”
Without warning, Gage had my arm twisted behind my back, pulling it until I yelped. He grabbed a handful of my hair, jerking my head to the side. “Drop it.”
Teeth grinding, I extinguished the fireball. “Fine. Let me go.”
“Not yet,” Gage growled into my ear, his hot breath brushing my face. “I want to make something clear. We are not your toys to use for your little vengeance plan.”
I struggled against his hold, my head bumping back against his chest. “I’m trying to do what’s right. You’re the ones getting in the way with your stupid rules.”
“Those rules are there to keep people, like you, from taking over and becoming a tyrant.” Gage yanked on my hair to emphasize his point. “I won’t let you ruin us because you don’t have any patience.”
“Ruin you?” I squawked. “Ruin you? You trusted me enough to show me your face, and now I’m going to ruin you?”
“I showed Eva my face. Not you.” His mask pressed against the side of my face. “I don’t know this rage-filled woman who threatened Healer Beatriz and somehow convinced that demon to help you take down the other councilors. She, I don’t know.”
Gage put pressure on my arm, and I winced. “Gage, I’m still Eva. I’m still that same woman you saved from the tower. I’m just the queen, too. We are the same person.”
I felt his head shake against me. “No, you’re not.”
“Gage,” I lowered my voice, pleading with him. “Please let me go. I’m not what you think I am.”
His hand loosened on my arm for a moment before he stiffened, putting the pressure back on until I cried out. “No, this is exactly what you did to Zane. To the twins.”
“The twins?” I frowned, trying to angle my head to look at him. Pain shot through my scalp. “I didn’t do anything to Luke or Blake.”
“You fucked them, didn’t you?”
I sagged against him, no longer fighting against his hold. “I wasn’t using them if that’s what you think. They caught me practicing with —” I caught myself before I told him about Rebecca.
“With who?”
My lips pinched together.
Gage spun me around, finally releasing my arm and hair, they tingled where the blood came rushing back in. He cupped my face with both hands. “Who is helping you, Eva?”
My eyes locked on his piercing gaze, stubbornly holding my tongue.
He leaned down until he was an inch from my face. “I will find out, Eva. You need to stay away from them... us.”
“You’re banishing me?” I gaped at him. “Are you so afraid of what I’ll do, you don’t want me around?”
Gage released me suddenly, my legs wobbled beneath me. “Until you can control yourself, yes. You need help and, since you refuse to let us help you, just stay away.”
“You can’t keep me away.” I snapped at his retreating back. “Even if I didn’t show up, you all would find me. You can’t help yourself. Youloveme.”
Suddenly, he was there in front of my face again, a hand on my throat. “Let’s get something straight, princess. Those weaklings might believe your ruse, but I don’t. I do not and will not ever love you.”
He shoved me away so hard that my knees buckled. My butt hit the ground so hard that my teeth chattered. My fingers curled into the ground, ripping up the grass beneath my fingertips.
When Gage was safely gone from sight, I let out a rage-filled scream. Power shot out of me, burning the surrounding grass around me.
If that ass thought he could control me, then he has another thing coming. I wouldn’t be controlled. What I was doing was the right thing. Why couldn’t he see that? This world had become too reliant on their rules. How dare he judge me? I was a queen, and I would not be collared.
Gage would be back. He could say what he wanted, but he couldn’t stay away from me.
